Contemporary Craft Market 2025

At the Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum, the “Contemporary Craft Market 2025” will take place on September 6th and 7th from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM. This year, visitors will again have the opportunity to explore the latest trends in Latvian craftsmanship and purchase beautiful, useful household items, jewelry, and clothing made from natural materials, as well as homemade food products. In parallel with the market, there will be an engaging cultural program, including special performances and creative workshops for children. Both days, the market square will host demonstrations of craft skills.

More than 350 craftsmen and food producers have registered for the market, making it the second largest market after the Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum Fair, traditionally held at the beginning of June.

The Contemporary Craft Market has become a stable tradition at the Latvian Ethnographic Open-Air Museum, offering a chance to see the talent and exceptional creativity of craftsmen, who find and create modern solutions based on traditional craftsmanship knowledge and skills. Latvian craftsmen, working with a variety of methods and materials, are invited to participate, combining craft skills, technological development, and contemporary design elements in their creations. The craft items must be of high quality and handmade by the craftsmen themselves. They should combine beauty with utility: artistic independence and craftsmanship ability. The items represented in the market should simultaneously reflect the modern society's demand for unique products, shape visitors' individual tastes, and offer alternatives to uniform mass production expressions.

The food and catering offerings at the Contemporary Craft Market should include modern and creative variations on themes from Latvian traditional cuisine, offering fruits, berries, and vegetables grown in Latvia and showcasing contemporary ways to process, prepare, serve, or preserve them for winter in a diverse, tasty, and healthy manner.

Alongside the market, there is traditionally an interesting cultural program. On Saturday, September 6th, in the Ezermala meadow, there will be a puppet theater performance for kids, an adventure game by the “KiLi-KiLi” group based on a Latvian folk tale “Who Are These Helpers!” featuring actors Laila and Jānis Kirmuška and Dace Vītola, while in the Livonian yard, a clay workshop led by potter Mārtiņš Kabučs and a children's workshop “Summer Freckles.” On the stage in the Ezermala meadow, market scenes “Craftsmen's Tricks and Crazy Competition” and “Do You Have a Business Card?” will be enacted by actors Kārlis Anitens and Anna Šteina. The Riga Technical University choir “Vivere” and the group “Dindari” will perform.

On Sunday, September 7th, in the Ezermala meadow, there will be a performance from the Liepāja Traveling Puppet Theater “Once in Micīšciems,” while in the Livonian yard, a clay workshop led by potter Mārtiņš Kabučs and a children's workshop “Summer Freckles.” On the stage in the Ezermala meadow, market scenes “The Craftsman and the Weather” and “Why Does the Craftsman Create and the Buyer Buy?” will be enacted by actors Kārlis Anitens and Anna Šteina. The group “Iļģi” and the folk dance ensemble “Ogre” will perform, and the cultural program will conclude with the group “Dārdaru Musicians.”

In the museum's exhibition hall, it is the last chance to see sculptor Jānis Žīmants' exhibition “Other Birds.”