MARK YOUR CALENDARS!
patchwork spring shows are coming soon...
long beach * may 20th * 11-5 * marine stadium * bayshore @ appian
santa ana * may 27th * 11-5 * NEW LOCATION: downtown * sycamore & second st.
culver city * june 10th * helms bakery * 8711 washington
just as i was riding off into the sunset last sunday after patchwork long beach, i took a quick detour down to 4th street to check out moxi. owned by michelle “estro jen” steilen, co-founder of the long beach roller derby- the tiny shop is jam-packed with kickass retro skates for rental/purchase and steilen’s own line of american-made “revitalized classic” quad skates (including the adorable “ivy” with black & white zebra stripe and translucent ruby red wheels). and, although roller skating fits into a dim regrettable part of my adolescent memory involving color-coordinated scrunchies, socks and white denim- as i shopped under the beneficent sparkle of moxi’s roller-skate shaped disco ball… i could almost imagine myself as a new kind of suburban skating warrior… -varci vartanian (staff writer)
usually rainy days provide the perfect excuse to lay around in my p.j's all day watching bad romantic comedies and thrillers. but last sunday...no such luck. instead auntie delilah and i were running around a parking lot in long beach setting up for the first patchwork indie arts & crafts festival of holiday 2011 in long beach. by 11:00am we were soaked from head to toe. our trusty volunteers and staff also felt the pain of wet socks and hair in the morning chill (though some of them were smarter than me and wore rain boots). by 11:30 the sun was out and so were the crowds. we're so thankful that the morning rain didn't hinder our loyal patchwork followers. the vendors braved the weather, clipping tarps to their tent walls and patiently waiting/crossing their fingers that the rain would pass. the day ended up being awesome! i've gotten so many emails from vendors saying how happy they were that they stayed! if you missed long beach be sure to check out our next shows in
PATCHWORK CULVER CITY
NOV 13TH 11-5PM
HELMS BAKERY ON HELMS AVE BETWEEN VENICE AND WASHINGTON
PATCHWORK SANTA ANA
NOV 27TH 11-5PM
MAIN STREET @ BUFFALO
karyn cantor, designer and owner of vintage retro modern jewelry and accessories line classic hardware is our guest this week on maker weekly. i've had the pleasure of knowing karyn for years. she's a great business woman, always stylishly dressed, smiles all the time and has a great eye for design.
please introduce yourself?
hello, i am karyn cantor, the designer and owner of classic hardware, a vintage inspired and art driven jewelry and gift line. i grew up in los angeles and moved to san francisco in 1989 to complete my b of a in photography. i started classic hardware in 1995 in sf. at first, i was creating wire wrapped sterling silver necklaces and selling them to a gallery store which lead to producing a line of pocket watches and then grew into the beginning of classic hardware. i moved the company and myself back to la in 2005 and my business currently is located in burbank, ca.
what do you make or do?
over the last 16 years, my business has taken many different directions. i began the company with pocket watches and pendant watches. i also made chunky toggle necklaces and bracelets that had more of a punk edge. in the past few years, i have been collaborating with many contemporary artists and displaying their art on my jewelry designs. we currently make necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings, card cases, tampon cases, pillboxes and wall art. the line is all made in the us and assembled in my studio/warehouse space.
where can we find your creations?
http://www.classichardware.com/ and hundreds of boutiques and specialty stores throughout the us, canada, europe and australia.
how long have you been creating and is it your full-time job?
i have had classic hardware as my full-time job for the past 16 years. before that, i was making jewelry part-time and teaching art classes part-time to middle school age kids and i was a studio manager for a photographer. this job in particular helped me understand how to run a small business.
when you're not making things, what do you do?
i enjoy going out with my boyfriend, ron, and friends to see live music particularly swing, americana, rockabilly and good old rock’n’roll. we also enjoy going to art openings and different events around la.
is creativity a luxury or a necessity for you?
it is both. i love coming up with new ideas and new concepts. over the last few years, i find i get really excited about engineering new pieces. it’s great to have an idea and to have the challenge of making parts fit together from what you visualize in your head. i also enjoy coming up with ideas for artists to illustrate and creating themes for them to work with and see how they expedite my concepts. it’s a great part of the collaboration process.
i also think marketing can be a creative aspect to one’s business. i enjoy coming up with new ideas and strategies for growing my business (especially in this not-so-hot economy) and yes, it’s exceptionally nice when the ideas actually work!
where do you find inspiration?
