Brick and Mortar Creative Retail Hub

Brick and Mortar Creative Retail Hub

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Posted 2015-06-19 by Haydn Radfordfollow
Bringing the maker to the market - Photo courtesy of Jonathan VDK.**" wrap="0" title="Bricks and Mortar Creative Retail Hub at Norwood" margin="5"]

Co-Creative Directors and friends, Elizabeth Donaldson and Brigid Dighton in conjunction with the Norwood City Council, have created an exciting new retail creative hub, Brick and Mortar in what was the Seniors' Citizen Centre in George Street, Norwood.


The Brick and Mortar creative retail hub offers popup retail spaces and capsule stores, along with a co-working area for workshops and exhibition areas, with a café, free wifi, and a children's art and reading area. The cafe space offers great coffee and a tasty temptations in a comfortable seating area. The building is easily accessible with an elevator.

This multifunctional concept offers a collaborative environment for artists, crafts people, designers and creative entrepreneurs who desire to make a living from their craft to use the space as a studio, conduct gallery exhibitions and develop positive relationships with customers in a beautiful, friendly and relaxed face-to-face environment.

Even though there is considerable public support for hand-made products, setting up a new business in a retail premises with stock to fill it, and the possibility of a long term commercial lease can be very expensive, daunting and challenging. The Brick and Mortar Creative Retail Hub is specifically designed for creative entrepreneurs in Adelaide, to reduce the risks of setting up a 'brick and mortar' store.



Elizabeth said, "The idea of Brick and Mortar came from Brigid and I wanting to support local artists and give them an opportunity to start up a shop at low cost and with low risk. You have the opportunity to give it a go for a couple of weeks, and then you choose how long you wish to be here."

Both Elizabeth and Brigid have spent time working and living overseas. Although Elizabeth was involved mainly in the strategic and political areas while working at the Australian Embassy in Tokyo, she gained a lot of pleasure in creatively promoting contemporary Australian culture and artists in Japan.

The concept of the capsule store came to Elizabeth while working in Tokyo. She was very impressed by the Japanese 'capsule hotel' and the amount of activity generated from tiny shop fronts where there is a genuine connection between the customer and the person selling. The capsule store we offer, is small, thoughtfully designed and perfectly designed space providing all you need.

Brigid studied set design at NIDA and worked as a freelance designer in theatre and in film and TV in Los Angeles. She returned to Adelaide when pregnant with her first child and was really thrilled to be in Adelaide and to begin something new.

Brigid said, "I went back and studied graphic design part-time while I was expecting again. I have done all the website, all the branding, and some freelance work, which is great, but I also wanted to start up a fashion label with my Mum, and I wanted it to be like a cross-generational clothing range of something that lasts. I found our artists are not receiving enough support with people buying so much cheap stuff and throwing it away as waste. Also, there are not enough opportunities for artists and crafts people to promote their work. "Our approach with Brick and Mortar creates a creative environment for customers to meet first-hand the makers. The variety of arts and crafts we offer attract an audience and gathering of shoppers, offering a continually growing number of potentially new customers."

On the upper level there is a mix of 5 full-size capsule stores that provide studio space to work and sell. On the ground level there are 4 smaller pop-ups to serve a variety of different businesses.



Nzuri Organics - Nadine Shuma

For about 15 years, Nadine Shuma has handmade her own body care products with certified organic ingredients and love. What began as a hobby as stress relief from her career in the mining industry, in 2014 developed into her own business. "I make the products myself," Nadine said, " because I want to be sure what ingredients are in the products. It brings me so much joy when somebody says it has made such a difference to their lives.""My best seller is my Face Balm. People come back and thank me, telling me how it has helped clear their persistent acne.""This has been a positive learning experience for me being here as I am learning more about marketing, retail, how to communicate with customers and Elizabeth and Brigid offer further support and learning with the workshops."



Shannon O'Neill, Original / Yellow Bird – Handmade by Lynley Slater.
Shannon and Lynley are unable to attend their pop-up space full-time as they have small children and need to be available for them as well. So it makes sense to work together sharing their space. This gives them the opportunity to offer a greater range of items, as they have similar lines that complement one another, even though they may appeal to different tastes. Shannon's designs are quite random and creative, while Lynley likes line and structure, so her jewellery is very precise.

Shannon O'Neill Original

With her 15 years' experience as a graphic designer, photographer, and motivated by her overseas travel experiences, Shannon offers a series of illustrated prints, inspired by 'Mexican Wrestling Masks' and 'The Day of the Dead Festival.'

Shannon produces affordable art that is not mass-produced and feels it is something people would like to display in their homes. They are all signed and numbered, and are all printed in Australia, which is important to her to be supporting another Australian business.



Shannon said, "What I like about Brick and Mortar is you can see my whole range of prints and paintings. What is fabulous about this place is the visitors get to meet the artists and find out more about the artwork and what the story is behind it, which is something you wouldn't necessarily get in a shop. The exhibitions also attract new visitors to see the other works being made or displayed in the various studios."



