Unique Bar Harbor Gifts

If you visit Bar Harbor every summer, or if you’re a local, then you know that our selection of products is pretty different now than when we opened up in 2007. We had a much smaller store then, and have since grown to include some really cool locally-inspired products that are exclusive to our Bar Harbor location. Bar Harbor gets visitors from around the world coming on cruise ships or driving up the coast for their family vacation or down from Canada on a motorcycle tour. With so many visitors every year, we decided to design a few products that would help people remember their trip to Bar Harbor and still represent the creative handcrafted work of the talented artisans we work with.

Normally, our artisan partners do their own design work and we simply decide which products to carry in our store, but more and more groups have begun to do custom work which really opens the door to a lot of new products. We wanted to create some products that were really meaningful for our customers since Bar Harbor is such a cool place. We planned a few designs that feature iconic nautical scenes, some are inspired by scenes from Acadia National Park or Frenchman’s Bay and some are more traditional “touristy” items that say “Maine” or “Bar Harbor,” but they use very inventive materials like bicycle chains.

We love the fact that fair trade organizations celebrate collaboration and creativity. We hope that visitors to our store find some unique Bar Harbor gifts to remember their vacations and we look forward to bringing new designs to the store in years to come.

Here are some of our favorites:

This delightful sun-catcher is made from recycled glass that is fused and then painted to depict the Bass Harbor Head Lighthouse, an iconic coastline landmark on the southern part of Mount Desert Island. This sun-catcher could be hung in a window or on a christmas tree as an ornament and is made in Ecuador by talented artisans. The bubbles in the glass vary in size and give this item and unique one-of-a-kind appeal!

Artisans in India make this metal bowl by bending and cutting wire into all the different letters to spell Bar Harbor and Maine. The big star in the middle gives it a sort of rustic, barn look and the swirls just add some fun! The cut letters are welded to the rings giving it a solid structure making it great for storing fruit or simply hang it on the wall in your home or office.

Custom products like these make great gifts.  If you’re even in need of favors for a wedding or office gifts, let us know and we can arrange a design with the artisans – the possibilities are endless!