designcincinnati

new products from three sheets 2 the wind

DAAP fashion design professor, graduate, and local artist Jenny Sauer, who created her business Three Sheets 2 the Wind in 2004, has recently released additional prints to her vast collection. Check out a few of them below...

images from threesheets2.com | click to enlarge

Jenny's work is clean and minimal and works in a variety of interiors. She has a "passion for vintage prints and handmade artisan-quality textiles." Her work is influenced by the "skeletal structure of plant life."

images from threesheets2.com | click to enlarge

Sauer's work embraces the Japanese philosophy of wabi-sabi: the beauty of things imperfect, modest and humble.

Find Three Sheets 2 the Wind locally at MiCA and MiCA 12/v and online at 2modern.

tucker's video

Check out this cool video by Kelly Kruthauptabout of Tucker's Restaurant in Over-the-Rhine. Thanks to the handsome Ekalb for the link.

daap fashion

The University of Cincinnati's 58th DAAP fashion show was held on June 12th. I wasn't able to attend, but tickets are always sold out well in advance and I can't really afford the hefty ticket price on my starving artist salary. I've gone in the past and it's always one of those over-the-top-I-can't-believe-I-am-in-Cincinnati sort of events that everybody should do once.

I was able to find photos of the senior collections online and pulled a few that caught my attention. The models in these photos are most likely other students since it was during the senior critique and not during the show.

images from aliasimaging.smugmug.com | click to enlarge

I find it interesting that most of these are wearable. The general public always looks at the New York and European fashion shows and in some grossed out voice says, "Who'd wear that?! That's totally unwearable!" The point isn't always to show something that's wearable on the street; it's to show what the designer is capable of. Sort of like, "Look how creative I am." Most of the larger design houses also have ready-to-wear collections which is what ends up in stores.

images from aliasimaging.smugmug.com | click to enlarge

I am assuming that most of these DAAP seniors want a portfolio that will allow them to get a decent job at a place like Abercrombie or The Gap. So, many probably play it safe, only pushing things so far. That may not seem like the life of a glamourous fashion designer, but not everybody can be the next Alexander McQueen. Getting ahead in the fashion design world is extremely challenging. Those bitchy queens are rough!

The DAAP fashion show is something that every design-interested Cincinnatian should experience at least once. You have a year to start planning on how you are going to get a ticket...

congrats to high street

Congrats to super cool local interior design and all-around-groovy shop, High Street, for being featured on HGTV's What you Get for the Money. The show airs tonight (Monday, June 22) at 7pm. Look for "The Loft-Life in Downtown Cincinnati" in tonight's $400,000 episode.

images from highstreet.com | click to enlarge

On the show, the client, Tom Borcher, shows off his High Street designed loft in downtown. Check out the cool photos on the High Street website. Congrats, High Street!

Also, check out High Street's new blog.

new logo

The city has recently updated its logo which was a $75,000 gift from Macy's, designed by local branding firm giant LPK...

There is an interesting discussion going on at Brand New about this logo. It's interesting to point out that many commenters are lamenting the fact that the new logo doesn't reflect the architectural history of the city, and these are people that don't live here. I'm just sayin'...

Here are some of the comments:

"I think that for a city trying to show its forward thinking as well as rich history the logo leaves something to be desired."

"...it definitely does not capture Cincy very well. Cincinnati is a a city rich with architecture and history and this logo doesn't convey that to me."

"As far as a city logo goes, this one is much better than most I've seen. I'm not saying it's perfect by any means, but it's certainly better than, say, Nashville's."

"It definitely doesn't feel 'Cincinnati' to me. This city's full of great things that are unknown even to people that live there (outstanding architecture, robust history, distinct and homey neighborhoods, great food, and an awesome downtown area considering the city size to name a few off the tip of my tounge). Seems like a missed opportunity to communicate these."

I don't think the new logo is THAT bad. It's much better than using some sort of boring crest or shield. What do you think?

pride!