i find inspiration from people, traveling, nature, art, museums and galleries, flea markets, vintage clothing and, of course, jewelry. as previously mentioned, engineering really inspires me, so figuring out how to make things work is very exciting!
if money wasn’t an issue how would your life change with regards to your art?
i feel quite fortunate to have been able to have a career for the past 16 years from doing what i love, but i never began with money as my goal. all of this started as a labor of love and many of my favorite designs are not always the best sellers yet, but i need to produce them to feel creatively satisfied and perhaps inspire others. sometimes i put items in the line just because i find them funny and i hope that someone else will find amusement in them too. this is not always my best marketing strategy, but you have to do things that you enjoy! even if i were independently wealthy i would still need to be creative and i believe one can be creative on many different levels in life.
what would be your perfect day off?
i love traveling and am lucky that i get to enjoy traveling a lot for business, but having a true vacation is really important to me and my sanity. i love working out, swimming, biking, hiking, shopping, eating and drinking, live music, swing dancing, a good read, great conversation… and laying in a hammock with a my boyfriend by my side… that’s a perfect day!
what inspiring advice would you give to other creatives be they established or just starting out?
staying small with your business for a while is a really good thing. it’s really important for you to understand every aspect of your business from designing to production and marketing to accounting. you need to know and learn these things so you can truly oversee them. once you have this, then you can establish different roles for your business and what it is you do best. you cannot do everything so you need to focus on your strengths and skills then you can delegate the rest.
this is the key to my heart retrolite necklace from classic hardware which was my first ever purchase from karyn... i now own 3 of these necklaces-i'm a little obsessed!
PATCHWORK INDIE ARTS & CRAFTS FESTIVAL'S FALL SHOWS ARE COMING TO TOWN...
PATCHWORK LONG BEACH
NOV 6TH 11-5PM
MARINE STADIUM BAYSHORE @ APPIAN WAY
PATCHWORK CULVER CITY
NOV 13TH 11-5PM
HELMS BAKERY VENICE BLVD @ NATIONAL
PATCHWORK SANTA ANA
NOV 27TH 11-5PM
MAIN STREET @ BUFFALO
i have never been married and neither has delilah. we’ve watched several (or most) of our friends plan for months (sometimes years) every painstaking detail—obsessing over bridesmaids dresses, the perfect shade of ivory frosting or (god forbid) ice sculptures. but we haven’t been through it ourselves.
when i was twelve, my mom got married. after the wedding, the purple limo (it was the 80’s after all!) pulled up to our house dropping my grandmother and i off while my parents were whisked away to hawaii. as we walked up the sidewalk to the front door i thought “so, that’s it, huh?” and that was it, months of stress and tears and decisions were all for just a few hours of chaotic joy.
after every patchwork i get a similar feeling that i had after my mom’s wedding…as far as the planning and then having it all be over in the blink of an eye. but mixed with that i also feel an overwhelming sense of pride, amazement & gratitude. and, of course i always think of how lucky i am to have an auntie like delilah who’s so awesome, hardworking and inspiring!
so, in the spirit of patchwork & weddings…i’d like to introduce you to the people behind the website that i spent all morning in bed obsessing over. chris & jenn of {chris & jenn} photography. these two take wedding pictures that make me actually want to get married (perhaps several times) just so i can be the subject of their heartfelt, artistic, unique photos. they manned the patchwork santa ana spring 2011 photobooth.
this is one of chris & jenn's photos!
a few weeks ago and delilah and i swept through the finally empty parking lot where just a few hours before patchwork indie arts & crafts festival long beach had been, we were both sort of blown away. the event had been a huge success, great music, big crowds, sun making it’s way through the wind and morning rain, delicious food and the creations of the vendors were lovely, diverse and inspiring. with patchwork santa ana only 2 short weeks away, i started to wonder how it could top the amazing long beach show.
now, about a week after our santa ana show, i am proud and elated to say that santa ana rocked just as hard as long beach and in some ways even more. in between manning our respective booths, checking in with vendors, volunteers and lana our volunteer coordinator, delilah and i squeezed in a few moments to wax nostalgic on the humble beginnings of patchwork.
back then (november 2007) patchwork consisted of 25 vendors in a parking lot behind delilah’s store. we had nearly 150 vendors at each of our long beach and santa ana shows for spring 2011. the santa ana shows marks our 13th patchwork! patchwork keeps getting bigger and brighter and delilah and i are looking forward to more shows in more cities, hopefully by this november. check out some photos below from santa ana last sunday for some highlights.
