Thousands of shoppers crushed into the National Convention Centre for the Handmade Canberra market, where Australian designers spruiked their wares.

Just don't call their goods ''handicrafts'': as market co-owner Julie Nichols explained, the products on offer were a cut above the typical ''trash-and-treasure'' fodder.

''When you say 'handicrafts', people think crocheted doilies and toilet-roll holders,'' she said.

Yet not a doily was to be seen: rather, the 150 stalls contained jewels worth $5000 and beautiful bespoke furniture, as well as more affordable items such as clothes, art and hand-crafted chocolates.

Ms Nichols said the quarterly event attracted crowds of up to 15,000, while the stallholders ranged from weekend hobbyists to those with multimillion-dollar businesses.

Many of the designers were Canberran; the rest had travelled from interstate to try their luck.

One of those, Melburnian Ivan Hackel, proved a hit with the capital's hipsters. His business, Tread & Pedals, sells discarded bike parts that he and his partner, Emma Dinkgreve, ''upcycle'' into clocks, jewellery and accessories.

A former bicycle mechanic, Mr Hackel said he noticed the amount of waste thrown out at bike shops and thought ''there must be something better I could be doing with that''.

He and Ms Dinkgreve now transform worn tyres and oily chains - ''cleaning would be the biggest part of the job'' - into ''sustainable designs for him, her and home''.

''They say Melbourne's a bike city, but Canberra seems even more bicycle-friendly,'' Mr Hackel said.

The next Handmade Canberra market will be on the Queen's Birthday long weekend in June.