How Puces POP drives a local, handmade economy of Montreal artisans

Nearly two decades in, and POP Montreal's Puces POP has earned its place as one to discover the city's shifting trends in its design, crafts, and art scenes.

J.P. Karwacki

December 7, 2023- Read time: 4 min

Photograph: Puces POP

There are artisanal fairs, and then there’s THE artisanal fair: Montreal's Puces POP.

An off-shoot of the POP Montreal International Music Festival, was born in 2004 with a focus on hand-made products by local artisans ranging from clothiers, visual artists, jewelers, ceramicists, toymakers, gourmandises—you name it, and they’ve probably sold it at some point over their near-two decades of operation.

Since its inception, Puces POP has grown to include three fairs throughout a given year (one of which being a holiday edition that’s more of a two-for-one affair held over two weekends), each time bringing together 100 or more vendors and 10,000 visitors.

Now, it’s more than safe to say that it’s a foundational part of the POP universe.

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