MADE IN THE 216 fall 08

MADE IN THE 216 Fall 08 was awesome!  Thank you all so much for supporting ROOM SERVICE and nearly 20 different Cleveland-based designers.

It is all kind of a blur to me still.  Friday was SO crazy and fun!!!  Saturday was a bit like friday but substitute alcohol with coffee.

It was really rewarding after months of planning the event to see how lovely everything looked in the space and how well received it was by everyone.

Many Many more products, great housewares and kitchen gadgets, jewelry and more to come for holiday at ROOM SERVICE, but I was so thrilled by some of the items at this event that you may see them at ROOM SERVICE a bit longer than just this weekend!  So if you missed the event, a portion of the products from that show will still be available.

Thank you to all designers that participated and if you or anyone you know designs anything and would like to be considered for the next MADE IN THE 216 event, which will be held in spring, submissions are accepted through EMAIL only…email info@roomservicecleveland.com and in the subject, write “216″.

To continue support of all the designers who participate in my events, I would like, even though I still sell many of them at the store, to support them by giving you MORE info on them via the designer’s websites or etsy sites…if i have them:

The Bubble Process 

WRATH ARCANE

Red i jewelry

super industrial love

Oceanne

Claire Teschel

Minno

Little Korboose

Small Screen Designs

BCTZ

Studio Dog Face

Buzz Buzz Designs

Rose Marincil

Matt Burke

Anni Nanni Purses

Laura Kushnick

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I just received the artwork for the next MADE IN THE 216 event!!  As you may or may not know, the event, held twice a year, is a shopping event hosted by my store featuring products made in Cleveland (216 being the area code here).  The idea is to highlight the diversity and quality of products being designed right here in Cleveland by integrating them into the store’s merchandising scheme amongst products designed all over the world. This is meant to underscore how our home grown talent stacks up.  Each show features a rotating roster of 12-18 different artists and designers working in a variance of mediums and one participating designer is asked to do the artwork for the show each time, to speak to the always fresh and exciting assortment of items available from show to show.

THAT SAID….this time I asked Sean and Rez of THE BUBBLE PROCESS who are participating in the upcoming show to design the artwork and I am THRILLED with what they came up with!

The Bubble Process is a TWO PERSON design and illustration firm that was founded in February 2006, but was rooted well before at the historical Kent State University in 1999, (where the 2-man team met) as young skateboarding troublemakers.  They currently operate out of Cleveland and New York and pass notes via the internet. They tend to work on shared files passed back-and-forth and poke with what the other has done quite a lot. They started this technique in college when they lived together .  The pair, Sean Higgins and Nicholas Rezabek have two BFA’s under their belts.  They tag-team each others work until they are both happy with what they have turned out and are thus both equally pushed, dually critiqued, and entirely immersed.  

I for one, can NEVER imagine working in that fashion, so I TOTALLY respect it.  

The next MADE IN THE 216 event will be held at the store, ROOM SERVICE at 6505 Detroit Ave. on Friday November 7th from 4pm - 9pm and on Saturday November 8th from 11am - 6pm.

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So the first ever MADE IN THE 216 was kinda awesome!  The turnout was 3 times what i dreamed it could be, the weather was behaving, the food was outstanding, and the artists/designers stuff looked incredible in the store!  I have been trying to imagine everyone’s items in the space since March but intensely for a month, which is when i started working on the floor plan based on lists the designers gave me of what they would be selling… BUT even though i had envisioned it for countless hours both while awake and during slumber, i had not in my wildest dreams envisioned it to look quite as lovely as it did….and i can say this with some level of modesty because intentionally for the event, i dwindled down Room Service’s own stock levels to make room for the most possible Cleveland made designs, so it is essentially everyone else’s talents i am commending…. 

The event took much longer than that month to plan, but there is a learning curve to each new project one undertakes and this was no exception.  I have decided to keep the artist/designers work up at the store for sale thru July 20, so if you did not get a chance to come by last week, there is still some time….

The above pics were taken at Saturday’s MADE IN THE 216 event, which was again an incredible turnout, but I don’t think i could have even fit a camera into the crowd to take a pic Friday night!!!  in fact channel 3 & 5 news even came out!  Check it out here: http://www.wkyc.com/video/default.aspx?mid=775343023 and be sure to look out for 2 of the ‘216’s participating artists: sara & april as well as my parents, aunt and grandma and apparently Tim’s hairdresser and his partner and really, i bet lots of people we know are in it, but honestly i only gave it a quick viewing!

