byrd & belle {studio notes}

New Wool Tote

I'm beyond excited to let you know this is ready. Admittedly, I've been sitting with this project for too long. I first released images of this project quite a while ago and the response was surprising. Many of you asked for it but it needed refinement. Two major changes include its general body which is now gussetted to allow for your hand to more easily reach the bottom of the bag to retrieve errant pens & bits and also the addition of the leather on the bottom. I'm really happy with the final product but the thing I like most has nothing to do with the way it looks but rather the way if feels at my side. It has a nice weight to it. I hope you like it.

Find it here available in two colors.

ps. A sparrow flew into the studio yesterday. That's good luck, right?

 

dye-job

 

Friday Five

 1. I spent last weekend in NYC. Above is the veiw from our room at The Standard in the East Village. Highlights included (but are no limited to) Brooklyn Flea, lunch at Balthazar and little dog named Murray I met waiting for the L train. I'm already making plans to be back on my own later this summer... hopefully for a few weeks.

2. We have developed a girl-crush on Lena Dunham.

3. The final version of the wool totes are nearly ready for release. Some photo-editing and a bit of copy-writing left to do. You've been patient. I appreciate it.

4. My playlist this week mostly revolved around my trip. This song has been on repeat:

 

5. Also, the Met has the best ceilings:

 

 

 

FridayFive

1. If my job were adding to this blog, I'd be fired.

2. This month, Polica has been on heavy rotation here in the studio. Listen to them here. (also, they're from Minneapolis which makes me happy).

3. A belated 'Thank you!' to everyone who came out to SNOWgrade in February. I was so happy to have faces to put to names and to meet some new friends. Special 'hello' to the dudes at Ball & Buck who were my neighbors for the day.

4. My new assistant has reached her 6 month mark and so she's officially no longer new. Her name is Gail. She packs up all your orders and ships them out with care. She also provides more than adequate amounts of entertainment a few days a week.

5. Gertrude says hello.

Northern Grade

I'm really excited to be part of snowGRADE this Saturday. If you are in the MSP area, stop by and say hello.  I'll have a small collection of sleeves and cases and some new, never-before-seen things for sale. If you can stop by, please do. I'd love to put some faces to names! Learn more here: http://snowgrade.tumblr.com/

 

 

 

so far, my favorite view of the new studio.

Gert came to visit today.  She's slowly learning that hammering, sawing and ladder-climbing is over and she's a little more willing to sit and keep me company.  Best dog ever.

 

New Workshop

 

Exciting news for me to share today.... I've moved into my new workshop.

This is the part where you say, "New workshop?  I don't remember hearing anything about a new workshop?  Did I miss a blog post or tweet that would have prepared me for such exciting news? "

No, you didn't.  I kept this one pretty well underwraps.  In part because I've never been good at talking about things in progress but also because the domino of things that had to happen to get here was longer than I wanted to explain mid-stream.  In a nutshell, byrd & belle out-grew our previous live/work space on Nicollet Island; it was no longer something that could be lived alongside.  We needed a new situation and we found what seems to have been the perfect situation a little farther up river in northeast Minneapolis:  a house with good bones, a big yard for our big dog and a new (but unfinished) space for byrd & belle.

Construction took 6 months of nights and weekends starting in January which is likely the least fun time to start a project in an unheated space in Minnesota.  My brother Scott and my Dad were very generous with their time, their advice and their tools.  I got to do things I'd drawn a million times when I used to work in architecture but hadn't actaully done (like electrical wiring... my inspector said I did a very good job for my first time).  And there is still more to be done.  I have plans to add more storage so I can bring in all my non-essential tools and materials but for now, I'm just happy to be here and I'm grateful to have had the oppurtunity to do this.  I feel very connected the space and I suppose it feels appropriate that as a maker, I also made the space I work in. 

 

Ok, I've got to get to work but follow me on twitter if you'd like to see more of the new space.

Hello!

Just a quick note to let you know I'll be on the road and away through the Memorial Day holiday.  All orders needing to ship have already left the studio.  I'll be reading new email but likely not responding unless it's a felt/leather emergency.  I'll be tweeting from the road though... you can follow me here:  @byrdandbelle

I'm also very excited to share some big news (maybe) next week.  Thanks for a busy, busy few months!  Glad to have connected with so many great new friends and fans.

Girl from Ipanema

When I was teenager, my parents bought a computer for the family as a Christmas gift.  I remember little about it now likely because I cared little about it then.  It was a pre-windows pc; my brother says it was a 286 but all I know is black screen and green letters/numbers. 

What I do remember is that along with the computer came a pair of headphones and a sample cd which included a variety of music... classical, jazz, likely some pop.. music that having grown up on a farm in Iowa with one radio station and 2 1/2 television channels was totally, totally new for me. 

Track #7 was 'The Girl from Ipanema' and I listened to that song a million times.  I would sit in front of that beige computer with my hands in my lap doing nothing else but listening over and over again through those earphones with the thin silver band over my head and those itchy black foam ear pieces.  It was the most beautiful, sweet/sad, other-worldly thing I had ever heard; the most sophisticated thing that had ever entered my brain.

Today I addressed a package and sent off something lovely to an actual girl that actually lives in Impanema.  The world is such a small place.