The first Maker's Faire happened on the 17th at the White House, more on all of that goodness here if you didn't catch it. I'm thrilled to be a part of this building movement & that NOLA had its own mini-Maker faire this year. There are a few days left on our 'nationofmakers' discount code for FREE shipping on orders over $20 btw, good until June 30!
Last week I visited Detroit for the first time, it was an inspiring experience. I'd been curious about and drawn to Detroit for many years, so I was doubly thrilled to attend + give a talk at the Association for Community Design's conference 'Emergence' in Detroit this year.
I didn't realize the impressive scale of the city and only getting around by walking and biking, really only saw the center portion of the city. It was awesome to see so many incredible projects and meet so many good folks. Three of my personal faves were The Empowerment Plan at Ponyride & the TAP Gallery in Southwest Detroit. The conference is easily my favorite that I've ever attended, a pleasure to meet in person finally Patrick of the Swingsets not parking spaces, Kathleen of Latent Design in Chicago, and the good folks at D:Hive, as well as inspiring folks from Boston, Dallas, and all of the good people based in Detroit, including Challenge Detroit! If you asked me, Community Design is where it's at!
Bon weekend to you & I hope that all is well in your world!
- Oh yes, I almost forgot! We now have personalized blankets available on our website for an additional $40 & we were able to reduce the original blanket price to $110, hooray + see beautiful baby Nora sporting her custom blanket here!
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Detroit Pics: D:Hive w/ 'I want this city to be' á la Candy Chang
Motown is a must visit.
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The cool horses on the newel posts at Ponyride.
The Empowerment Plan - Carhart like jackets that become sleeping bags for the homeless, also employing now formerly homeless women.
The TAP Gallery.
Brush Park Mansions.
Signal Return (letterpress workshop & store) in Eastern Market.
Ooohlala, Cliff Bell's - glamourous jazz joint w/ delish drinks & eats.
In my airbnb..
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I didn't get a good picture, but can't leave out Old Miami, thank you for the great times!
This was a special holiday, my family, gentleman friend, beloved furry friend Tonto, & I traveled to Key West. We roadtripped down and back from New Orleans, checking out Florida's west coast along the way.
Having never visited the Keys, the Everglades, much less Florida below the panhandle area, it was exciting to explore and make the trek down to the southernmost point of the U.S. I even discovered a fellow Tippy in the middle of the everglades! Pic below, his name was Elvis Tippy, founder of this shop & restaurant and also chief of the local Indian tribe, unfortunately he has passed along. Hemingway, alligators, and swamp boats beckoned and biking the island, taking in the sea, and hanging in salty dive bars was a true treat and am SO grateful to have spent a great time w/ my dear ones in such a relaxing, beautiful place.
2013 was a challenging one and I am all the more determined to create a timeline for this year (and stick to it!!) allowing for lots of 'X-factor' time to meet/get well ahead of important deadlines throughout the year & creating new products at smart times. (Noticed these cool calendars on design milk, ordering a BIG one today for the studio!)
For the new year I'm also determined to take better care of myself, exercising more, more vino than beer, writing more, & allowing myself to take more regular breaks/relaxation. Part of this too is also allowing/creating more quiet, creative thinking time - and drawing. I really miss drawing & want to promise myself to let my creative mind wander, pen in hand more often. I've started protecting my morning time, when my creativity is at its best & leaving the nuts and bolts for later in the day.
Having enough money to do new projects is also a constant challenge, as part of my plan for the year I also want to tackle finding grants and indiegogo campaigns (earlier in the year) as part of my schedule and not an add on for evenings and weekends.
All in all, I'm grateful and excited for the year ahead. To begin, I'll be working more on three new topics which the three interns via Tulane's service learning - Sally, Taylor, & Elizabeth - made some great discoveries last semester on the following: Water, Bees, & Gun Violence.
I should get back to it, I hope that your year is starting off happily & wishing you all the best, cheers from NOLA!
Yesterday I had my first consulting meeting over the telephone with Leslie Kingery in Denver, CO, I had offered this as a reward on Matter's recent Indiegogo campaign. This morning I woke up to the loveliest email, here is a quote:
" My day & my business totally turned around by this call with you! "
Leslie is in her startup phase for a new, social good/tech business & had questions about Benefit Corporations, business name ideas, & some overarching strategy ideas about her business. We had an inspiring talk for over an hour and I also gave her my backpocket hotel to stay in NYC when in a pinch (her day turnaround). I'm so excited about Leslie's Awesome new venture & to see it become real. I'll keep you posted when it launches & happy Thursday!
Hello & happy Friday!
I'm so excited to be featured in the GOOD 100 this week as 'one of 100 people moving the world forward'! See the full feature here: 'GOOD 100: Meet Tippy Tippens, Designing for Social Change.' So grateful to GOOD & the GOOD community.
I'm also really excited to introduce 3 new Matter products!! They are currently on Indiegogo, we are seeking your help to get them made for you this Fall. We have already reached 1/10 of our funding goal to finalize details and create a first run of each product. I appreciate your help in making this happen so very much, please back if you can & if not, please help us spread the word!
