Members of the Vineyard’s creative community seldom miss an opportunity to support each other, especially when there’s free food involved, as was the case when Island artisans, interior decorators and architects met last week to share notes on sourcing custom-made, handcrafted built-ins and accessories close to home.

The gathering at Julie Robinson Interiors in Vineyard Haven, sponsored by the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce, included several Island artisans who were featured in the chamber’s Sourcebook of Architectural and Design Elements Handcrafted on Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket. They milled about Ms. Robinson’s showroom, nibbling hors d’oeuvres prepared by Tea Lane Caterers and talking about their work.

Many of them — such as glass artist Jeri Dantzig, woodworker and chef Laura Silber and ceramicist Lisa Strachan — have known each other for years, displaying and selling their work through the Vineyard Artisans Festivals and developing mutual respect, camaraderie and cooperation along the way.

“I call the Artisans Festival the 50 musketeers,” Ms. Dantzig said. “Okay, maybe there are a few d’Artagnans in there, but it’s mostly musketeers. There’s no better place to work with others. There’s so much support there.”

As a group and as individuals, they’ve worked hard to get the word out to residents and visitors, many of whom return to the Island year after year to seek out their favorite artists and craftspeople. “It’s become a destination for people who are interested in the arts,” Ms. Dantzig explained. “Our customers value quality and unique style, and there’s so much great talent right here.”

Ms. Silber, who builds her Demolition Revival Furniture using recycled construction materials, agreed. “The things created here are unusual enough; you’d be hard-pressed to find them off-Island anyway,” she said. “And when our customers go home, they remember us. We’re starting to export work off-Island now.”

In fact, the work of Island artists and artisans captured the attention of the Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce years ago, as they realized the value in marketing Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard as attractive day trips for visitors to the Cape. The chamber began including artists from both Islands, first in a book outlining itineraries to galleries, studios and workshops, and later, in the source book directory.

“The Cape Cod Chamber is phenomenal at promoting artists,” Ms. Dantzig explained. “They’re very proactive. They recognize that artists are an integral part of the community, and that it’s worth keeping the arts healthy and strong.”

The gathering last week was one of several public events and artist workshops the chamber has sponsored, this one in cooperation with the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber of Commerce, and it attracted the interest of building and home decorating professionals.

“The handing out of the source book came at a great time,” said Helen Koch of Edgartown’s Tracker Home Décor. “For many of our clients, the home we’re working on is their second home. For them Martha’s Vineyard is a very special place and they really appreciate things created here. I’m sure we’ll be showing the guide and suggesting people to clients,” she said, adding:

“I’ve already made a few connections tonight. I have a client with a stained-glass window in the master bedroom, and I met someone who might be able to make similar pieces to complement it for some transom windows.”

Tracker Home Décor opened for business last spring during an inauspicious time in the country’s economy, but Ms. Koch and her partners, John Murphy and Scott Patterson, are encouraged by what they’ve experienced to date. “We were very busy last summer and business has continued to be good,” Ms. Koch said. “People are working with what they already have and updating the look [of their homes]. We’re doing a lot of slipcovers and reupholstering of existing furniture. For the last year, people have been holding off somewhat, but now I’m sensing that they’re getting ready to move forward with some bigger projects.”

Julie Robinson, who’s been in business here for 26 years, concurred, saying her interior design staff has kept busy with smaller projects such as reupholstering furniture and creating window treatments. Last year she opened a furniture consignment shop in an empty retail space adjoining her studio. She’s starting to feel a slight surge in activity, she said, and recently began work on a bigger interior design project. When the Cape chamber approached her about hosting a gathering of Island artisans, she figured it was a win-win situation.

“We have so many talented people on this Island, and it’s great to be able to use their work,” she said. “Clients love their houses to have touches of anything Vineyard.”

She is currently working on the renovation of a small house that has been transformed into a larger house to accommodate a growing family and describes her upholstery business as very busy. “People want to be able to save a comfortable piece of furniture by recovering it,” she wrote in an e-mail later. “This economic slowdown has been the hardest. The winters used to be much busier with interior design projects. The people who have the money to build the large houses very often bring their designers from off-Island who have done the clients’ other houses. We are always happy to do the hands-on work for those designers — make and hang the designers’ choice of window treatments or recover their furniture. We do not have to always be the designers. I have a great workroom and library of fabrics, rugs and window treatments that is open for other designers to use.”

For Laura Silber, the gathering helped her reconnect with other professionals. “Julie hadn’t seen my work for about five years, and hadn’t known how far it had come,” she said. “She’s asked for one or two pieces for the showroom, and will keep me in mind for upcoming projects.”

Though she hasn’t received any direct referrals from the source book yet, inclusion in the directory has had a “domino effect” on Ms. Silber’s business, buttressing other promotional efforts, including her Web site. “It provided the incentive I needed to get everything together,” she said.

Maeghan Storey, the source book project coordinator, said the Cape chamber has marketed the directory — which features 52 Cape and Islands artists, including eight from the Vineyard — in Boston, Hartford and New York, and plans to expand its marketing efforts to Washington, D.C., and other locations this year.

“We all recognize that artists are bringing people to the Cape and Islands — they’re a huge part of this economy,” she said. “To keep them alive and well only benefits the community at large. It’s a sophisticated buyer who comes here.”

The Cape Cod Chamber of Commerce plans an addendum featuring 10 more artists and will send the new information free to anyone who has already purchased a sourcebook. Artists who work in the following fields will be considered for participation: furniture, hand-produced flooring, cabinetry, ceramic tile, sinks, lighting, stained glass, metal work, textiles, garden sculpture, masonry, decorative painting (murals and wall tre atments, not individual paintings), andtextiles. 

Inclusion in the directory source book and Web site costs $500 per artist, and includes business workshops sponsored by the Cape chamber. The source book itself, a sturdy, attractively designed three-ring binder filled with high-quality photographs depicting the work of its artisans, is available for $39.95 online at capeandislandssourcebook.com

For information on the application process, artists and craftsmen may contact Ms. Storey at 508-362-3225, extension 512, or by e-mailing maegan@capecodchamber.org. The application deadline is Feb. 15.