Making Space for Makers in Brooklyn

October 2, 2012 by Leave a Comment

THE MARRYING OF COMPUTERS (often just teeny little processors called Arduinos) with older technologies such as lathes and milling machines means an explosion of opportunities for artisans over the next few years, whether the maker is creating for themselves or selling services to other creators. Expect to see more and more automated machines of all sorts landing in the artisan’s workspace. But here in New York, the distribution of such space is uneven. Apartments are generally small, while nearly any making requires space. How do you start garage businesses when you don’t own a garage?

The decline of New York as an industrial city has led to the conversion of much of the old work space into high-end residences in the downtown cores (SoHo, Tribeca, Dumbo). The remaining loft space in those areas is generally pricey in response to uses and users with deeper pockets. Brooklyn still has acres of old industrial spaces, though, that seem ripe for conversion to a new industrial model.

The appearance of hackerspaces and makerspaces in some of those old industrial buildings is providing an opportunity for small makers to get access to tools and expertise as they create, innovate and develop new products or businesses. Several showed up at World Maker Faire 2012 this past weekend and all are open and eager to meet people looking to connect to a creating community. Stay tuned to Brooklyn Artisan in coming months as we cover this exciting new industrial/community model.

Justin of NYC Resistor brought a pile of electronic gear ideal for scavenging by itinerant robots.

NYC Resistor on 3rd Avenue at Bergen is one of the oldest hackerspaces (and the birthplace of Makerbot), represented at the Faire by an impressive pile of electronic parts threatening to become self-aware at any minute. Alpha One Labs in Greenpoint had a table but I was never quite able to catch up with their representative, Psytek (which I was assured by another hacker is not his given name). I’m looking to cover their space and efforts in future posts.

Gary Oshust, owner of Spark Workshop, started looking for studio space for his sculpture work, ended up as a part-time landlord for other makers and artists in Sunset Park

The arguably newest workspace in the borough (a mere two weeks old) is Spark Workshop in Sunset Park. Owner Gary Oshust, a sculptor looking for studio space, found himself taking on a lot of space that he is renting out to other makers along with access to power tools, photo studio and gallery space. (Warning: the Brooklyn Artisan editorial team may find themselves experiencing flashbacks of their own adventure with running shared workspaces in an ex-industrial loft not so long ago.)

One notable approach to activating tools, expertise and craft in Brooklyn that deserves mention is  Fixers Collective, a group that gathers in Gowanus to repair broken things brought to them by others. As they say on their literature “If you can’t fix it, you don’t own it.”

Fixer Collective: bring them your tired, your broken, your wretched refuse. They will repair it or recast it for imaginative repurpose.

Filed Under: Community, Guilds/Fairs, Manufacturing, Method/Materials, The Business Side Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

The Cutest Little Library in All of Prospect Heights

October 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Is it for the birds? Or the bees? No, it’s a super-small library.

WITH BROOKLYN LATELY ABUZZ ABOUT BEEKEEPING, at first I thought this was a hive mounted on a post. Then I read the signs and was charmed [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Handmade, Innovation Tagged With: , , , , ,

Atlantic Antic Take-away: Not Just Memories, Free Bike Helmets!

October 1, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Helmets for everyone.

KUDOS TO COUNCIL MEMBER STEPHEN LEVIN and the NYC Department of Transportation for the bike helmet giveaway Sunday, putting a safety spin on the exhuberant rain-or-shine fair.

Expert fittings and how-to helmet info went with the free helmets for kids and grownups – advance prep for the ambitious bike share system. Citi Bike launch is now set for March, 2013, when 7000 of the eventual 10,000 bikes are to be deployed to 420 stations. It’s to cover parts of Manhattan, Long Island City and Brooklyn, and will run with solar-powered circuit boards and software.

Filed Under: Community, Guilds/Fairs, Outer Brooklyn, Uncategorized

Hot Time at the Brooklyn Botanic’s Chile Pepper Fiesta

September 29, 2012 by

Brooklyn Botanic Garden Sept 29, 2012GRAY SKIES, WHO CARES?  That was the attitude of the crowd at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden‘s 20th Chile Pepper Fiesta today.

At lunchtime the Kulu Mele African Dance and Drum ensemble played under a tent on the Cherry Esplanade; visitors sat inside or out under the cherry trees, and children hopped and danced around. It was good laid-back Saturday time for couples, friends and families.

Co-chef Johnny Mclaughlin of Heartbreaking Dawns.