view of the crowd from buffalo street towards broadway
from buffalo street towards main street
and inside the harvey's lot
birds-eye peek at the show
sometimes there's a lady...sometimes there's a lady...
and her name is lana. without her, delilah & i would be stark raving mad lunatics running around the show trying to organize everything but we don't because lana, our volunteer coordinator extraordinaire takes care of day of snafus and making patchie run smoothly for us...thanks lana!
lovebird-style listening to the band
chris & jenn our photographers for the photobooth snap images of guests
pretty paris always has a great colorful display
ruby blaise sweetly gifted lovely handmade soaps to delilah and i...mmm...relaxing lavendar
our trusty patchie volunteers manned kelso doesn't dance's booth while kelsey...
led some diy crafting workshops upcycling old t-shirts
old vine cafe served up gourmet grilled cheese and fancy salads
harvey's girls hard at work making custom buttons for fans
loving the customized tents! thanks cynthia morehouse!
gina of gina will cut you gave free bang trims and installed her rock n roll extensions
strawberry shortcake in cup enjoyed by a guest sporting a mustache from glimmer face painting
the gypsy den: always a great place for fresh bakes goods and savory treats
the couple behind the obsession-dana and melanie harvey or harvey's seat belt bags
custom feather hair adornments
i doubt i was the only one going crazy for bottlehood's upcycled wine, beer and soda bottles turned into lamps, glasses and more
adorable applique tees for the little ones
edgy bright accessories
the bands totally rocked on the new stage sponsored by the oc weekly and vitamin water
dali tote---really does it get any better than this?
love nail tree-i bought one of their typewriter tees
taxi cdc gives old clothes new life
sweet perversion's printed cards and art--LOVE.
kait emerson's kid's clothes classic styles and modern retro prints
loving the creative professional jewelry displays
what patchie show could be complete without bike valet
or scott & lou live screenprinting
we partnered with the oc roller girls who hung out, looked tough and promoted upcoming bouts
cathy of california signed her new vintage craft book- i bought a signed copy and am loving it! even if you're not a crafter, the book is filled with lovely writing and photos
the urban craft center's first time at patchwork...we were SO happy to have these great women be a part of the show.
auntie d debuts her new mason jar & vw van aprons at spring patchies
d, dana harvey & i just about to pack it up
thanks to chris & jenn photos for this amazing image of d & i
patchwork spring 2011 in long beach was our best show yet! check out some photos from the show...we hope to see you all may 29th 11-5 on buffalo & main street in santa ana for patchwork santa ana...
the morning rain let up for a beautiful sunny day
guests who rode thier bikes checked them in at our bike valet so they could peruse and shop
could we have a more lovely location for the show...
our sponsor we love long beach who makes this show possible!
micheal's pizza of the lbc
sweet treats from the black market bakery
we had amazing food trucks...java on the go, kut n sow, piaggio and slapfish (thier lobster roll was out of control!)
the entertainment area sponsored by open books with author readings, music performances and a book signing by cathy of california!
i LOVED the music at this show...
you can barely see it here but this guy had the coolest tiny teal keyboard
that's right...we power our music with the sun! thank you solar panels!
glimmer face painting treated kids to wearable art on thier faces!
the tiniest mustaches...
free craft workshops all day long!
one of our patchwork regulars modeling the handmade owl mask she designed at the show
handspun yarn, so cool!
on-site screenprinting from scott & lou
backyard bees local honey---delicious!
the cutest apron EVER
sass & peril rocked it with their animals
so much cute stuff & love thier display with vintagey labels
these wallets were RAD to the max!
stella neptunes embellished cashmere always rocks it
loved these stuffed pirates & lumberjacks!
lexi lee's adorable felt cactus situation
great display...loved this jewelry
relight and andrea luna reece with their collaborative owl candle
by belinda's cute wooden set-up
book lamps by alana-mosern eco radness!
loved these succulents
the poster list, a patchie classic
such lovely ceramics
great nature inspired paintings
lots of cool graphic tees
what an awesome display of repurposed wood & a vintage sewing machine
belly sprout's hip trailer where you could slip in for eco make-up and skincare demos
pretty paris always has the cutest table
we were lucky that jay of whodinni handmade made it out for the show
crayon fawn's deer crayons---the best!
kelsey of kelso can't dance and the long beach craft mafia
delilah & nicole the aunt & niece team who co-founded and co-produce patchwork
thanks to all who made the show possible...can wait to see you at our santa ana show may 29th 11-5pm buffalo & main street santa ana
we've set dates for spring 2011 patchwork indie arts & crafts festival shows! vendor applications are available here.
