KARACHI: Exhibitions, craft stalls, food stalls, artisans working at craft workshops ... there was so much on offer at the over 150 stalls at the lith annual Crafter`s Expo organised by Firefly, the Crafter`s Guild and Esnaf at the Beach Luxury Hotel here on Sunday that it made one`s head spin.

It wouldn`t be an overstatement to say that the handicrafts `were to die for`. There was handmade jewellery, bags, notebooks, photo frames, tissue boxes, coasters, cosmetics, candles, decoration pieces, clothing items, food and so much more to gladden all hearts. And it was not just the visitors and customers who were enjoying themselves but also those who had set up theirstalls, including the children selling their crafts. But the one with the broadest of smiles had to be the founder of the Crafter`s Expo, artist and entrepreneur Varah Musavvir.

The Crafter`s Expo has really grown in these 11 years, along with its founder. `This entire platform is standing because of communities, Varah told Dawn.

`See, there are events that people attend and then there are events like this where there are so many people attached to this platform who also support various organisations, some are here to encourage their family members or friends, too. So the community aspect is very strong at the Crafter`s Expo. The energy here is very different. There are sentiments all over,` she pointed out.

Aimah Moiz and Mahnaz Aslam at Wrapup`s stall where they had created shiny silver purses and bags from woven potato crisp wrappers turned inside out were supporting Al-Furgan Welfare Organisation,which strives to empower the underprivileged by providing skill educa-tion. While selling their creations they were also educating abouttheir organisation`s work.

There were young children managing their stalls. Twelve-year-old Rohan Arsalan was there to support his older sister and pretty much sold out her entire stall with still some five hours ahead of closing time. He sold her handmade woven hats, he sold her keychains and he sold her white and silver buraq heads while explaining to customers to not confuse them with unicorns. `See, unicorns were inspired by burags,` he pointed out.

Mehreen Ahsan was there for a third time running her stall of handstitched Barbie doll dresses. At the Beadster2023 stall, you met Mohammed Hashir and Mohammed Zaid, who were selling handcrafted jewellery, which the brothers had made themselves. They are very reasonable, too.

Back among the grown-ups, there was Sharmeen Sajjad at the Sharmeen`s Artistic Impressions stall, which sold the most stunningresin art pieces such as trays, plates, tables, etc. `I have pieces here that cost from five hundred rupees to 10 thousand rupees,` she said.

Tehseen Hussain was selling stoles, scarves. Her Palestine stoles were selling very well, especially after customers found out that a big portion of the sales was going to help the people of Gaza. Asma Naseem Khan was selling handmade shiny gota jewellery at her Patternz stall.

`We used the qureshia weaving technique to make this jewellery,` she said. Fizza Hamid from Arty Rooms was selling her paintings. It was her first time at the Crafter`s Expo and she was also offering art classes to anyone interested.

Anam Adnan and her aunt Mrs Mustafa at the Hamna Creations stall were selling inexpensive little sculptures for Rs100 to Rs150, that she had made herself out of plaster of Paris, along with some paint and paint brushes for children to paint themselves. The little sculptures, a unique idea, were selling like hot cakes.

Speaking of cakes, there was a lot to sample and buy for foodies at the food stalls outside that faced the cool and calm Chinna Creek waters.

Another aunt and niece there, Uzma Zahid and Iraj Imad, were selling jams, marmalade, peanut butter vinegar, honey, etc.

`We mixed cocoa butter, peanut butter and honeyto come up with our own local alternative to Nutella,` the aunt told Dawn. Nearby, young Haya Ahmed was selling colourful mini cupcakes for Rs50 only along with various flavour macarons for Rs180 each.

The place also had plenty of children`s activity areas where little ones were making key chains, toys from different materials including Lego pieces.

Everyone had something to do and benefit from at the Crafter`s Expo.-By Shazia Hasan