Bazar à la Carte Combines an Artisan Market, Workshops, and Music Under One Roof

In other parts of the world, like the Levant, North Africa, or South Asia, the bazaar is more than a marketplace in which to buy and sell goods; it's the beating heart of its surrounding community, a site of connection, exchange, and exposure to new experiences.

Keeping this spirit of community and collaboration in mind, Bazar à la Carte — held on Saturday, August 3, at Riverset Studios in Little Havana — combines a market containing more than 60 vendors hailing from across South Florida with a series of workshops and activities, live sets from a cast of 11 DJs, a podcast studio, and a production and recording studio open to all who want to lend their creative input.

Laila Fakhoury, the Gainesville-based event producer who curated and organized Bazar à la Carte, envisions the occasion as an opportunity for art lovers and creatively minded Miamians of all stripes to meet new potential collaborators and find fresh inspiration, thereby stretching and growing their crafts and passions. In an environment that can often feel more like a collection of siloed scenes rather than a unified arts ecosystem, it's high time that Miami's arts communities and their supporters band together to showcase and protect each other's gifts, especially in light of Gov. Ron DeSantis' recent budget cuts to arts institutions and organizations across the state.

"We can uplift the arts by ourselves, through our communities. What DeSantis and the U.S. government and empire have been doing is so demoralizing because they're taking away essential resources that can make this kind of work easier. But that doesn't mean that we can't, as community members, uplift the people in our city who are creating the candles that we buy from Walmart or the skincare products that we buy from Amazon," Fakhoury says. "There are many ways to support each other at these DIY events. It's artists creating a space for artists."

Once guests enter Bazar à la Carte, which is housed in a repurposed airplane hangar, they'll be able to choose their own adventure, perusing wares like plants, art, records, coffee, clothes, skincare products, and other handmade items from makers representing mostly Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, with some visiting from Tampa, Orlando, and Gainesville.
When they climb the staircase to the second story, attendees will be able to acquire new skills by engaging in crochet, poetry writing, and fermentation workshops. Pilates and figure drawing classes pair with a speed-dating session and a fashion photo booth experience, in which local designers and stylists dress guests in their handmade pieces before their big close-up with a professional photographer. The evening's soundtrack will be provided by a dozen DJs like Ahamed and 1-800-Lolita, whose sets will be livestreamed by Miami's independent Jolt Radio. Guests eager to lend their own musical contributions will want to stop by the production booth set up by Neon Prayers and Arc Labs Media, while media heads might stick near the podcast studio, where Trust Nobody will be interviewing guests like musician My Friend Shawn and the creators behind Always Lunes, Miami's weekly event guide to underground art and music happenings.

Among the many Miami-based vendors at Bazar à la Carte, Kasiopya is a mother-and-daughter-run clothing company that crafts one-of-a-kind, hand-dyed, ethereal, and feminine pieces utilizing only natural fibers. Since the 1980s, Tabitha Thomas, now joined by her daughter, Nadezhda Amé, has remained committed to fine quality made possible through slow fashion practices: The pair grows nearly all of the plants that they use in their signature botanical printing process, which creates silk garments imbued with the patterns of the living world.

Nadezhda says the community-minded, creator-driven ethos behind Bazar à la Carte complements the aesthetic and modes of operation that have driven Kasiopya for more than three decades.

"From our multi-functional body scarf that can be worn as a top, headscarf, sarong, cover-up, belt, and more to our handcrafted, botanically printed dresses and skirts, any piece from Kasiopya is a work of art," Nadezhda says. "One thing I've learned recently is that if something is driving you, no matter how niche or odd it may initially seem, there's a reason for it and to do it. Bringing a creative community together like Bazar à la Carte is doing allows all of us to recognize that instinct and drive are communal intelligence. I benefit from standing next to my fellow creatives, whether our products or services are similar or different because I can recognize that we both operate from similar functions and can support each other in these efforts. When we recognize that this is not a competition but a community, everyone benefits and thrives together."
Jared Heller, the chef behind Fat Cat Ferments, a line of naturally fermented food products, will debut his newest creations at Bazar à la Carte. He'll also host a 30-minute workshop on fermentation for ten attendees. During the workshop, which costs $35 per attendee, he'll cover the basics of lacto-fermentation and send guests home with a 32-ounce jar of dill pickles they fermented themselves. He says he's looking forward to sharing his passion for transforming simple ingredients into new flavors with his fellow community members.

"Every city needs a Bazar à la Carte," Heller says. "Events like this foster creativity in all its forms and provide a local community for like-minded individuals. Bazar à la Carte also provides an amazing platform for small businesses to gain traction while providing meaningful opportunities for the attendees who get to engage with them."

Fakhoury has been organizing Bazar à la Carte events in downtown Gainesville since 2020, and as this author can attest, these bimonthly happenings have ushered in an artistic and cultural renaissance for a college town whose cultural programming has been historically confined to a rotating cast of white men holding acoustic guitars. What began as a passion project for a recent University of Florida graduate has blossomed into a movement. For each Bazar à la Carte, the city of Gainesville closes down several blocks to house more than 100 artisan vendors, food trucks, DJs, and creative activations. Recent markets have attracted crowds numbering around 2,000 to 3,000, including those of all ages and backgrounds.

"Bazar à la Carte has grown so much that the team decided it was time to expand the event throughout Florida, and Miami is our first stop," says Fakhoury, the co-owner of Gainesville's worker-owned commerce ecosystem How Bazar, who also co-owns Florida's Dion Dia Records and does extensive work for Palestinian advocacy. "Along with supporting artists, one of How Bazar's main goals with this market is to create a welcoming and inclusive environment that brings together a diverse group of people with various backgrounds, ages, and interests — just like what we do in Gainesville. Bringing together different people under a unified vibe is the unique objective of every event How Bazar hosts."

When the studio doors close at 10 p.m. on August 3, Fakhoury says, she hopes visitors to Bazar à la Carte's first occurrence in Miami leave the event with a newfound or renewed commitment to remaining steadfast in their support of South Florida's creative and arts economies.

"If it's because of this event or not, I hope that people throughout South Florida continue to recognize that now, more than ever, we need to be creative, and we need to encourage and support other creatives," she says. "It can feel so sad and dreary when you think about the fact that the people in power don't care about the arts. As the people who live in this messed up world that they created, we know the importance of art and creativity as outlets and as the very ways we sustain ourselves."

Bazar à la Carte. 6 to 10 p.m., Saturday, August 3, at Riverset Studios, 301 NW Ninth Ave., Miami; 305-318-4337; riversetstudios.com. Tickets cost $5 via thehowbazar.com.