tribe

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A New Letterpress Friend: Katrine

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I wrote about a letterpress artist I had contacted in this blog post but I found another letterpress artist that I also wanted to meet. I sent a 'hello' email before my trip and we found time to connect. 

I rode my bike over to the other side of Copenhagen and stopped at an address located in Østerbro. I was told that I was going to be going to a wine shop which peaked my curiosity but I was just happy to meet someone in my tribe.

Meet Katrine

What a rock star, right? When I walked in, I immediately knew what she was doing. This lady has integrated her letterpress work and passion for printing within her wine shop, Trøffelsvin, where she sells printed cards and centers all of her signage with her letterpress work. Beautiful and really clever.

As a letterpress printer and artist, there are different business models that you can create for yourself. Some run a full time print shop with custom work, some run artist studios while teaching in academia, etc. but the point is that if you have a passion for it, you make an effort to integrate it into your life in any way you can. 

I had such a wonderful talk with Katrine I got to meet her husband as well. Both are stellar human beings and you can just feel the presence of good people when you run into them. I spent a good amount of time with them and then went on my way. They were kind enough to invite me over for dinner so I'm really looking forward to it as my trip comes to a close. More to come!

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An Extended Art Community

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Do you have a tribe?

Throughout my experiences in my adult life (so far), I belonged to many tribes when I started my career. As I get older, some tribes have faded and I'm glad for it because I think it spread my relationships way too thin. After pivoting my career early on (you can read a little bit about it in this blog post), I began to identify myself into two tribes: UX/Service Design and Letterpress/Art Makers. These are broad categories and there are sub-tribes beneath these trees but the point is that I found them and I am never letting go. 

If you don't have a tribe that you identify with, I encourage you to seek one out. Community is the only way to collectively survive as humans and I am ever so thankful for mine.

Before coming out to Denmark, I did some research into these communities that exist in Copenhagen and found a letterpress artist named Megan Adie whose work I found really interesting. I wanted to meet her so I reached out. Unfortunately, she was at a printmaking residency in Basel (such a good excuse to not be available!) but she was kind enough to invite me to her collaborative space where, in concept, it was just like Spudnik Press where I currently teach letterpress. I respect Spudnik's business model very much so I was even more excited and determined to pay a visit.

Having spent a few days to myself, I was eager to meet some people so I headed over to Alhambra & Sons and felt those jittery feelings you get when you're going to a dinner party where you don't know most of the guests.

The result from these kinds of events can be:
1) Meh. The food was good but I'll probably never see those people again; or
2) I can't believe it took so long to meet these people. Where have they been all my life?! 

So which one was it? 2!! It was 2!!!! 

From left to right: Julie, Hanne, and Fie

These lovely ladies welcomed me in, fed me lunch in the truest Danish fashion, and we chatted about all things art, culture, politics, you name it. I find it cognitively fascinating that those who choose to take part in certain mediums tend to show interest in similar topics of conversation and values. I could feel the passion of these women as they talked about the current state of Danish politics and I could see the love they had for their craft as they allowed me to watch them work. 

Fie + Julie @ Kit Couture

Fie and Julie work for Kit Couture which is a new company that offers wonderful knitting kits for those who love to knit. I, myself, could never actually figure out the patience for knitting but I know a dear friend who does so I purchased a set of needles for her. The concept of the company is brilliant and very well branded. They haven't shipped out to the US yet but I brought some cards along to hopefully spark some orders. 
 

Hanne Zachariassen @ Miss Asphalt

Hanne is a fashion designer who runs Miss Asphalt where she creates clothes from found fabrics and does a lot of experimenting with her patterns. She also runs workshops for those who want to learn how to sew and you can feel her passion oozing through her stitches. 

I had a great time here and I definitely will not forget these girls. I'm going to visit again before I leave to say my goodbyes but I'm so happy to say that they are an extended art community for me here in Copenhagen. Another piece of home.

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