Intarsia Concept

IC Holiday Gift Guide 2009

We are proud to present the first IC Holiday Gift Guide - a sampling of the creative entrepreneurs in our community.

Baby

Baby Apparel from Nikki in Stitches

 

Nikki in Stitches - Darling apparel for girl and boy babies, especially these holiday onesies.

Saidos da Concha - Talented designer and seamstress Constança offers these sweet handmade bibs.

 

Beauty

California Nail Bar - Surprise! It's not in California, but in a chic district of Istanbul.

Beauty Fly RX  - Including a one cent holiday sale on cosmetic dermatology products.

 

Books

Better World Books - Collects and sells books online to fund literacy initiatives worldwide. 

Here's Trouble: How a Little Dog Learned to Be Tough and Have Hope - A children's book.

Tales from the Expat Harem: Foreign Women in Modern Turkey - In paperback or for your Kindle.

 

Lines of Velocity from Write Girl

Write Girl - Anthologies from a creative writing nonprofit that pairs at-risk teen girls with professional women writers for one-on-one mentoring sessions and monthly genre writing workshops.

Fashion & Accessories

Citara's* - Online handcrafted bazaar.

Conversation Pieces - A unique venue for indie designers.

Maurice Goldman Fine & Estate Jewelry - Online booth and eBay locations.

Pastiche - Online fusion boutique.

Lula Lu - Petite Lingerie.

Shibu Design - Unique natural gem jewelry (Sebnem makes her own beads!).

 

Hollow Heart Necklace from Queen Bean Jewels

Queen Bean Jewels - December discounts for joining their Facebook fan page.

The Open Studio - Jewelry designs inspired by ancient artifacts, modern hardware.

 

Home

 

Bazaar Bayar - Handmade and vintage Turkish textiles.

 

Tango Aprons from Beneterre

Beneterre - Eco-chic bags and home fashions. Their tango aprons are fabulous.

Bixler & Johnson - Captivating glass and crystal paperweights and pendants.

Get Clean Starter Kit - Save money while cleaning green.

 

Knitted & Sewn

Bazaar Bayar - Handknit treasures with a Turkish twist.

 

Silhouette Roses Shoulder Bag from Saidos da Concha
 

Saidos da Concha - Handmade bags and pencil cases.

The Knit Box* - Turkish yarn, patterns and accessories and community support.

 

 

Novelty

 

The Screaming Pillow

The Screaming Pillow - A whimsical gift with a touching story.

 

Paper

Christmas in the City cards from Cookie Cutter Etsy

Cookie Cutter Etsy - Journals, cards and notecards by Sandy Ng.

 

Personal Development

Karen Armstrong - Life Design Coach for creative entrepreneurs* and expat women.

Leanne Arent - Retirement Lifestyle Coach.

 

Photography

Candace Anderson - Photographer selling prints and notecards on Etsy and Artfire.

D.S Brennan Photography - Fine art prints and soon a product photography course* (get on the list).

Jennifer Squires Ross - Modern Fine Art Photographer.

Photography by Julia Harwood - Ready to hang art.

 

 
Satsumas from Sweet Eventide
  

Sweet Eventide - Photographs by Jessica Nichols inspired dusk, her favorite time of day.

 

Services

Behind the Bazaar* - Introductions to authentic Istanbul artists and designers.

 

 
US Unlocked 

US Unlocked - Making online shopping in the USA available to the international online shopper.

 

Social Responsibility

Bras for the Cause - Raises funds and awareness for women's health.

 

Logo T-shirt from Nest

Nest - A microbarter organization supporting women artisans in developing countries.

Global Women's Leadership Network - Developing Women Leaders for the World

 

*Behind the Bazaar, Citara's, and The Knit Box are personal or joint projects. Please read our disclosures regarding Life Design for Creative Entrepreneurs and Basic Product Photography.

The Holiday Season

Image by Dorkiee

(cc by 2.0)

Hello. Hello. I hope everyone had a nice weekend. We were lucky enough to celebrate not just one, but two holidays here in Turkey. And I was fortunate enough to come down with some kind of illness that put me in bed for four days. I should be there now, but my husband went out shopping (bless his heart) so I decided to do a little rogue blogging while he was away. I'll make this quick.

I know that the holiday shopping season has started to ramp up. And I know that most if not all of you are selling your beautifully designed _____ (jewelry, paintings, e-course, journals, photos, music videos, greeting cards - fill in the blank) on _____ (eBay, Etsy, Artfire - fill in the blank).

Speaking for IC, we wish you both an enjoyable holiday season and a fruitful one. I hope it surpasses your goals and also allows you time to celebrate what the holidays are all about.

Secondly, I've decided to put together a holiday gift guide and I thought I'd invite you to be included. If you are interested, please send me an email (tara at intarsiaconcept dot com) with the subject "IC Holiday Gift Guide", tell me what you make, what you're selling, and links to where people can buy from you.

I'll post it next Monday and then tweet it all week next week. It'll also get posted to our Facebook page so you'll get coverage in various places.

Deadline for submissions is Sunday, December 6th.

My husband is home, so I'd better go.

I'm looking forward to hearing from you!

How Does Art Build Community?

Toward the end of this post I mentioned why it is important to us that we share what we learn. So you don't have to click away from this page, what I said was: 

"Because we know how important it is to us that we build a viable creative business, we know how important it is to you - to your families, to your households, to your independence and to your spirit. We would not have gotten this far without help and we feel a strong desire and responsibility to share what we know so that we can all be successful. Because if we are all doing what we love, and if we are all finding success, that's a lot of good that we are bringing into our homes our communities and into the world. And we can all benefit from that."

I wanted to dive into this notion a little bit deeper with a story of how art builds community.

Let's say there is a small artist collaborative of five women in a small town who decides to open a gallery together. They don't have a lot of money, but they are very talented, spirited and passionate about what they do. So they gather together their resources and open a gallery in a run-down neighborhood. It's an industrial neighborhood filled with repair shops and auto mechanics and though it isn't the creative haven they've imagined, it's what they can afford, so they move on in.

In three months they hold their first exhibit and it draws the attention of art lovers who slowly begin visiting the gallery more regularly. Pretty soon someone decides to open a cafe near the gallery so that visitors can have a place to sit and drink their cappuccino while pondering the latest collection of artwork. And then there's a bookstore, and a frame shop, and an art supply warehouse who move in to attend to the needs of this new arty clientele.

One day after leaving the cafe, Ms. Latte gets in her car to notice that it won't start. Looking across the street she sees Mr. Auto Mechanic and enters his shop to ask for help, which he does. Before you know it she sends all her friends to the gallery for a gander and to the mechanic for a tune-up. And within a year the mechanic is buying magazines from the bookstore for his clients to read while they wait for their cars.

And the neighborhood is brought to life by the flow of people who just wanted to come and see some well-crafted artwork. Property values increase, festivals are planned, and people come to the neighborhood looking for new inspiration. In no time at all, by bringing a little art gallery into a forgotten part of town the business of art has revived the place.

Where are you in this story? What part do you play? What are you doing to build your own business and what do you do to build the businesses of those around you so that you can grow by proxy?

What are you doing or what can you do to build the community that you are a part of?