Some craft vendors say resold and AI art popping up at markets is 'disingenuous'

It's festival season. Artists, crafters and makers are setting up tables to get their homemade products in the hands of local shoppers. 

But some artists say they're feeling frustrated seeing vendors next to them putting out products they didn't make themselves or are generated from AI.

It's a growing problem London crochet artist Emily Anderson has seen firsthand. 

"More and more vendors are not making the goods themselves, but buying them from certain online websites and just reselling them," she said. 

"That's not in-and-of-itself a bad thing … but when people are going to these fairs looking for handmade crafts, then I feel like it becomes a problem," Anderson said. "It's a little bit disingenuous." 

Anderson said that while she also doesn't mind vendors selling resold products, she wants people to be honest about where they are sourcing those products from, rather than claiming they are handmade.

Market vendors are sharing their frustrations about the issue all across Ontario, according to clay artist Olivia Anthony-Katchur, who lives in Toronto.

"It feels like you're up all night, you're putting your blood and tears into your work, [and] you're constantly working just to see somebody who typed a prompt [into an AI generator] and printed the photo selling it and making money," said Anthony-Katchur.

"It's really disheartening and upsetting."

'I think there's space for everybody,' says vendor

However, there are other vendors, like Londoner Andréa Kennedy, who say they don't mind selling alongside resellers.

"As a handmade maker and somebody that comes from a traditional arts background, I obviously really value that within myself and my art, but I also recognize everybody has the right to have a living," said Kennedy, who makes art and jewelry using foraged and homegrown flowers.

"I think there's space for everybody. I find that it doesn't affect me much what other people are selling," Kennedy said. 

Criteria to vet vendors

Different markets and festivals have different ways of selecting and vetting their vendors.

"We specify in the application that the craftspeople themselves are to either have made the items or manipulated the items to make them different," London Christmas Craft Festival co-organizer Isabel Traher said. 

Those who apply to the festival must send photos of their crafts and list other craft shows they've participated in.

"If it's a show that allows a lot of multi-level marketing, we know that's probably not a vendor that would be a good fit for us because we definitely try not to put any of those people in the show.

Meanwhile, Sheena Clark, who organizes the Not Your Mother's Craft Show event in May in Lucan, Ont., said she specifically makes space for a mix of vendors.

"We include some direct sales [vendors] because I feel like they put as much work into their products as well," she said, adding that she reserves 12 of her 128 booths for non-handmade products. 

Both organizers said they walk around their markets to ensure vendors are selling what was promised and that they are not pulling products out of packaging that indicates it was secretly made elsewhere.

"I would never have them back, and I would ask them to not put those [products] out at our show," Clark said. 

Still, both admit it can be challenging to discern what is truly handmade or not, and Traher said she has yet to consider an AI policy.

"Obviously this is very difficult and we try to use our discretion," Traher said. 

Differentiating between handmade and resold crafts

Many of the crafters agreed it can be difficult for an everyday shopper to know what is genuinely made by an artist.

"I think most people aren't going to know, so I think it's up to the vendor to say this is handmade," Anderson said. "It's up to the vendor to be honest."