Vendors and students filled the McCombs atrium on Feb. 19 for Trash2Treasure’s first Maker’s Fair. The event was the brainchild of Sora Ahmad, junior textiles and apparel major and co-lead of Trash2Treasure, who, along with the rest of Trash2Treasure’s team, created a space for crafty students to show off their work.

The idea came from Ahmad’s philanthropy capstone class in an assignment to complete a project related to nonprofits. She said she wanted the fair to bring students dedicated to sustainable fashion and artistry together.

“This is kind of my own philanthropy of giving back to students, giving them accessible access to sustainable fashion and building a community where students can be a part of a sustainable fashion community,” Ahmad said. 

The concept aligned perfectly with the values of Trash2Treasure, a project team within the Campus Environmental Center, who put on many events related to sustainable consumption throughout the year. 

“I wanted to continue with our mission in allowing students to have that space of community (to) really build their skills in creating sustainable crafts, projects, art and things like that,” Ahmad said. “I thought that, because of our platform as a well-known organization on campus, we could create a vendor market.”

The Maker’s Fair was originally located at the plaza outside Gregory Gym, but was relocated to the McCombs atrium when the cold weather hit on Feb. 17. Ella Burton, sophomore Climate System Science major and jewelry vendor, looked forward to the event being on Speedway, but appreciated that the vendors would be away from the cold weather. 

“With it (having been) advertised before, there’s gonna be people who don’t really know that it changed, because they don’t check so it sucked a little bit, but I was glad, because it was really cold,” Burton said.

Vendors displayed their projects at tables lined throughout the atrium where students could browse through products ranging from pipe-cleaner flowers to handmade prints. 

Burton and Nausheen Hossian, sophomore electrical computer engineering and business major, signed up for the Maker’s Fair after seeing it advertised on Instagram. Burton flips bottle caps and drink tabs into wearable accessories like bracelets and necklaces, while Hossian makes jewelry out of beads and wires. Both source their materials from the Austin Creative Reuse, who sell donated crafting materials at affordable prices.

Hossian watched her mom make her own accessories growing up which inspired her to make jewelry of her own. Her friends encouraged her to sell her creations to others. 

“Coming into college, I was being hard on myself, like, ‘I need to only focus on school,’ but that quickly became really draining and I felt pretty burnt out,” Hossian said.  “So I made a conscious effort to have those creative outlets and give myself the opportunity to do things that I like.”

Ahmad wanted to give students the opportunity to sell their products publicly without having to pay a fee, a practice common to many artisan markets. She said a huge part of sustainable consumption was supporting local people who may make their livelihoods from the products they create.

“Not having that vendor fee, I think, was really beneficial,” Ahmad said. “That really allowed them to understand what they could potentially be doing as they continue working in their small businesses.”

Freshman VJ Brown, vendor and creator of the clothing brand VBX, screen prints original designs on clothing he buys second hand. He started his business in high school, but took a break since starting college. The Maker’s Fair inspired him to get back into screen printing and start selling products again.

“It was motivating to see that (the) Maker’s Fair was even happening,” Brown said. “I’m glad to have immersed myself in the Maker’s Fair because now I have the groove to do my recurring drops.” 

Ahmad said she estimated about 50 to 70 people attended the Makers Fair. It was such a success that it will now be a recurring event, along with Trash2Treasure thrift sales and donation drives. 

“Continuing to foster that community surrounding sustainable consumption is really what’s in store,” Ahmad said. “I hope next year I’ll be able to continue on with that kind of work.”