I’ve written a few posts about Chip Kidd, and I realized that many of you may have never even heard of Chip Kidd. So who is he, you ask? Chip Kidd is a well known graphic designer within the industry and mostly revered for his book cover designs. You probably have seen his work time and time again, but did not realize. You may even have a few of the books or magazines that he has designed sitting on your shelf right now. And he’s not just a designer, he’s an author himself. So why do I bring him up to you fine folks of Pennsylvania? Because Chip was born in Reading, PA and attended Penn State University. He now lives and works in New York (as many designers dream), but he never dismisses that place where he came from. View more of his work.

What if we all knew each other and could rattle off who made what and where they lived? That would be an amazingly powerful network.

Well, that’s the idea of growing our Etsy street team. Joining, participating in and creating groups can be a huge boon for your business. Networking and references feed many life-long career craftspeople. Artists talking about each other can spread widely – it feeds on itself.

Let’s say I’m a furniture maker and one of my customers buys a custom bed. Maybe I show my sample bed with a handmade quilt on it from a local quilter. Getting people thinking about other things that are handmade should be a daily part of your business, it betters the entire craft community.

Here’s a sample of what some artists in HiP’s Etsy street team do. Are you interested in joining? Catch Michele’s post for the details.

My Faith in Love by chezsucrechez

two of a kind by spreadthelove

Deviations from a scarf by misskoco

Eye Heart U by vixemporium

Da Bomb Recycled Notebook in Grey by subu

But now things are back up and I want to thank everyone who took the time to directly go in and add a location (steps on adding a shop). Also everyone who commented on Facebook and Twitter and through the blog helped me identify nearly 120 locations.

Share this map widely with your friends and fellow handmade-junkies. If you want the map embedded on your website or blog, just go to the map, click ‘link’ in the top right corner and copy and paste the html code from there. You can customize the size and everything. Enjoy your new handmade discoveries.

View Handmade in PA – Map in a larger map

Don’t see your favorite shop or don’t see a shop you own? Submit an address to be included in the handmade map.

Last week, I put out a call for stores, shops and galleries in PA that carry handmade crafts for sale. With thanks to the HiP community, there’s now nearly 100 listings on the Handmade in PA Google Map.

I’m ecstatic! But I know there’s many, many more than 100 galleries, shops and stores in PA selling handmade crafts. Lets make this something bigger and tap into the power of the collective. I think we can easily double or triple this list. What do you think? You wanna help? Its easy. Here’s how…

1. Think of your neighborhood brick & mortar store carrying handmade.
2. Go to the Handmade in PA Google Map.
3. Type the gallery name and/or street address, city in the search bar.

Once you find the shop or the address, you can add it to the Handmade in PA Google Map by doing the following steps:

1. Click ‘Save To…’ under the map listing (see image). You may need to make a Google account if you don’t have one already.

2. Then make sure ‘Handmade in PA – Map’ is selected from the dropdown and click ‘Save’ (see image)

3. You’re done! I’ll take it from there and add the special shopping bag icon and then sort it into the bigger HiP map listing. And it’ll look like this:

If the above is just too much work, I still love love love receiving emails about shops at nick@pacrafts.org, tweets to @handmadeinpa or comments below with name and address, city.

And by all means, rate the map and leave reviews for the shops and galleries. Go to the HiP Google Map and click ‘Rate this map‘ in the top left corner.

Thanks everyone.

The most frequent question I get related to this blog is: Where can I find and buy handmade crafts at a brick and mortar store in my hometown?

Buying from a a brick and mortar does three things immediately:

1. You support your local community (3/50 Project for how it works)
2. You support your neighbor artist
3. It just feels good – and that’s important

To help everyone accomplish this task of handmade shopping nirvana, I’m pulling together a Google map of shops, galleries, museum stores, gift shops, consignment shops and everything in between that sell Pennsylvania-made art & craft in Pennsylvania.

I need your help. So what makes sense for inclusion on this handmade map? Only physical locations that sell Pennsylvania-made craft (no restaurants or coffee shops). Please leave your favorites below in the comments section or email me (nick@pacrafts.org) if you’re feeling particularly helpful. All I need is the name, street address and city.

If you want to help more closely on this project, shoot me an email. Setting up a Google Map is way easy and I can share it with a group of contributors. Happy shopping.

Editor’s Note: I made a few updates to this post. I added the links to the map, which wasn’t ready to show at the time of the original post.

The “all-things-textile” facility contains a gallery, boutique, studio units, community studios, classrooms, networking resources and a library. The co-owners are Rebekah Ritter and her daughter, Melanie Ritter Mitchell, also artistic director.

“This is the realization of a dream for both of us,” said Ritter, “and we are glad to be able to expand the vibrant and growing arts community in Reading and Berks County. Fiber and textile arts are much more in demand and we are dedicated to sharing them at our grand opening and beyond.”

