Brooke Serson Cernonok’s luxurious teddy bears are made from reworked cashmere.
Credit: Teddylux

12/2/04 - Market Returns to Means Street

Holiday shoppers will get the chance to bring home something a little different this weekend when the Urban Market on Means Street returns to Atlanta.

The European-style market is housed at 600 Means St., one of the Marietta Street corridor’s freshly renovated industrial buildings, and offers everything from French antiques and fine art to handcrafted bath products and South African woven baskets. More than 100 vendors will be showcasing their wares at the market this weekend.

One of those vendors is Brooke Serson Cernonok. The Castleberry Hill resident is offering her teddy bears and other accessories at the Urban Market for the first time, and like most of the market’s vendors, she’s put a unique spin on her wares.

Cernonok collects old cashmere sweaters and recycles them into what must certainly be Atlanta’s most luxe toys, hence the name Teddylux. She said she isn’t exactly sure how she stumbled onto the idea, but she was “struck with it” and went from there. Cernonok also reworks fine knits and cashmere into hats and crafts unique flower pins that blend vintage materials with modern ones.

Cernonok said she’s “a bit of a scavenger,” and while she won’t reveal her trade secrets to finding old, luxurious cashmere sweaters, she’s certainly good at it, and has a full color palette to work with. She’s using the Urban Market as a “launch pad,” she said, since she’s just getting started with the business. She also has an online store (www.teddylux.com) and said she’s making some contacts with Atlanta vendors.

Cernonok first came to the market as a shopper, and said she was impressed with its vibrancy and its “interesting mix” of products. It was the perfect venue, she said, to introduce her products.

The market is open Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Shoppers can waive the admission price of $3 by donating a new children’s book, which will be distributed to children in need by a local nonprofit.

Jeweler Victoria Greenhood has been exhibiting at the market since its inception, and she said the community of vendors and the market’s leaders have become “like a family.” The market is the only such show Greenhood does, because, she said, of the environment and the clientele. Greenhood, who has a shop in Morningside, said the market’s indoor location is ideal, and it’s not as “rustic” as many other events.

Greenhood said that unlike most other markets and festivals, customers at the Urban Market are “not people just out strolling.” Instead, she said they are sophisticated and “interested consumers,” and Greenhood said that just meeting these customers is good business.

“If I don’t make a sale, I either make a friend or a future customer,” she explained, adding that those meetings are especially important for a jeweler, where trust is a major issue.

Greenhood said the market has a relaxed atmosphere where people will most certainly have fun—and get to sample some great food. She said it’s easy to promote among friends, because she knows people will enjoy it.

For more information, including directions, visit www.urban-market.com.