Grove Street Holiday Market Promotes Local Artisans for Christmas Gift Shopping

This year, the Annual Grove Street Holiday Market, running on December 20th-21st from 11am-6pm, brings together the entire Jersey City community for one goal: to find that perfect, sustainable, handmade gift. This market showcases a variety of products from 30+ vendors, including soap bars, body butters, glass jewelry, metal jewelry, carpets, NJ-inspired clothing, purses, bags, candles, and even traditional Mexican ornaments! What connects all of these vendors together is their commitment to traditional crafts and serving their community, whether it is through supporting the artisans that make their products, or supporting the planet with sustainable and natural materials. 

One of the body butter brands, Thiyû, had a unique way of showcasing their products. Fatou Zongo, the founder of Thiyû, laid out all of the dried nuts and beans that she uses to make her body butter. “This is shea,” she described, pointing at the round and bulbous pod, “it comes from Burkina Faso, where I am from.” The other plant was real cocoa beans, the one used to make chocolate. “The cocoa seeds came from my father’s cocoa farm back in Côte d’Ivoire.” Zongo grew up in the cocoa and coffee farms of Côte d’Ivoire, where she witnessed the process to make natural, healthy body butter. “I saw the hands of the people who created these butters. They were hard, the result of making your skin smooth. They don’t look like our concept of beauty,” she explained. She reveals that most industry-made body butters are not natural, or don’t give credit to the real artisans who make the butters. “I want to highlight my community, those who make the real products. I am the product because I was born in the product. I grew up in the product. I am the legacy.” She believes that the best part of a local market is empowering the artisans who create commodities. “What’s better than knowing your neighbor?”

Another brand, Pink City Bloom, was eye-catching because of their unique cloth designs made from India. “Each design is hand-block printed by women artisans from India,” Minali Bajaj, the founder of Pink City Bloom, describes. The female crafters from Jaipur, also known as Pink City, create the cloth and sew them together to make the variety of bags, shawls, and scrunchies that the company sells. “I buy from the crafters because making these bags is their bread and butter,” she explains. “It’s important to buy from these crafters because the fast fashion industries like Shein don’t support their workers, or use bad-quality materials. Also this supports female artisans.”

People shop locally to support local businesses. Instead of buying gifts online, support people who put their heart and passion into their business, and do good for not just your friends and family, but for the community as well.