CRAFTED AT THE PORT OF LOS ANGELES, the largest permanent indoor crafts marketplace, is riding the wave of excitement surrounding handmade crafts. Creators of the new facility are buoyed by the popularity of crafts, which has never been more widespread despite—or perhaps resulting from—the rough economic climate.

CRAFTED, opening June 29th, will be home to many courageous and talented craft artists.

CRAFTED brings together a community of crafters, much like a real-life Etsy store, and gives them a home. After being laid-off as a personal assistant and 1 1/2 years of job-hunting, Grace Juhn of Cake Bar took another approach.

"I realized that I didn't really want to go back to the day to day of a regular job, I really wanted to do something that made me jump out of bed every morning and made me HAPPY." Cake Bar, alcohol-infused bakery goods, is the result of Juhn's creativity and love for baking. 

Christina Shelby shares a similar story.  Unexpectedly laid-off and a single mother, Shelby had to be resourceful. In a few short months she discovered her eye for design and talent for jewelry-making, the result—Designs by Scorpio.   

"I've never felt so good about stepping out on a ledge and risking everything," Shelby says, expressing sentiments of many in the marketplace.