Yellow Bird - **Lynley Slater
**
Lynley Slater is the owner/designer of Yellow Bird handmade unique clutch purses, bags women fashion and accessories (Polymer Clay Jewellery) designed and handmade locally in South Australia.

Lynley has always loved fabric and design. She began sewing and making while in high school, and years later when her daughter and son were little she made clothes for them. About 5 years ago her older daughter asked her to make a Clutch, a small handbag without a handle. From there everything has evolved to now, where she experiments with different styles and shapes until she finds exactly what she wants in terms of design.



Lynley said, "My work is vegan friendly – not all of it, mainly because of trend and what people want. Sometimes I may use leather. I do try to keep up with trends, but trend can come in so many forms. Trend to me is the style of fabric, or pattern that come on a fabric. Every now and then I use a watermelon pattern, or may use a natural fabric like Chevron or natural wood. Working with natural fabrics has evolved into some really distinctive fabrics that appeal to people. I make the actual bag itself and assemble it."

Occasionally Lynley works with Rebecca Bird of Tweet Designs to produce special items. Recently a customer requested a one-off clutch for his girl-friend so Rebecca made a beautiful sterling silver plate to go inside the clutch with a message. Lynley and Rebecca gain a lot of pleasure and satisfaction being able to create special one-off items for their customers.



Fruzsi Kenez - Lisa

Lisa is the owner /designer of fleeci an Eco-friendly range of giftware, made with love and bound to make your heart smile.

Lisa shares a capsule store at with Rebecca Bird from Tweet Designs. Their shop also doubles as a studio, so you will be able to see them in action!



Tweet Designs – Rebecca Bird – Contemporary Jewellery Designer & Painter

Beautiful handcrafted Silver & Perspex Jewellery by Adelaide Artist Rebecca Bird.

Wholesale enquiries welcome.

Rebecca is owner/ designer of a successful quality, versatile jewellery business, specialising in designing wearable art that can be worn dressed up or dressed down and suits any age. Her jewellery designs are influenced by Art Nouveau and Celtic styles, incorporating the old and the new. She uses reclaimed and recycled materials to create unique jewellery.

In 2006 Rebecca graduated from Adelaide Centre with a Bachelor Degree in Visual Arts. Although she majored in painting, she has discovered a passion for silver smithing.

Being a full-time mum to her 2 young daughters and conducting her artist business can mean her weeks are divided in two. With her capsule store, she now has her own shop front to display her jewellery and art, which also offers her a great way to meet people and discuss their jewellery needs."I love happy people. I find their happiness is quite infectious. And hearing about how people love my work also makes me feel happy."



SALTED

Email: [email protected]

Advertising service options for your business.

A pair of Adelaide creatives offering imaginative and stimulating ideas and ways of putting your name, brand or company out there in different ways using social media. Salted offers ways to be more interactive on-line and in-person.

You are invited to check out our ideas and artwork for zines and skateboards, along with Issy's photographs and prints on display.



This is an experiment to see how a retail space will work for us, as we haven't had a shop before and this gives us an opportunity to trial and test the different services we feel we can offer for a short period from 9 June – 1 August 2015.



Fruzsi Kenez

Fruzsi (pronounced Froo-shee) for over 10 years has operated her own online shop www.etsy.com where she has sold her illustration works, gift cards, prints in different sizes and other small objects. After she completed her Bachelor and Graduate Diploma, she moved to Japan for a year, where her love for ceramics was re-ignited. When she returned to Adelaide for 6 weeks to see her family she met Brigid and Elizabeth, and could see the wonderful opportunity Brick and Mortar offered her.

Fruzsi Kenez

Fruzsi said, "I have a permanent shop here, which gives me the opportunity to start a ceramics studio and ceramics practice again. I held my first exhibition in May, and I almost sold out, so I had to hide some pieces so I would have some to exhibit for my shop." "Brick and Mortar has been very good for promoting other aspects of my business. Just having the opportunity to meet my customers in person is the most exciting thing for a person like me who has been so studio based, nomadic or just doing business on-line. I love talking with people so much, and it is really exhilarating meeting visitors and fellow artists." "It is so friendly here. We are all supporting each other's business. I had some fear it might be competitive, but it has been the most supportive and creative environment I have experienced." "It's like we are all in the same boat on a big adventure. We all know what it's like, and there is this camaraderie that has emerged, which is so empowering, we are happy to mind each other's shops. We're like a family."



#art
#child_friendly
#eastern_suburbs
#exhibitions
#family_attractions
#interviews
#near_adelaide
#norwood
#pop_up_shops
#shopping_centres
#south_australia
#things_to_see
#tourist_attractions
#workshops
%wnadelaide
171902 - 2023-06-15 09:41:47

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