Clay, Wood & Cotton

I'm delivering some recycled sail bags and pillows to Clay, Wood & Cotton today! Upcycling handmade mavens Kristen (Cakehouse) and Kristy (Beacon Bookmarks) have joined forces and opened a lovely shop at 149 Main Street in Beacon, NY which is full of handmade goods.

Crafts Night is every Thursay from 7-9 pm. You bring your project and they will supply the snacks! They also host classes. Check here for more info. Getting to Beacon is easy from from NYC by car or train: Check here for directions

Spring hours are:
Weekends 11:00 am - 7 pm
Weekdays 11:00 am - 6 pm (Closed Tuesdays)
Thursday: 11:00 - 9pm

Modern Printed Matter

Modern Printed Matter runs their greeting card/stationary/design business out of this lovely studio/store on 420 Main Street in Warren, RI.

"In addition to our own paper goods, our studio store is filled with a selection of hard to find handmade gift items from independent designers across the globe." (Included among them are Reiter8 products!)

Owner and designer Anna has recently joined forces with fellow new mom Elizabeth of Muse to share the space. This little shop now boasts the addition of beautiful handcrafted jewelry from independent designers across America.

Below: Modern Printed Matter's new fabric stitched cards and Muse's Silver Red Woven Bracelet.



Store hours: Tues - Fri: 10 - 5:30, Sat: 12-5, Sun + Mon: closed

Grand Location

Reiter8 bags can now be found at Grand Heron in Aberdeen, WA
Find a full list of shops that carry Reiter8 products here.

Green Tree Super Sale

Good news, bad news:
Bad News: Green Tree General Store will be closing it's door until further notice.
Good News: There is a SUPER sale this weekend featuring up to 70% off on:**
Handmade Designer Clothes from Elroy Apparel, Emily Katz
Organic Cotton Beach Wear
Stainless Steel Klean Kanteens
Bisphenol A-Free Baby Bottles From Green to Grow
Organic Cotton Baby Clothes From Sckoon
Handmade Soaps from Dirty Loves Clean and Skinny Skinny
Portobello Jewelry
Hand-Screenprinted Obama Shirts from ByHandNYC

AND THE NEW ELROY FALL COLLECTION (pictured above) OF ORGANIC CLOTHES WILL BE HITTING THE RACKS AT WHOLESALE PRICES!!!!

Hours: Saturday, October 18th 1-8
Sunday, October 19th 12-8

GreenTree General Store
95 Norman Ave
Greenpoint, Brooklyn, NY 11222
347. 422. 0565
Map

Ariel, GTGS owner will be devoting her time to massage and the Greenpoint Lodge. Good luck Ariel!

**Update: Ariel has 4 Reiter8 bags that will be in the sale

The Numbers

Yes, I have a thing for numbers.

This window of a scale and cash register shop on the Bowery near Broome St stopped me in my tracks.

Every kind of scale and cash register know to man kind is probably stacked and packed inside. What a treasure trove - from the ornate old cash register (are they made from cast iron?), to the no nonsense sans serif accuracy of the numbers on the scales. And the metals - brass, chrome and the bright red painted scale in the front.

And a toaster thrown in on the lower right hand corner. Got to diversify, I guess.

A wonderful collection.

WIP for MAD

No anger issues here. Just churning out some wonderful '2' bags for the Museum of Art and Design. The museum has moved to 2 Columbus Circle and will re-open in September. I'm lovin' the statement these bags will make when displayed in multiples.

A must see is the upcoming exhibit: Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary - on display from September 27, 2008 - February 15, 2009

The exhibition features work by 50 international established and emerging artists from all five continents who create objects and installations comprised of ordinary and everyday manufactured articles, most originally made for another functional purpose.

Right up my alley.

More about the exhibit here
More about 2 Columbus Circle in a NYT interactive slide presentation here

Evolving Into Something Great

Wow. A mention by name and photo in yesterday's CNN.com story 'Eco-fashion: Transforming trash into treasures' made for quite a busy day around here.
Joyce Justicz deserves a lot of credit for Reiter8's mention. She is the owner of Evolve Boutique in Atlanta, Georgia who has stocked Reiter8 bags and pillows since they opened. She is as cheerful as they come and a wonderful spokeswoman for fashionable upcycled products. She comments at the beginning of the video segment. (If you look quick and close you can see a blue star Reiter8 pillow on the shelf behind her!)

I thought the article was interesting. I had always wondered where all the wrappers came from for those Ecoist bags! (watch the video and find out!) I did notice that the comments seemed to focus on a small negative part of the story (Timbuk2 using fused plastic bags some of which have the Target logo and Targets legal issue with it) rather than the spirit of the article which was how people are reusing materials creatively in an effort to be eco friendly.