Please visit Indiegogo for all of the details & video below:
We are making all three sustainably & with inspiring makers in New Orleans:
1. A blanket that forms a heart upon your chest once wrapped around you that helps fund disaster relief needs brought by Hurricane Sandy
2. A flax linen napkin set that creates a rabbit once folded. These rabbits fuse fun & reading, as well as raise funding for student literacy groups.
3. A first in a series of 5" x 7" notebooks. This set of four has letterpress covers and use French's 100% recycled paper. The covers share some of my fave mantras such as 'There is always today' & also a note from my Mom. Her words are here: 'Free yourself from the past, keep only the parts that make you happy. Be light, a heavy spirit slows you. Be happy and kind, you will draw the same towards you. Be the kind of person that you admire and you will draw that too. First, love and know yourself. Enjoy and celebrate each new day, each new day is a birth of a new you. Take good care of yourself.'
See it all here & thank you!
Excited for travels coming up next week! First I will be traveling to give talks to students in design & entrepreneurship at Syracuse University! So excited to visit & meet these students Oct. 3,4. And also for an added bonus of getting a little peek of fall!
Directly following that will be heading to my old/always hood NYC for a few days to attend the Feast for Social Innovation Week. And I am so honored for Matter's Goods to be for sale at the Pavilion on October 5, 6! Come on by, be so glad to see you!
Also** October 5, host a dinner for Social Good around the world, be a part of the Feast wherever you are! Details here.
Image copyright Shannon South & ReMade USA. I love this! Shannon started ReMade USA with her beautiful upcycled, handmade bags and just recently introduced this beautiful lamp made of doilies. It certainly speaks to the Dutch in me, great work Shannon!
Shouldn't these be ubiquitous? ARC chose Michael van Valkenburgh with HNTB's as the winner, I can't wait to see it and hope that they may become more frequent! Ranger Rick talked about building them when I was growing up..
Image copyright BIG. Bringing skiing to the flat lands of Denmark while also providing energy via waste incineration, this latest building by BIG is so good I'd like to eat it! This also includes a smokestack which emits reminder smoke rings as 1 ton of fossil CO2 has been generated. BIG Architects won the city's design competition as well as my designer's heart.
update: more info on how the CO2 smoke rings are created by German art group Realities United using the Bernoulli effect in fast company design today
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Detroit Pics: D:Hive w/ 'I want this city to be' á la Candy Chang
Motown is a must visit.
Â
The cool horses on the newel posts at Ponyride.
The Empowerment Plan - Carhart like jackets that become sleeping bags for the homeless, also employing now formerly homeless women.
The TAP Gallery.
Brush Park Mansions.
Signal Return (letterpress workshop & store) in Eastern Market.
Ooohlala, Cliff Bell's - glamourous jazz joint w/ delish drinks & eats.
In my airbnb..
Â
I didn't get a good picture, but can't leave out Old Miami, thank you for the great times!
2013 was a challenging one and I am all the more determined to create a timeline for this year (and stick to it!!) allowing for lots of 'X-factor' time to meet/get well ahead of important deadlines throughout the year & creating new products at smart times. (Noticed these cool calendars on design milk, ordering a BIG one today for the studio!)
For the new year I'm also determined to take better care of myself, exercising more, more vino than beer, writing more, & allowing myself to take more regular breaks/relaxation. Part of this too is also allowing/creating more quiet, creative thinking time - and drawing. I really miss drawing & want to promise myself to let my creative mind wander, pen in hand more often. I've started protecting my morning time, when my creativity is at its best & leaving the nuts and bolts for later in the day.
Having enough money to do new projects is also a constant challenge, as part of my plan for the year I also want to tackle finding grants and indiegogo campaigns (earlier in the year) as part of my schedule and not an add on for evenings and weekends.
All in all, I'm grateful and excited for the year ahead. To begin, I'll be working more on three new topics which the three interns via Tulane's service learning - Sally, Taylor, & Elizabeth - made some great discoveries last semester on the following: Water, Bees, & Gun Violence.
I should get back to it, I hope that your year is starting off happily & wishing you all the best, cheers from NOLA!
can you do it? the challenge to simply take two minutes to enjoy the digital ocean break, thank you donothing for2minutes.com!
Image copyright Shannon South & ReMade USA. I love this! Shannon started ReMade USA with her beautiful upcycled, handmade bags and just recently introduced this beautiful lamp made of doilies. It certainly speaks to the Dutch in me, great work Shannon!
Image copyright BIG. Bringing skiing to the flat lands of Denmark while also providing energy via waste incineration, this latest building by BIG is so good I'd like to eat it! This also includes a smokestack which emits reminder smoke rings as 1 ton of fossil CO2 has been generated. BIG Architects won the city's design competition as well as my designer's heart.
update: more info on how the CO2 smoke rings are created by German art group Realities United using the Bernoulli effect in fast company design today