HANDMADE HOLIDAY GIFT IDEA #81 // Kids In Love Collective: Where Avant-Garde Design And Organic Hand Craft Collide

The Handmade Holiday Craft Fair is getting closer and closer but we can't stand to keep all of the goodness to ourselves. That's why we're previewing some of the amazing gifts that you'll be able to pick up this Saturday.

Founder Cathy Hsiao describes the aim of the Kids In Love Collective as "the marriage of avant-garde and graphic design with organic hand craft techniques...Avant-Craft!" Combining dye and print techniques, she's created an array of unique and vibrant apparel and accessories. "I love aesthetic dualities, nature's forms and textures contrasted with the abstractions of design, things that are unkempt and raw but still very natural and soft for my super sensitive skin," she says.

The philosophical perspective that Hsaio takes with her work is natural, as she was a philosophy teacher before starting the Kids In Love Collective. "I left my PhD program to be an artist and designer, to be able to work with my whole body, eye, hand and mind," she says. Her experiences with learning music and art in a DIY community inspired that decision. "The idea of a collective is important to me," she says. "I want to think 'invert the corporation, join the collective.'"

This will be the Kids In Love Collective's first craft fair, and they're debuting with a bang! Stop by their booth for hand-dyed and hand-painted scarves made with organic cotton, modal tops, printed canvas clutches and a hand-printed and hand-died calendar. They've also collaborated with Tom Tom Magazine on hand-painted drumsticks and will be offering a $10 discount when you buy two Kids In Love items.

Hit the jump for another look at Kids In Love's Avant-Craft goodness.

-- John Ruscher