Don't forget Cincinnati GLBT Pride events are this weekend! The two day festival is being held at Hoffner Park in Northside. Festival Hours are: Saturday, June 13th, 3:00pm - 9:00pm and Sunday, June 14th, 1:00pm - 7:00pm. Check out CityBeat's Pride insert for more detailed info.

cincinnati flickr favorites: old main library

This week's Cincinnati Flickr favorites come from the amazing set of photographs of the original main public library building:

click to enlarge | click links below for original photos

1. Main Library Entrance, 2. Main Library Entrance, 3. Main Library, 4. Art Room, Main Library, 5. Fiction Alcove, Main Library, 6. Newspaper Room, Main Library, 7. Main Hall, 8. Main Library, 1950s, 9. Main Hall

The Main Library has been downtown since 1874, when a new building was constructed at 629 Vine Street. According to library history, this building was considered "the most magnificent public library building in the country at the time." The building closed in 1955.

It sort of makes me sick knowing this building could have been saved.

desales corner

I've always loved the architecture around DeSales Corner, especially along Woodburn Ave. facing Madison Road.

images from building cincinnati | click to enlarge

I've wondered why this area hasn't been developed like O'Bryonville. Although, it's seen some new buildings and businesses the past few years.

Here are some "design-y" shops, galleries and restaurants in the area:

Manifest Gallery
"Venue for the display and experience of insightful, thought provoking art and design."

Pac Gallery
"A contemporary exhibition space that specializes in internationally based Contemporary Art and reflects our artistic style and global vision."

Strebel Art
Portraits

One More Stitch
Yarn, Knitting and Crochet supplies

Café Moca
Espresso, Tea and light food

otr/gateway summer celebration

I think all of you should stop by the OTR/Gateway Summer Celebration on June 20th.

From the event website: "This year is the kickoff event for the celebration. Over-the-Rhine has a rich, colorful and historic past. It is the most diverse and architecturally significant neighborhood in Cincinnati. The OTR/Gateway Celebration will create a gathering that celebrates the past, present and future of OTR."

Check out some really cool indie art/craft vendors, including: ICFTB (It Came From The Basement), Ovenfried Beads, Wire&Twine, Visualingual, among several others. Oh, and I will have a booth there, too, so say hello if you are a designcincinnati reader!

click to enlarge

There will also be some cool bands, such as: The Pink Ladies, Matthew Shelton’s Picnic, The Sundresses, and several others.

The event is on June 20th at the corner of 12th & Vine in the Gateway Quarter in Over-the-Rhine. The event starts at 10am and ends at 7pm. Check out the event page on Facebook, too.

See you there!

etsycincinnati: peanut butter and yelly

It's that time again... time to feature a local Etsy seller. This week it's Amber of Peanut Butter and Yelly.

"I believe anything made by hand is special!" Amber says. "There is something so real and heartfelt about handmade that you just can't get with mass produced things." Yelling the Etsy handmade mantra, Amber makes a "little bit of everything" and sells it in her shop.

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Receiving her BFA in Printmaking from NKU in 2005, her emphasis was in printmaking, but she had a hard time choosing what area to pick. She loves to draw, sculpt, paint; pretty much anything that has a creative outlet. Her mother taught her to sew at an early age and she has just recently started again. She says, "Each item I create has a tremendous amount of time and care put into it. Every item I make is something I would be proud to own myself."

Amber sells her items at a NVISION (4577 Hamilton Avenue, next door to The Comet). She has also done local craft fairs and festivals in the past including Art off Pike in Covington, Ft. Thomas Fine Art Festival and Hyde Park Square Fine Art Festival.

captain's log... haha, i love it! | click to enlarge

She loves selling items to local people that have grown up in the same area that she has. Going to art school she dreamed of moving away and doing something "big". Amber says, "The truth is the biggest and most important thing you can do as an artist is make yourself happy doing what you love. If you are making things just to impress the masses it eventually catches up with you. I am making things that I love and therefore others love them too. The fact that I haven't had to move away from my hometown shows that you can be anything you want to be anywhere you want to be."

Amber adds, "I would just like to say that Etsy is an amazing place to shop, If you haven't tried it please do. I would also like to thank Drew for offering to feature me in his blog."

