Brunswick Jewelry Maker Turns Flea Market Finds Into Thriving Creative Business

Crystal Gilbert was not a creative kid. Growing up in Augusta in a household where her parents didn't drive, independence came slowly, and her working life began with intermittent part-time jobs while she managed a chronic illness. At 23, she runs a jewelry business out of Brunswick's Fort Andross Mill flea market, and it started with a pair of safety-pin earrings.

Gilbert made the earrings, posted them on social media, and watched them sell almost immediately. That transaction was the turning point. She began making and selling more pieces at the Brunswick Flea Market and other local markets, building a small business from handcrafted and upcycled jewelry with no traditional startup capital behind it.

Her process has evolved alongside her presence at Fort Andross. Rather than sourcing from mass suppliers, Gilbert now picks through the flea market itself for materials, turning secondhand finds into finished pieces. The approach ties her work directly to the reuse culture already embedded in the market's mix of vintage goods and handmade items, a circular economy operating at street level.

The Fort Andross Mill, with its old elevator shaft and layered atmosphere of vendors, suits Gilbert's sensibility. Customers who first bought from her years ago continue to return for new pieces, a kind of loyalty she has described as "priceless."

Megumi Iwai-Louie profiled Gilbert in a "Why Brunswick?" column in The Bowdoin Orient on March 27, touching on the all-pink aesthetic and high-energy personality that made what began as an interview feel like friendship. The column captures how a creative livelihood can be built in place, using a local marketplace as both supplier and storefront.

Fort Andross, the mill building on the Androscoggin River, provides exactly that: low barriers to entry for young makers, a built-in customer base, and a supply chain one booth away. For Gilbert, it provided both at once.