The annual Fruitlands Craft Festival returns this September for its 12th year running! Nearly 60 New England artisans will converge on Fruitlands Museum’s picturesque grounds. The quality and variety of crafts have made the festival a mainstay in Harvard, and it’s the perfect opportunity to get a head start on your holiday shopping.

This year’s festivities take place on Saturday and Sunday, September 21 and 22. Before you plan your weekend, Trustees Craft Festival Manager Harriet Friedrich spoke to a few new and returning artisans to give you a preview of what to expect.

Returning Artisans

Rachel Benson of The Fiber Web, Groton, Massachusetts excels in fiber art using needle felting to create one-of-a-kind images of nature, both realistic and abstract. Her affinity for the whimsical has an outlet in beautiful and colorful landscapes, children’s craft, animal portraits, and ornaments. Rachel’s journey into crafts and art began while studying Fine Arts and Technical Theater at college.

Presently, Rachel works as a freelance art teacher, accepts commissioned work, and her art can be viewed in several galleries in Massachusetts. Her first love is Bella, her best animal friend, nature hiking and camping in Maine.

Kara Hickey is the owner, designer, metalworker and enamellist behind the bespoke jewelry business Lotus and Star. Since she was a child, Hickey was fascinated by the ability to reshape metal into beautiful adornments. Once she discovered you did this with torches and tools, she was hooked!

Hickey’s formal art training was as a Graphic Designer and Illustrator which influenced her aesthetics. Working mostly in Cloisonne’ enameling creating floral/botanical motifs, the design and illustration education came in quite handy.

Her metalworking journey started in her early 20s and through trial and error with great tutoring, Hickey learned silversmithing. Enameling followed and she loved creating 3-dimensional art and particularly jewelry. She learned how 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! FYI, every piece is fired at least 19 times! Personally, Hickey 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!

New Artisans

John and Maria of Randazzo World are a team and couple making bespoke wood and leather products. Maria is originally from Rome, Italy, and John grew up in Marlborough, MA after having been adopted at the age of two from Russia by an Italian American family. He trained as a woodworker and owned a business making stringed instruments before leaving for Italy at the age of 23 to pursue his passion for art and sculpture. John met his wife Maria Forciniti, at an “English game night” in Rome. Love at first sight!

The couple returned to Boston and built their business, Randazzo World, Inc., to create tactile, personal items like bespoke furniture, game boards, jewelry, and household goods of exceptional quality and design. In their words, “We don’t make anything that we ourselves don’t personally own or use. It just so happens that many other people like it as well!”

John and Maria are both creative souls who love spending their spare time reading, sailing, and exploring nature.

Shir Glassworks combines the two styles of Madeline and Ori Shir, from Greenfield, MA, to create a wide range of whimsical and intricate glassware.

Madeline has a BFA in glass art and her creations range from themed sculptural jewelry and figurines to conceptual installations. Her original inspiration is her signature piece – the octopus, a creature with fluidity and amorphous movements that resonate with the qualities of molten glass!

Ori began glasswork apprenticing with local artists before venturing into his own material exploration. His focus is on surface patterns and color work, woodgrain, honeycomb, pileated woodpecker feathers, and his kaleidoscope cup collections which are unsurpassed.

In 2023 Madeline and Ori opened their new studio to continue cultivating their glass artistry. They are also avid gardeners and beekeepers; their collaborative work focuses on nature while nurturing their combined interests with glass.