Struggling to find unique, high-quality holiday gifts for friends and family this year? The annual Fruitlands Holiday Market on December 6 & 7 is your solution!

With 15 local New England artisans participating each day, you’re sure to find a stunning, handcrafted treasure for everyone on your list. To help plan your shopping, Holiday Market Manager Harriet Friedrich highlights a few new and returning artisans so you know what to expect…

New Artisans

Susannah Abbott – Pottery

Susannah loves working in clay because it enables her to make works of art that people can use every day, whether a favorite mug for morning coffee, a whimsical vase, or a special serving dish. She uses surface design, specifically a technique known as sgraffito, and hand-carved textured embossing plates to incorporate motifs from the natural world onto each pot. Susannah hopes her pieces will bring a little extra joy to ordinary moments!

Her home is in Andover, a short drive from one of the Trustees’ most spectacular properties, the Ward Reservation. She and her family love the outdoors and feel incredibly fortunate to live in an area with so much beautiful open space!

Wood Bees Co by Nicole Gross-Camp

Nicole is a conservation consultant by day and a sewing diva by night. Her professional life focus is on conservation in East Africa – Rwanda and Tanzania, working in community conservation and forests.

Wood bees was initially created through the encouragement of friends and family for a natural skin care product, healing balm, she was making to soothe her husband’s working hands. Although she enjoyed making these items, her creative passions were more aligned with sewing, and bespoke bags became the focus for her talent.

Nicole loves the creative process of choosing fabric combinations and is particularly fond of waxed canvas for its water-resistant properties and rugged aesthetic. Each piece is thoughtfully curated, and she prides herself on balancing durability with style. No two bags are ever the same! She loves to interact with her customers; indeed, their joy in finding the ‘right’ bag is her joy, too.

Susannah is a massive dog person and has a boxer pittie mix called Bea. Her sewing machine is named “Flabby,” made in Indiana, and her 0.5-acre lawn is currently being turned over to native plants.

Returning Artisans

Lotus & Star by Kara Hickey

Kara Hickey is the owner, designer, metalworker, and enamellist of the bespoke jewelry business Lotus and Star.

Ever since she was a child, Kara has been fascinated by the ability to reshape metal into beautiful adornments. Once she discovered she could do this with torches and tools, she was hooked!

Her formal art training was as a Graphic Designer and Illustrator, which influenced her aesthetics. Working mostly in Cloisonné enameling, creating floral/botanical motifs, the design and illustration education come in quite handy.

Kara’s metalworking journey started in her early 20s, and through trial and error with great tutoring, she learned silversmithing. Enameling followed, and she loved creating 3-dimensional art and particularly jewelry. She learned to apply ground glass to fine silver and to fire her pieces with extreme heat (1450-1500 degrees) in a kiln to create pure magic! Every piece is fired at least 19 times! Kara cannot imagine herself doing anything else. It is never a job; to her, it is something she loves. Every day is a new creation and a new challenge!

biita by Anita Costello

Anita is passionate about timeless elegance and sustainable luxury. She is inspired by minimalism, and her vision is to redefine fashion by creating enduring essentials that transcend time. Each piece is handcrafted, taking care to embody every stitch, thread, and detail in her dedication to making a lasting impact on style and the future of the planet. Anita works with organic materials for her clothing range and uses either leather or vegan materials for her unique range of handbags.

Each piece is a chapter in her story, and she regards every supporter as a part of her vision for a more timeless and sustainable future.

In Anita’s words: “Simplicity is thrilling and when done well it is profoundly expressive.”