I must weigh in and say that it's a real effort to use reclaimed materials. It's much more time consuming to seek them out not to mention prepping them. I'm glad I do it though. I've never used a more interesting material and met better people throughout the process. My foremost intent always is to have a positive impact on the environment. And the rest (not without some effort, though!) seems to fall into place.
(photo credit: Ashley Preskar/CNN)

Poppytalk - Green Pop Favorites

Poppytalks Handmade Market has a green theme this month: Here are a few favorites of mine:

Note pads from 100% recycled paper from eco Jot
Embroidered tree from A little Hut
Numbered push pins from simple song designs
A pendant cut from a vintage tin tray from Little Black Rabbit

Super!

Supermarket, that is!
Reiter8 is finally up and running on Supermarket, a curated collection of 'awesome design products'. I'm excited to be a part of such a creative group. Check it out..

DIY City Mag-O-Licious

Today DIY City Mag launches their first issue and it's a whopper. 245 pages of NYC DIY info. Wow. It's available in flash, html, and for $5 a pdf so that you can print and carry all the great resources.

Well we’ve launched our first issue of DIY City mag. Our mag is dedicated to all of the independent artists and the DIYs that we’ve met in New York and around the globe this past year. We hope that DIY City mag, the Web site, and DIY City Community will be great resources for New Yorkers as well as those traveling to the city for a little DIY fun.

-Deb and Wendy Founding Editors.

With a table of contents that covers DIY Markets, Street Artists, The Anti-factory, Fabric Constructions, Eco-Remix, Pigment & Paper, DIY Media & Photo plus more...much more, this mega mag is a great resource for ALL things DIY. I rushed through it this morning and look forward to sitting back and really exploring later.

In addition to unleashing this great resource, DIY City hosts a DIY community site.

It was great to see so many familiar faces like (but not limited to) Brooklyn Indie Market, Mignonette Designs and Rocks and Salt.

Next up? Deb and Wendy focus on New Orleans.

(cover illustration by Sylvia May)

Barneys New York Green Holiday Windows

Barneys holiday windows are always topical and fun. This years Green Holiday windows artful recycled bottle caps, cans, metro cards, plastic bottles, gift boxes and more.

The 12 Green Days of Christmas (according to Barneys) include:

12 Tons of Tofu
11 Solar Panels
10 New Age Gurus
9 Organic Carob Bars
8 Tickets to Burning Man
7 Sustainable Ostrich Farms
6 Compost Toilets
5 Rolls of Recycled Gift Wrap
4 Fair Trade Futons
3 Free Range Sustainably Farmed Organic Hens
2 Vegan Chefs

and a Pirus in a Pear Tree!

WIP Re:volve/Reiter8 Dove Tote at Fred Segal

WIP actually now stands for 'was in progress' as these bags are finished and out the door. Now that I my fingertips have healed -!- I can type about it.
I was approached by Amy of the RE:VOLVE Apparel Project back in October about making a custom bag for an upcoming event. After reading about the peace promoting, environmentally conscious company that is all for sustainability and contributes a portion of their profits to organizations like the Waterkeeper Alliance and the Peace Alliance, I was on board.

The Event: December 6, 2007

RE:VOLVE Green Carpet Event, Ron Robinson at Fred Segal, 8100 Melrose Avenue, LA
Join Ron Robinson during a special day of shopping to launch the Re:volve eco-friendly clothing line for men, women and children and help raise public awareness of the Global environment. Enjoy a gift with purchase and enter to win $250 worth of Revolve apparel and a basket of Apothia Aromatics products.
From 7-10pm Special appearance by Gary Dourdan (Warrick Brown on CSI) who will be spinning his favorite records

The Tote:
RE:VOLVE's dove and olive branch insignia applied and stitched on recycled sail. Fully lined with bright green organic cotton. Available exclusively at Fred Segal.

Kinokuniya -New York main store opens

Japanese craft book alert! Kinokuniya has recently opened it's new main store located opposite Bryant Park at 1073 Avenue of the Americas between 40th and 41st Streets.

Make a B-line for the lower level to find books on sewing, crocheting, knitting, beading, felting, and ... sock and gloving. There is a display table of 'craft best sellers' (see pic) in front of an expanded craft section (also pictured). Their craft section has to be at least 3 times larger than the one at Rockefeller Center.

Don't forget to get lost in the Interior Design section among books like French Boys Rooms, Danish Rooms for Girls, Kitchens in Paris, and Danish Kitchens. Downstairs also houses the expanded stationary section (an increase of about 4 times the previous space) with LOTS of mini stickers and magnets in addition to high-end fountain pens and calligraphy sets.

They now carry 'Cotton Time' on the airy street level magazine section. They also feature a branch of Cafe Zaiya, a Japanese-style pastry and sandwich shop on the second floor that I will make a point to visit next time.

Find info (Mostly in Japanese) here. . Store hours: Mon-Sat 10AM -9:30PM Sun 11AM - 7 PM

Check out Crafting Japanese for more info on additional stores, books, projects and translation resources.