Saturday features an exhibition of  the work of Kathryn Pannepacker, a textile and visual artist and curator; Barbara Schulman, professor and head of the Kutztown University Fiber Arts program; and Melanie Ritter Mitchell, who studied under Schulman and received a BFA with a concentration in fiber arts.

The boutique, a functional gallery, features the work of more than a dozen professional fiber artists and will feature “beautiful one of a kind hand-crafted items,” said Ritter.

Sunday’s Open House from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. repeats Saturday’s activities and features the exhibit opening reception from 4 to 6 p.m. for the opening of the first gallery exhibition that runs through April 12, 2010. Sunday’s reception also will have cello music by Jeremy Mitchell and refreshments.

The some things looming grand opening is being held in conjunction with the juried “More Than Fiber: A Creative Approach to Material” exhibition at the nearby GoggleWorks Arts Center, 201 Washington St., Reading, which runs through April 18, 2010.

Visit the website (www.somethingslooming.com), for more details or call 610-373-7337.

These new Tribal LEFTZ (pronounced le-ft-e’s) toys stopped me in my online tracks.  Whoa! They’re perfect for building a Utopian civilization, catching a tasty fish or discovering the mysteries of fire. Look how cute they are. You will absolutely love them. Plus they’re made right outside of Reading. The etsy shop explains:

LEFTZ are plush softies made with upcycled material from yard sales, thrift shops, or family. These eco friendly plushies are stuffed with recycled plastic shopping bags and are unique in their own way.

Aren’t they great? I want the whole tribe. Where to find LEFTZ by ArtTales (Mary Casher)?

• LEFTZ on Flickr
• LEFTZ on Etsy
• ArtTales blog

1 – MADE Shop – Labeled a ‘SoHo-like arts and crafts store’ by the Morning Call, MADE Shop is co-owned by husband and wife team David Jones and Tess Doran. Expect a wide selection of trendy fashion and functional crafts. The shop is open six days a week from 11 am til 6 pm most days (don’t go on Tuesdays, that’s their day of rest). 277 W. Main St, Kutztown.

2 – Global Libations – If you’re doing these 5 stops in one day, you’ll want to make a pit stop here (its only a quarter mile from Made Shop so walk down). Organic coffee and baked goods plus a vegetarian menu. 21 E. Main St, Kutztown.

3 – Goggleworks Center for the Arts – 145,000 square feet of space dedicated to 34 artist studios, daily art courses, several galleries, revolving exhibition spaces and (perhaps a hidden gem) 130-seat movie theater. The center is impressive and deserves your time, so be prepared for two or three hours or exploring and discovering. 201 Washington St, Reading.

4 – Reading-Berks Guild of Craftsmen – Looking to join other crafters, crafts-men, crafts-women and like-minded lovers and makers of all things craft?  Reading-Berks guild is the largest and most active of the 15 chapters of the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen. You don’t have to live in Berks county to get hooked up with this group. They meet monthly at the Goggleworks.

5 – Z-Town Made – Ztown Made is a small collective of artists living in Berks county.  Less a location, more a combined force in design, Ztown Made is made up of Sara Smedley, Melanie Linder Design, Skylark Studio, Clothesline and Chez Sucre Shez.

Where would you go from here? What are groups stand out in the area? Share your favorite handmade stops around Berks county in the comment section below.

This post is exclusively for you to share what you’ll be doing this weekend around the commonwealth.  Whether you’re planning time in the studio, a craft show stop or long weekend out of town.  Share with us.  And share your work on HiP’s group pool on Flickr.

I, for one, am heading to the Farm Show in Harrisburg.  I hope to walk my one-year-old around to see the sheep, alpacas and rabbits (here’s the for kids page).  Then I’ll make a necessary stop over at the food court for milkshakes.  And then maybe those fresh cut fries.

What else is there to do in Harrisburg while I’m there?

Use the comments section below to share your plans, shows or thoughts.

It’s probably best if I just come right out and tell you I have serious, “Pennsylvania Pride.” I am so fond of our state’s combined quirkiness and beauty. I think it is the harmonious contrasts [say Mennonites at the monster truck show] that lead to awesome folk art.

Enter Mark May (Reading,PA)… as far as I know he has nothing to do with Mennonites or monster truck shows, but he’s undoubtedly part of a long-standing Pennsylvania folk art tradition.

Mark makes robots. “All of the materials Mark uses are found, salvaged, donated, or purchased from flea markets in his travels.”

We met Mark about four years ago at Home & Planet. He has great zeal for his work; it’s very contagious. His work is also incredibly magnetizing. It can be seen at the Outsider Folk Art Gallery at Goggle Works in Reading, PA.

If perhaps you are not in an “art collecting” phase in your life, Mark May ornaments would be a super gift.

Kate, in partnership with her husband, designs and fabricates unique sculptural and functional metal works using old farm machinery –Gatski Metal. Kate is also the mother of two busy little children.