The Pitch‘s Crafts & Drafts returns Saturday, including these intriguing vendors

Sure, Imperial Drifter makes high-quality grooming products for men: juniper-mint pomade, old-fashioned German safety razors, beard oil that smells like rosemary and sweet orange. But after 10 years in the body-care industry, founder Benjamin Aaron also has bigger — and more important — goals than ensuring that your hair game is on point.

For every product sold, Imperial Drifter (imperialdrifter.com) donates $1 to the Lovin’ Soap Project, a nonprofit that teaches women in developing nations to make soap and body-care products. As co-founder, Aaron has traveled to Haiti, India and Uganda, among other destinations. In the Tibetan mountains, for example, he harvested yak milk and fat to make soap. Next month, he heads to Senegal.

“When you think of Toms, you don’t just think of a shoe,” Aaron says. “You think of what they’re doing that goes beyond just buying a pair of shoes. That’s what I’m trying to do with Imperial Drifter.”

Not that you need a great cause to indulge in expensive, delicious-smelling shower products. “I call it humble vanity,” Aaron says. “It’s rad to take care of yourself.”

If Aaron sounds like a guy you’d want to have a beer with, you’ll get your chance when he sets up shop at The Pitch’s Crafts & Drafts. Our third indie craft fair — complete with local and national beer vendors — happens March 26 at the Uptown Shoppes (3617 Broadway), starting at 10 a.m. In addition to Aaron, here are five other vendors worth sharing a pint or two with.

Show Me Pottery

showmepottery.com

Amy Leadingham has finally perfected her 64-ounce porcelain growlers. After she started working at Waldo’s Kansas City Bier Co. last February, she opened her studio, Show Me Pottery, and began selling her wares at the brewery. Creating KC Growlers seemed like a logical next step.

“Nobody is doing it in Kansas City,” she says. “Everybody loves local handmade crafts and art — and it’s even better if you can incorporate your beer.”

Leadingham takes custom orders and will gladly individualize each piece, which can be used to transport your favorite microbrew. She prefers to fill hers with Kansas City Bier Co.’s Hefeweizen. Because the growlers are made of porcelain, they keep their contents cold and fresh. (Leadingham says she once left some kombucha in a growler overnight, and in the morning, the liquid was still chilled.)

At Crafts & Drafts, Leadingham will have growlers up for grabs, as well as her commemorative Kansas City Royals World Series championship tumblers. A Chicago native, she has lived in town for 12 years — ample time to embrace her new home team.

“I finally bought my first Royals T-shirt last year,” she says.

Ocean & Sea

oceanandsea.com

Founded in 2013 by Brendan O’Shaughnessy and his wife, Amanda, Ocean & Sea will be easy to spot at Crafts & Drafts. That afternoon, the clothing and accessories company plans to take its newly completed sailboat pop-up shop for its maiden voyage. Yes, you read that right — it’s a trailer in the shape of a simple cartoon sailboat, which mimics Ocean & Sea’s distinctive logo.

“You can’t miss it,” O’Shaughnessy says.

It might sound odd for a nautical-themed clothing company to be based in landlocked Kansas City, but when you talk to self-described dreamer O’Shaughnessy, it ends up making sense.

“Amanda is a teacher, and she teaches primarily kindergarten to second grade,” O’Shaughnessy tells me. “Our super-long name is usually fairly difficult for kids, so she’ll put on the board ‘Miss Ocean and Sea,’ and they’ll never forget it.”

T-shirts with playful, minimalist designs are the core of what they do, but O’Shaughnessy also considers himself an innovator, aiming to develop new products like the Hang 10, a multipurpose accessory hanger that O’Shaughnessy uses for keys and his wife uses for jewelry. “This is just the beginning,” he says.

Wood + Wick

woodandwickco.com

A strong believer in the healing power of nature, Wood + Wick founder E.J. Wood loves to help people get outdoors. As a graphic-design student at Johnson County Community College, she doesn’t have much free time, so she donates 3 percent of the proceeds from her candle company to the National Parks Foundation.

“This is my way of helping those parks stay open, because they’re having trouble right now,” she says.

She’s also concerned about what she puts in her products, which is why she uses domestically grown soy wax, high-quality essential oils and cotton-core wicks instead of artificial fragrances and paraffin wax and zinc-core wicks, which can be lung irritants and carcinogens.

For Crafts & Drafts, Wood has worked up a “beer-can candle” collaboration with Beer Paws, which makes craft-beer treats and accessories for dogs. She’ll also have her original creations on hand, including her signature redwood scent, which she describes as “masculine, mellow and romantic.”

GreenBeeKC

greenbeekc.com

After selling vintage items at Bella Patina, in the West Bottoms, Rena Krouse wanted to add more handmade kitchen items to her inventory. About a year ago, she started making vintage-inspired flour-sack towels as GreenBeeKC. Featuring plants, flowers and farm animals, Krouse’s designs are clean and straightforward, often including the illustration and typography on a plain white tea towel.

“I want people to have something that’s practical but also pretty in their house without being from a big-box store,” she says.

One of her more popular prints features the outline of a cow with the different butcher cuts highlighted: chuck, prime rib, porterhouse.

“A lot of people really like that one,” she says. “Kansas City is a barbecue community, and everybody likes to see the different cuts of beef.”

She has more food-themed items planned for her first time at Crafts & Drafts, proving this Kansas City native definitely knows her audience.

FunHouse57

funhouse57.com

Colorful, bold, eccentric, mischievous: Dick Daniels’ art is a lot of things, but it’s certainly not subtle. One of his favorite designs features a cartoon dog walking merrily along, carrying a banner that instructs: “Kiss My Ass.” Another shows a grimacing pink blob wearing gloves and shoes below the word “POOPY.”

Inspired by vintage comics and advertising art from the 1930s, Daniels paints mostly on repurposed wood and scrap metal, but he also makes prints, T-shirts, pint glasses and letterpress prints. After working as a humor artist at Hallmark for 25 years, making the full-time transition to his own art felt like a natural progression.

A Crafts & Drafts veteran, Daniels says he likes to watch people experience his art for the first time.

“It’s a lot of work to put these things together, and the best thing is when everything is in place, and the doors are open, and I can just sit back and relax and see what people think,” he says. “I really get off on the reactions I get from people. It’s a fun day.”