Strangely, “Chocolate Debauchery” had me enthralled up in the Osbourne Garden just when Hazmat Modine – billed as “dueling harmonicas, funk tuba, and eclectic blues” – was scheduled to take the stage at 2:15. On the grassy Osbourne plaza there was plenty of vendor action not only with spicy samples to taste, but picklers and sauciers to chat with and learn from. Nearly 50 tents in all.

Everyone has a story, it seems, about how or why they started their artisanal businesses. Some have been in business for decades, like Grace Foods, which boasts of “quality since 1922.” With its Jamaican roots through Grace, Kennedy, & Co., there’s plenty of history (about 9 pages on the web site, for instance), but most are much younger businesses. Sour Puss Pickles, for instance, had a born-yesterday hopefulness about it; a his-and-her company, it was founded in 2009.

Another his-and-her company provided the most intriguing story of the day, however, though one not fully told, only hinted at. I talked with Johnny Mclaughlin about his wares and his generously offered recipes, and then asked how the Hudson Valley company he developed with Nicole Ramsperger came to be called Heartbreaking Dawns. “It’s from the poem,” he said. “By Rimbaud.”

Uh, “Season from Hell” sprang to mind; was it by that Rimbaud, the dissipated symboliste poet of perpetual adolescence? My questioning got a shrug and a smile. (Once home, I looked it up; it’s from “The Drunken Boat,” a longish poem and much admired, that Rimbaud wrote when he was 16. The passage translates as, “But, truly, I have wept too much! The Dawns are heartbreaking. Every moon is atrocious and every sun bitter.” Hmm.)

All in all, the “hot” chocolate spiciness was the real discovery of the day for me. I came away from the Chile Pepper Fiesta with a tingling tongue, a messenger bag clicking and clanking with jars and bottles, a sheaf of recipes and brochures, and a bunch of new ideas about peppers.

Filed Under: Community, Food/Drink, Guilds/Fairs, Outer Brooklyn Tagged With: , , ,

Alchemy Creamery at Smorgasburg

September 28, 2012 by

DESSERT CAME FIRST. And why wouldn’t it? Last Saturday’s beautiful weather was a perfect excuse to hop on the NY Waterway East River Ferry and explore Smorgasburg in North Williamsburg. I’d made plans to spend some time talking with Giuseppe Maione of Alchemy Creamery, and of course had to sample some of his potions. It was easy to (temporarily) ignore all of the meaty, savory aromas that is Smorgasburg and dig in to the cup of creamy sweetness that Giuseppe offered me.

Alchemy Creamery's Apple Cinnamon with Caramel

Caramel Sauce topping Apple Cinnamon,
from Alchemy Creamery

Alchemy Creamery, started in April 2012, is a small-batch, non-dairy ice cream, sold through Smorgasburg and select retail locations in New York City.  All-natural coconut cream, unrefined sugars, and natural plant extracts go into the product, along with locally sourced flavorings. On Saturday, I sampled Apple Cinnamon topped with caramel sauce, along with Fixation—a dark chocolate chai. These flavors are developed, tested and produced at Organic Food Incubator in Long Island City in a leased, professional kitchen space used exclusively by Alchemy Creamery. The selections change based on season and ingredient availability. Currently 15 to 18 gallons are produced weekly by Maione and his two Alcreamist partners JD Gross and Jesse Goldman. Maione’s got the fantasy wish that he could clone himself, but until then, he considers his partners crucial to bounce ideas off of. He borrows his father’s pick-up truck to transport and deliver to Smorgasburg and retail locations.

Giuseppe Maione at Smorgasburg

Giuseppe at Smorgasburg.
Photograph by Vlad Weinstein

Giuseppe, 28, has found that getting to know and work with other Smorgasburg producers has helped showcase and grow his product. He prefers to source flavorings from his fellow vendors. The chocolate in Saturday’s Fixation came from Raaka Chocolate. Currently there are no plans for a brick and mortar storefront, as Giuseppe wants to market and sell through other sources, like Champs Family Bakery. He likes the idea of small-batch deliveries to other like-minded food stores, as well as picking up the occasional catering gig. He’d love to have a chance to create one-of-a-kind flavors for someone’s wedding. “Twitter and Instagram have been amazing marketing tools. The foodie culture is migrating to sharing what you enjoy,” says Maione.