I hope you had or will have a chance to stop by and check out some of the goods being made right here in CLEVELAND.  The genesis of this event was my desire to see Clevelanders stop comparing ourselves to places like NY and Chicago, yes, they are awe-inspiring places and all that, i like visiting them both very much, But we are not that scale of city, so to compare ourselves to places like that is futile and only promotes a collective poor self-esteem, which in my opinion is one of the city’s biggest issues. So in an attempt to highlight all the cool stuff being designed and made right here I created this show, which will feature a rotating roster of artists/designers each show….always looking to highlight a wide weft of types of products from apparel to housewares and linens to jewelry and everything in between…

THANKS AGAIN TO ALL THAT CAME OUT TO SUPPORT A LOCAL BUSINESS AND LOCAL ARTISTS/DESIGNERS…WE ALL APPRECIATED IT SO MUCH AND IT WAS SOOOOO MUCH FUN!  If you would like to learn more about the participating designers/artists, below you will find links to any websites/stores that they have:

small screen desings

little korboose

bctz 

satomi jin

buzz buzz desings

marian made

hannah verbeuren photography

finley handmade

[base] line

honey bee linens

sarah reidel

sharon hynes

if you or someone you know is a Cleveland-based designer and interested in applying to be a part of a future show (next one coming up in NOVEMBER in time for holiday shopping!!!) please send an email to:

info@roomservicecleveland.com and in the subject type in 216 and send me a brief description of what you make and your professional experience with it as well as 1-5 photos of your work.  I will not take any appointments without having first received an email submission.  PLEASE DO NOT COME INTO THE STORE WITH YOUR PORTFOLIOS WITHOUT AN APPOINTMENT.

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As you may or may not know by now, Room Service is hosting it’s first of a bi-annual event called MADE IN THE 216, this friday night from 4-9 and all day saturday June 21st.

 

Today’s Plain Dealer wrote about the event in their IT LIST, Thank you Kim Crow and Karen Sandstrom of the Plain Dealer, we sure appreciate it!  See article below:

 

Show of items ‘Made in the 216′ on display in Cleveland

Gus Chan/The Plain DealerSimplicity, thy name is Small Screen Designs, where Sara Hoover accents her pleasingly loose line drawings with blocks of bright color. The mutt-happy among us were partial to the matted bulldog print ($19). An old-style radio recalls the time before FM on a green-tinted blank greeting card ($5).

Danielle DeBoe has worked in national retail merchandising for 11 years, but it wasn’t until she hung a shingle on her own store, Room Service, that she started to understand how many great goodies Cleveland artists have to offer.

Now she does, and she’s celebrating it with “Made in the 216″ (think area codes), a show of goods by about a dozen Clevelanders working in screen printing, photography, sculpture, jewelry and more.

Room Service, a gift and lifestyle store, opened in the Gordon Square neighborhood of Cleveland last year. Dinnerware, furniture, greeting cards and home accessories, all with a bit of hip elegance, make up DeBoe’s inventory.

“Being in a storefront, I’m exposed to a pretty steady barrage of folks wanting to show me the things they make,” she says.

She can’t make space for everything, and she doesn’t typically take work on consignment. But DeBoe started to think about highlighting cool stuff in a way that would showcase how well it stands up next to merchandise from New York and elsewhere.

So for the “Made in the 216″ show Friday and Saturday, Room Service will be packed with a mix of its regular merchandise plus extras from the dozen featured artists. One of the keys will be assimilating those extras, consigned for the show, with the regular merchandise.

“I’m going to create little subshops that are dedicated to the aesthetic of the artists,” she said. We’re going to create a little narrative — out of each of their things.”

“The show hours are 4 to 9 p.m. Friday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday. The artists will be on hand. Room Service is at 6505 Detroit Ave., Cleveland. Call 216-281-4221.

Gus ChanCall it ragamuffin chic: Berry-colored gingham brightens the child’s blouse ($36) and accents a jumper ($34) by Stephanie Sheldon at Finley Handmade. A lace collar and front patch-pocket give the blouse a vintage flair; artistically frayed edges are protected with stitching on the jumper.

Gus ChanProving that recycled doesn’t always have to look like stale granola, Kristen Billings at Buzz Buzz Designs aligns cheerful beads in white, coral and turquoise and a white filigree pendant on this one-of-a-kind necklace ($68) made entirely of vintage materials. We liked the way she combines the old stuff to look not just mod but modern.

Gus ChanOpen and airy, these earrings ($19) by Susan Base of [base]line bring together bright beads on generously sized shepherd hooks for maximum dangle appeal. Choose from turquoise beads with a metal scroll hardware, a trifecta of coral-colored beads finished with a blue teardrop-shaped bead, or jade-colored pendant bead amid a cluster of cinnamon spheres.

Gus ChanOur teen friends and daughters will dig the bucket-style cotton handbags ($60 each) from Chocolate Bunnies (Sarah Jane Riedel), which are as cute as the company’s name. The print on the exterior fabric features teddy-bear antics; contrasting linings are pink or red-and-white polka dots. Fabric ribbons let the wearer draw the bag closed for security, and the fabric base is reinforced.

Gus ChanFor the little monkey — or petite devil — in your life, Marian Made’s crocheted baby caps ($28) telegraph style and personality. Do they come in grown-up sizes, too? By Marian Fairman of Cleveland Heights.

Gus ChanFried bologna sandwiches and mac and cheese just taste better on happy dinnerware, don t they? April Nemeth at Little Korboose made the Meow bowl ($7.99) and bicycle plates ($9.99).

Gus ChanThere are two kinds of Clevelanders. Those who think of the city as the place where the river burned, and those who think of it as a Midwestern paradise. For the latter, Matt Nocente at BCTZ presents the Welcome to Cleveland T-shirt, $22, complete with sunset and palm tree. Eat your heart out, Miami.

Categories: Entertainment Impact, News impact

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