Meet Kat Glazewski from Kat's Jewelry Designs...
I still think I'm a college student, three years after graduation.. I went to school for jewelry design, but I have my hands in a dozen different crafts and disciplines. Home-crafted jewelry, based on ancient techniques, using modern aesthetics, tickles several of my favorite hobbies.
I've been crafting in one form or another since I can remember. Iron beads and seed beads were the bane of my father's feet! I went to college for jewelry design, but also had to find something I could do at home during the summer when I didn't have access to the tools in the lab. I picked up Viking Wire Weave in 2009-ish, and started teaching myself chainmail about a year ago, early 2012.
I think my hobby/talent discovered me! I had the chance to play with all sorts of different crafts and things growing up, and I've always enjoyed making. People I knew started offering to pay for things, and I thought they were just being polite. Then someone I didn't know offered to pay for something. O really? Well then I guess I'll give that a try too.
Now that I'm living with a photography enthusiast, I'm learning my aesthetic is even more pattern oriented and geometric than I'd thought. I like making complex order, flirting with chaos without getting there. I like seeing the difference that materials make under the same techniques. I love variations on a theme.
So in other words I'm inspired by not wanting to be bored. And sometimes by sunshine.
I think I get along better with art in three dimensions than with art in only two. I do a little sketching and drawing, but making jewelry has more facets to consider, and is more constructionist. I'm engineering something that must be durable as well as comfortable, must look interesting from several different angles, and needs to fit in with someone else's style if I ever expect it to be worn.
I think I get along better with art in three dimensions than with art in only two. I do a little sketching and drawing, but making jewelry has more facets to consider, and is more constructionist. I'm engineering something that must be durable as well as comfortable, must look interesting from several different angles, and needs to fit in with someone else's style if I ever expect it to be worn.
My creative process is simply: Make something! Get an idea half-way through. Force myself to finish the first thing before starting the new thing. Get another idea just before completing in. I now have one finished project and two potential ones. Make more things! Or; I learned to generate ideas through mass-sketching assignments in college, and I kinda still like the technique.
The Message Behind My Work:
I finally broke out of my shell in school when I was brave enough to wear the pants I thought were neat, even though most of the rest of the student body didn't so much. I believe that fashion doesn't change who you are, but can help you express who you're trying to be. I make jewelry that I hope helps someone express how colorful or flashy or durable they are on the inside.
Meet Steve Brenneman and Jen Davis from Turn Artisan Workshop...
Turn Artisan Workshop. Art. Reborn! Turn's artists consist of a husband and wife team, Steve Brenneman and Jen Davis. Our art pieces are exclusively made using recycled, reclaimed, and repurposed materials onto which our original photography and digitally enhanced images are transferred. Using those non-traditional materials allows each and every piece to be unique and shine in different ways. All work is handmade and includes both our original work as well as custom imaging (if you have a photograph you would like to have transferred to an interesting and unique object, weddings, family portraits, etc). In particular, the photo transfer process results in beautiful imperfections that make each and every piece completely unique. All work is signed by the artists.- Wooden Shipping Pallets
- Salvaged Hardwood (doors, trim work, flooring)
- Salvaged Granite
- Salvaged Ceramic Tile (Floor tile, wall tile)
- Salvaged Marble Tile (Floor tile, wall tile)
- Salvaged Metals (serving trays, dishes, etc.)
- Salvaged Glass Blocks
- Rustic Slabs (Wood-mill sections not possible to sell as lumber)
Combined, Turn's artists have been taking photographs for over 30 years. The transferring process is a relatively new concept that we've been enjoying for about a year.
The wonderful things about having two artists is also having two very distinct points of view. Steve sees beauty in old abandoned buildings, objects that have lived a long, hard life and have a world of history behind them. While Jen has a bit of a 'softer' side, capturing the beauty in nature, architecture, and the mystery that can be captured in the eyes of a child.
Jen began taking photographs over 20 years ago as a way to help her get through some difficult times, it was a great way to escape the reality of a painful situation. Since then, it's become less of a hobby and more like a way of life. When Steve and Jen met 10 years ago, the photography virus became contagious and found its way coursing through Steve's veins. We've enjoyed watching the other grow and pushing each other to venture outside of our comfort zones.
I suppose the creativity has many avenues to get us started. Sometimes we take a photograph and are inspired to transfer it to a particular recycled object. Other times the recycled object sparks the creativity to take a specific p
photograph. Either way, the end result is something that was brought to fruition with gritty, raw emotion.
The message behind our work is the importance of recycling and reusing objects. To inspire and create beauty that can enhance just about anything. Art. Reborn.
Items for sale at Our Etsy Store: www.etsy.com/shop/
Our Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/
Meet Grey Hensey from Kast Concrete
During my time as a design student at Auburn University, we were given a project that required us to envision and create concrete tiles through sand casting. I found concrete fascinating and wanted to further explore the abilities of the material. Every week that semester, I experimented with new casting techniques and concrete mixtures. Later, during an internship, the company's president insisted that the knobs were an entirely unique product and suggested that I run with it. So I did.
At the time, no one in the world was making concrete cabinet knobs. Over a period of nearly two years, I decided that this was my niche, my chance to create a new product market. Not only to create it, but also to lead it.
After working in mass-market furniture design for a short time, I decided to quit and to follow a passion for products that I could believe in. Kast Concrete Knobs has become my obsession and creative outlet.
I've since relocated to Cleveland, Ohio, part of America's classic iron belt, to pursue my influence in the industry...
After working in mass-market furniture design for a short time, I decided to quit and to follow a passion for products that I could believe in. Kast Concrete Knobs has become my obsession and creative outlet.
I've since relocated to Cleveland, Ohio, part of America's classic iron belt, to pursue my influence in the industry...
All Kast Concrete Knobs are designed from scratch. Starting with a little green sketchbook, transferred to elaborate surface modeling, envisioned with modern prototyping tools, and finally "hand-kast" using traditional concrete casting techniques.
I began concrete casting about three years ago. The concrete knobs have been a trending product for the last year or so. I see myself as a son born from a long lineage of self-made men and women. I guess you could say this is my true motivation; to contribute to the world by the strength of my own hands and my own ambition. To create something myself, that lasts as motivation for my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
My influences are vast; from Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Art Nouveau explosion to Tom Dixon and his recent Mid Century Modern revival.
In five years I see myself expanding with new concrete colors after building a solid SKU base. We're going to be the leaders in concrete knobs (as if we aren't already!), holding wholesale accounts with designers and retail across the world
To view more photos of our work, or for more information, visit: www.kastconcrete.com.
My influences are vast; from Charles Rennie Mackintosh and Art Nouveau explosion to Tom Dixon and his recent Mid Century Modern revival.
2014 Heights Summer Avant-Garde Art & Craft Show
Sunday, July 20, 2014, 10:00am-5:00pm
Park Synagogue Main (Kangesser Ballroom)
3300 Mayfield Rd.
Cleveland Heights, OH 44118
For more information, contact Becki Cooper, Event Coordinator at Becki@ag-shows.com
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