Thanks Amber! Visit her shop, Peanut Butter and Yelly, on Etsy and support a Cincinnati artist!

And, as always, don't forget my Etsy shop, Kitsch Café Vintage, and my newly opened shop, Kitsch Café Handmade.

cincinnati craig's list picks: chairs part 2

There are so many great chairs on Craig's List, I had to do another selection of chair's for this week's Cincinnati Craig's List picks...

click to enlarge

- 1960's Vintage Knoll Saarinen Desk/Task Chair, $60 in Paddock Hills. Rare MCM chair with original Hopsack black wool upholstery and swivel reclining, rolling base.
- Mid-century modern Thonet plywood chairs, $595 for set of six in Columbus. (Ok, I know, this isn't in Cincinnati, but it showed up in the Cincinnati listings.) Chairs have Thonet One Park Avenue label.
- Mid-Century Mod Dining Table & Saarinen Chairs, $300 - $750 in Middletown. Buy chairs separate or complete set.
- Vintage Giancarlo Piretti ribbon chair, $250 for each, location unknown. Great iconic chairs by Peretti for Castelli.

why aren't we attracting new people?

I was recently reading a blog post on The Urbanophile about Michigan losing so much of its educated citizens and it got me thinking.

According to the Urbanophile, there are three sources of talent for Mid-western cities:
1. People who stay
2. Boomerangers who left and came back
3. Those new to the city

I think Cincinnati does well with attracting "boomerangers". There are quite a few locals I have met who lived in other parts of the country, but then returned when they started cranking out babies and wanted to be closer to their families.

As far as brain drain goes, I think we're not quite as strong as we are attracting boomerangers. There are, of course, a few college grads who stay (me included). As most of us know, however, many of them leave the city once they graduate from high school or from a local university like UC, Xavier or Miami.

Images from bousinka, cincyimages | click to enlarge

What about number 3, attracting those that are new to the city and have no prior connection? Most cities that are doing well, excel at this. Think about it. The cities that are constantly referred to as some sort of super cool hipster city that every body loves and is moving to in hoards **cough Portland cough** are attracting people who never lived in that particular city before.

I also have to add, many of these rock star cities I find physically boring, with mega sprawl and zero history. Houston and Phoenix, I'm looking at you. Also, other than the mountains and nature in general, Portland's surroundings and neighborhoods aren't anything special. In fact, most of its architecture is boring. But I digress...

Back on track... This quote from The Urbanophile got my attention:

"...to [attract talent] you can't just copy Seattle or Portland or Denver or Austin. Tackling those cities at their strongest point by trying to beat them at their own game is a fool's errand. And they've more or less decided to focus only on the educated elite. Instead, you have to think hard, get creative, dig deep and find a unique, compelling, and truly local vision for an environment that will appeal to a segment of the educated classes. It is an absolute imperative. Because smart, talented, ambitious, educated people, the kind who start companies or work in new economy businesses, want to live in a place where the civic aspirations match their personal aspirations."

It got me thinking. Then something that had been floating around in my head resurfaced. The one thing that sets Cincinnati apart from almost ALL Mid-west cities is its history, architecture and dense, walkable neighborhoods.

Why aren't we using this to attract new talent, fresh faces with new ideas and those willing to work on a grassroots level?

Images from cincyimages, rustbot82 | click to enlarge

There should be a local program created to find urban pioneers and historic preservationists. I'm not suggesting recruiting local citizens, since we all know that would fail. I'm talkin' a national search. Looking for people who want to roll up their sleeves and get to work. Who want to move someplace new and be part of its renaissance. A program that helps them purchase buildings, gives them advice should they need it, resources for tools and supplies, a place to live while they are renovating...

Why isn't the city doing this? I'm scratching my head.

cincinnati flickr favorites: architecture

I am a fairly heavy Flickr user. I usually post around 10 photos a week. I don't really consider myself a photographer, so I mostly use the photo sharing site as a social networking and marketing tool for my business.