Alchemy Creamery is no casual endeavor on Giuseppe’s part. It’s an outcome of a lifetime of learning about food and restaurants from his father and the family’s restaurants. Using dependable suppliers and resources, developing aesthetics, pricing the product, working with staff and customers—Maione encountered all of this working in the family’s restaurants, where he was the head waiter for 11 years.  “Food is complex and multi-layered,” says Maione. “On one hand, it’s about nutrition, but it’s also about comfort and pleasure.” And with that, Alchemy Creamery is being developed to keep health in mind (non-dairy) but also fun. One ice cream flavor, or two, is not enough. Maione experiments to create unique flavor mixes, so that one tastes one flavor at first, and then another, and perhaps yet another. Additions like caramel, or chocolate balsamic sauce, or salted walnuts—displayed in chemistry beakers—work to add texture and flavor.

Alchemy Creamery

Toppings, made from ingredients from fellow vendors, add flavor and texture to the weekly “potions.”

Giuseppe and I are colleagues at a retail store; like so many of us lately, he works part time to earn some money to fund the other interests in his life. He’s an incredibly warm, friendly person and takes pleasure when a customer smiles after tasting the flavor mixtures—potions—he crafts. At work, he’s known for bringing in tastings to the employee lounge, and we’ve gotten to taste Stone of Jupiter (a roasted red pepper chocolate chili powder ice cream) and Heart of Mars (Rooibos Red Tea). I’m waiting to taste Saturday Morning Cartoon (Fruity Pebble Tea). It won’t last long.

Filed Under: Community, Encore, Food/Drink, Guilds/Fairs, Handmade Tagged With: , , ,

Business Is Cooking at Smorgasburg

September 25, 2012 by

ImageTHE LAST DAYS OF THIS YEAR’S SMORGASBURG food fair are going to be here before we can possibly get our fill (November 17 at the original Williamsburg site, November 18 in DUMBO) so we thought we’d head over while the weather was still beautiful. What better excuse than a houseful of guests last weekend (from France! from Canada!) hungry to sample the wares of Brooklyn food artisans they’d heard so much about. (The New York Times has famously called it the “Woodstock of Eating.”)

To avoid going underground on such a sunny fall day, we took the East River Ferry from Manhattan and looped our way to the Brooklyn side of the river, past the Long Island City and Greenpoint stops, down to Williamsburg, getting a few peeks at old industrial Brooklyn along the way.

Once we landed at Smorgasburg, we were hit by irresistible smells and sizzles, but before diving in, we paused a moment to take in the stunning Manhattan backdrop to this outdoor market. Location, location, location indeed.

The 75+ vendors at Smorgasburg are wildly diverse—and not just from a culinary point of view. For some, the food fair, started by Brooklyn Flea last year, is a launch pad for bringing a new product to market. In the beginning, it may be a business’s sole distribution point. For a brick-and mortar establishment like Porchetta, the East Village shop where Chef Sara Jenkins sells her “drop-dead delicious” Italian street-food sandwich, it’s an additional sales outlet and marketing vehicle. For others, it’s one of several distribution points: You’ll find Kelso of Brooklyn beers at Smorgasbar (a roped- off drinks area introduced in the middle of the food fair this year) as well as at bars around NYC (especially Brooklyn). Grady’s Cold Brew coffee, available at Smorgasburg, is also sold online and at Whole Foods in NYC and beyond.

How does this distribution puzzle fit together? Finding the right channels—and getting access to them—is always a challenge for small food producers. We look forward to talking more to Brooklyn artisans about what works, what doesn’t and hearing about lessons learned they’d like to share.

Oh, and the funny thing: After circling the market and winding back and forth, all five of us landed up on line at Landhaus.

ImageMaple bacon on a stick—how could my Canadian heart resist?—and a juicy lamb burger, perfectly cooked. It was BLTs for the boys (maple bacon slab included). Plus Kelso’s Belgian Pale Ale and Sixpoint’s Crisp Lager, capped off by BiteMe mini cheesecakes and Alchemy’s Dark Chocolate vegan frozen dessert.

Even after the November closing dates, Brooklyn Flea assures us that 10 hot/prepared food vendors and about 7 to 8 packaged food vendors will be at Skylight One Hanson, Brooklyn Flea’s winter home. They’ll all be on the lower level of the market toward the back.

Smorgasburg: 8 Weekends Left!
11 am to 6 pm
Saturdays on the Williamsburg waterfront between North 6th and North 7th St., at the East River
Sundays (except September 30) on the DUMBO waterfront at the historic Tobacco Warehouse in Brooklyn Bridge Park
 
                                        Basia Hellwig curates the Food/Drink category for Brooklyn Artisan.
Filed Under: Community, Food/Drink, Guilds/Fairs, The Business Side Tagged With: , , , , , , ,
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