With over 350 local creators, artists, and makers selling all kinds of artistic products — from vinyl stickers to crochet plushies to illustrated posters and felted flowers — San Jose Made (SJMADE) has brought back the largest holiday craft fair in the Bay Area for another year of fun and festivities.
Located at the Santa Clara Convention Center, the fair attracted thousands of artsy and crafty consumers on Black Friday and Small Business Saturday, who were looking to collect trinkets, purchase new ceramics for the holiday season, or learn how to fashion their own silk paintings.
“I have always been interested in seeing what people create and the story behind it, because if you notice, not every booth looks the same. Even if there are four sticker booths, they all look completely different,” said Debbie Pachaco, an event coordinator at SJMADE who started as a customer and vendor herself.
Besides hosting the holiday craft fair, the company will also host a winter wonder market in December 2025, a friend fest in February 2026, and its biggest outdoor event ever, the SJMADE Fest, in May 2026. SJMADE was founded in 2011 with the mission of uplifting and supporting local artisans and creative small businesses around the Bay Area. Now, it has grown to an organization of over 350 artists and makers.
“We should definitely be supporting small vendors because they often don’t have the money for advertising, and if they do, it’s very limited and small in comparison to large corporations. If we gravitate more toward supporting local artists, who put in a lot of work and dedication into crafting things that are so unique, there will be a lot more sentimental value to each individual,” Pachaco said.
Over the years, SJMADE has built a network of over 1500 small businesses across the Bay Area. In 2018, SJMADE launched the MOMENT program, a set of four dynamic micro-retail spaces in downtown San Jose where businesses can set up storefronts and pop-up shops. MOMENT makes brick-and-mortar retail more accessible to local makers, who often lack the funds to rent space and market their businesses simultaneously.
“Most artists here are full-time. The secret is that it’s lucrative; you can make pretty good money, but it’s very time-intensive. It’s difficult for artists to compartmentalize their work time from their private time because we’re always working. An artist is kind of like the everything of their company; they’re the CEO, CFO, accountant, marketing team, and if there’s time left, then they can draw art,” said Eric Lee of MEELEE ART, a part-time vendor who sells products made from upcycled comics and magazines.
What is unique about SJMADE, and the San Jose area in general, is that it is predominantly Asian. According to Census Dots, San Jose’s Asian and Asian American population is its largest ethnic group, making up 38.2% of the city.
“Local artists are the grassroots and the invisible bedrock of the art community. This is where you’re going to find stuff that is really specific to the Bay Area, such as very specific art by Asians, made for Asians,” Lee said.
One of these Asian artists is Faith Cao, who runs a small business called CAOCULATOR, where she sells hand-illustrated multidisciplinary artwork, including polymer clay jewelry, keychains, stickers, art prints, and greeting cards. Before embarking on her artistic journey, Cao was a major in engineering.
“A lot of my art stems from the fact that there’s a lot that I don’t see being made in the world. So I try to make art that fills those gaps, especially when it comes to my Vietnamese and Cantonese heritage,” Cao said.
Similarly, Julie Quan is another Asian artist at SJMADE who creates cozy aromatherapy-friendly wool felt designs for her business, Lovemothstudio. Quan began by creating realistic felted designs of her cat, which later evolved into more stylized forms as she refined her personal technique.
“During the pandemic, I had an autoimmune disease, so I stayed home to recover. Wool felting was very therapeutic for me, just poking everything into place and turning formless wool into shapes. Everything about it is soft and calming,” Quan said. “Lovemothstudio comes from moths, which symbolize finding light in the darkness. To me, that’s what art is.”
For creatives like Cao, Lee, and Quan, opportunities like the SJMADE Holiday Craft Fair are extremely valuable in building awareness and expanding their reach in a competitive artistic market.
“My mom has always had the inspiration of bringing our art from Mexico to the United States. It’s always important to show incoming generations our roots, where we come from, and what we’re made out of,” said Danna Castrejon, the co-owner of La Paloma Imports, which sells handmade goods from Mexico. “Because we’re surrounded by so much culture, sometimes we forget about ourselves.”
At the same time, SJMADE has also allowed artists like Liana Rasmussen to connect with customers who can relate to the personal story behind her art. Rasmussen owns Naicha Studio and has been selling stickers, prints, illustrations, and designs ever since she was in high school.
“My work focuses on feminine interiorities and celebrating women and females of color, and it’s shown me just how much of a gap there is. A lot of people really like seeing themselves represented in art, so I feel very happy to be able to offer that,” Rasmussen said.