I thought since I spend so much time on Flickr, I'd share some of my favorite Cincinnati photos in a regular series of posts. Up first, architecture:

click to enlarge | click links below for original photos

1. Riverfest, 2. Clifton Gaslight, 3. One Way to get a Loan., 4. Union Terminal, 5. morphosis, 6. Red Church, 7. Ceiling Detail, 8. morphosis, 9. Someone Lives Here.

etsycincinnati: arian and font supply

It's been a while since I've done an etsycincinnati interview. I will be getting back in to the swing of things with another round of interviews, hopefully one a week.

Today, our etsycincinnati interview is Arian from Fort Thomas. Arian has two Etsy shops- Arian, where she sells prints of her illustrations, and Font Supply, where she sells photographic prints of vintage inspired letters.

click to enlarge

Most of Arian's work is inspired by what's on her heart at the time. She is also inspired by children's picture books. She says, "As it is with most artists, art is my 'out'-- my way of communicating thoughts and feelings."

Arian grew up in the Cincinnati area, but then lived in Japan and Boston for several years. "We just moved back to the 'Nati five months ago so I'm still getting accustomed to the art scene here." She recently participated in a show at the Red Tree Gallery in Oakley.

She has also worked with a couple local bands (Seabird, Artists & Authors) designing t-shirts and other merch.

click to enlarge

"I love Cincinnati!" Arian says. "It has all the perks of a bigger city like Boston but is much more accessible and fun to explore." She feels "...it's constantly improving (in Over the Rhine for example) which, as an artist, is inspiring to be around." She says, "The people are friendly, the environment is more relaxed, and I'm always discovering more local artists and musicians that I love. It's a great place to be!"

Arian also has a nice blog about her work and her daily life, Arian's Studio.

Check out Arian's illustrations in her Etsy shop, as well as her cool alphabet prints at her second shop, Font Supply, and support a Cincinnati artist!

And, as always, don't forget my Etsy shop, Kitsch Café Vintage, and my newly opened shop, Kitsch Café Handmade

cincinnati craig's list picks: chairs

Several blogs, including Apartment Therapy, do regular "Craig's List roundups" - sorting through their local Craig's List-ings and picking the coolest to share with their readers. I thought i'd steal the idea and make it a semi-regular series of posts for designcincinnati.

In the first edition, it's chairs:

click to enlarge

- Retro Vintage Scandinavian Safari Chairs, $100 in Oakley. Original orange leather.
- Very Early Eames Chair, $400 in Eastgate. Shell is original, between 1948 and 50. Base is new, from Modernica.
- Vintage Retro Chair, $40 in Alexandria. Low lounge chair, in decent shape.
- Vintage Brunswick Fiberglass Shell Chairs, $25 for five chairs in Independence. Three colors, in good condition.

new old

I just came across these photos of new development in Over-the-Rhine. The first is of an infill building at 14th and Vine Streets developed by The Model Group.

click to enlarge | photos from urbancincy.com

I don't like to complain, so I won't say anything about the design of the building. I am more impressed that new construction is happening in Over-the-Rhine and that they attempted to blend the building in with the surrounding architecture.

The second building is at 13th and Republic Streets called the Lackman Lofts. Check out more photos here.

urban growth boundary

If you are sick of hearing how Portland is the best city in the world, raise your hands.

Ok ok, that was a bit snarky, but we do tend to hear a lot about Portland and its smart city planning, transportation, etc. One of the reasons the city has done well is it's urban growth boundary. This was a line drawn around the city in the 1970s that limits building, aka, sprawl. Developers had no where to build, so they started investing towards the center and ended up with a dense city that urban planners swoon over.

Check out this YouTube video that explains the grown boundary. Could something like this happen here? We can't even get the city and the county government to merge, so I really doubt it. But it's nice to think about. (By the way, Lexington has an urban growth boundary.)

flowers

I really like this year's flower carpet on Fountain Square.

click to enlarge

You find the concentric circle thing a lot in graphic design these days. But, I really like how this allowed the designer to break out of the normal carpet-means-a-big-rectangle that the flower carpet designers have used the past few years. For an aerial photo, check out Queen City Survey.

The carpet is being dismantled on Sunday, April 26. The plants will be handed out for free. The remaining will be planted in local parks.