Design Challenges – The Goods

Submit Your Work to the 2018 JCK Tucson Design Challenge

January 12, 2018

For two years, we’ve partnered with jewelry industry authority JCK to honor designers whose work ticks the boxes we value most, like “out of the box” (no pun intended) and “masterfully crafted.” We’re doing it again this year, and we’re calling on you—yes, you, assuming you’re a jewelry designer!—to submit your work to the 2018 design challenge for JCK Tucson, a curated destination for emerging artists and makers of finished jewelry and loose gemstones. This year, JCK Tucson will take place from January 31–February 3 at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa in Tucson, AZ.

Judging of the challenge, which is open to all Arizona Ballroom exhibitors, will take place on Friday, February 2 at 1pm. Judges will include representatives from UncommonGoods (hey, that’s us) and Overstock.com. The winner will receive a cash prize and a vendor contract with UncommonGoods.

Maker Resources

Introducing the 2017 JCK Design Challenge

December 22, 2016

We’re always on the lookout for designs that stun us with their beauty, serve a purpose, solve a problem, or make us wonder why no one thought of it before. That’s why we’ve partnered with jewelry industry authority JCK on the 2017 design challenge for JCK Tucson, a curated destination for emerging artists and makers of finished jewelry and loose gemstones. JCK Tucson will be hosted from February 1-4, 2017 at the JW Marriott Starr Pass Resort & Spa in Tucson, AZ.

Design

Introducing JCK Design Challenge Winning Designs

September 23, 2016

Back in February we partnered with JCK Events for their 2016 jewelry showcase in Tucson, Arizona. We sponsored a design challenge that pitted the most talented jewelers against one another (in a friendly competition, of course). Our mission was to highlight and honor those designers who think outside the box, use unique materials, and demonstrate amazing craftsmanship.

Rough Pink Tourmaline Stone Ring | UncommonGoods

Rough Pink Tourmaline Stone Ring by John Bekarian – Also available in Rough Emerald

After careful deliberation by the judges, John Bekarian’s Rough Stone Rings were the chosen winners.

Our Jewelry Buyer Sharon Hitchcock commented. “John’s ring design is gorgeous in its simplicity. It features a lovely stone, surrounded by precious metal. It is symbolic of keeping the one you love close to your heart. We are excited to carry this piece in the UncommonGoods jewelry assortment.”

Maker Resources

Jewelry Designer Jacqueline Stone Talks Design Inspiration and Tackling To-do Lists

December 9, 2015

We caught up with JCK Design Ambassador Jacqueline Stone to learn why she believes it is important to support other designers. Jacqueline is one of several members on the JCK Events team made up of industry insiders that have come together to ensure that each JCK event is flawlessly executed. She is also the lead designer and founder of Brooklyn-based fine jewelry company, Salt + Stone, so we tapped her to share her perspective as a designer with us. In part two of our interview, Jacqueline talks about where her design inspiration comes from and her secret to tackling a never-ending to-do list.

Missed the first part of our interview? Check it out here.

Design

What Does Photography Mean to These 3 Photographers?

September 18, 2014

We’re excited to say that the eight semifinalists are chosen for our very first Photography Challenge! Cast in your votes and comment on the photos you think deserves to win $500 and should be added into our uncommon assortment! Keep in mind that you’re able to vote for more than one photo. The four top voted photographs will be judged by our four wonderful guest judges, and they will decide on the grand prize winner!

Because this is a new type of contest for us, we wanted to get inside the heads of our guest judges and speak about the exciting world of photography. The guest judging panel are three professional photographers and our art buyer: Ashley Davis, Mark Weinberg, Emily Dryden, and Katy Loeb. We decided to throw a few questions at them and, and with no surprise, they threw some amazing responses right back! Check out the Q+A below and let us know what photography means to you in the comments section.

Ashley Davis | Photographer

“I love that I can get behind my lens, take a photograph, and turn it into something magical for people to love and want to have for their own.”

If money was no object, what type of photography project would you like to organize?
I work with physically and mentally disabled children, so I would love to run a program where we’d be able to purchase a few cameras for these kids and teach them the beauty of photography. Although these children have faced a lot of adversity in their young lives, they mostly have such an incredible outlook on life and I know that would show through in their artwork.

Which website should every photographer know about?
CreativeMarket.com. It is run by creatives, for creatives. Whether you want to sell your stock images on the site for a little extra cash, or browse and purchase their immense photography resources such as overlays, presets, WordPress and website templates, and fonts – they have got what you need!

What do you love about photography?
I love that I can get behind my lens, take a photograph, and turn it into something magical for people to love and want to have for their own. What I love about photography in general is that there is the freedom to express oneself in so many different ways, and that there is such a broad definition of “photography” these days and the genres continue to expand. I am constantly finding new artists that I am falling in love with, and although the market is somewhat saturated, I don’t see that as a necessarily bad thing, but as a blessing that there is more talent to find and an occasion to rise to the challenge of standing out among the crowd of many as one of the greats.

Mark Weinberg | Photographer

What makes a powerful photo? “Light.”

Who is your all-time favorite photographer?
I don’t have one. Here are a few: Michael Kenna for his ability to capture ordinary environments in a surreal way, Edward Burtynsky for his ability to find patterns in both man-made as well as natural environments, Henri Cartier-Bresson for his ability to capture a moment on film.

If money was no object, what type of photography project would you like to organize?
I would love to do a large scale documentation of the US Postal System. Both the buildings and the employees. The architecture in post offices ranges from some of the most beautiful structures every completed in the USA to some of the most utilitarian. I’d love to interview employees and photograph them as well. I’d love hear what everyday life is like as well as the craziest thing they have ever seen in the mail.

What makes a powerful photo?
Light.

Emily Dryden | Photographer at UncommonGoods

“[Images] should be able to draw the viewer into a different world or into a new story or emotion.”

What makes a powerful photo?
A powerful image is one that can keep you engaged the longest. The image should be able to draw the viewer into a different world or into a new story or emotion.

Which website should every photographer know about?
Aphotoeditor.com is a great website to discover new work and the learn about the business.

If you were able to take a photo of anything or anyone anywhere– what would you decide on?
I would like to shoot David Lynch have coffee in an old diner.

Katy Loeb | Art Buyer for UncommonGoods

“[Photography] plays with memory, reality, and technology in a way that other mediums do not.”

What’s your favorite photograph?
This is a tough question! One of my very favorites would have to be Carrie Mae Weems’s series The Kitchen Table (1990), in which the artist records a fraction of the many activities, conversations, and emotions that make their way across her kitchen table. Weems captures the complexity and nostalgia of such an ordinary space with reverence.

What type of photographs are you hoping to add into your assortment?
My goal is to bring in a range of photography that will be both aesthetically pleasing in a home, but also evoke strong emotions from a viewer. I’m always attracted to works that could be conversation starters!

What does photography mean to you?
Photography, I believe, is perhaps the most nuanced form of visual art. It plays with memory, reality, and technology in a way that other mediums do not. In that vein, photography for me has the power to evoke more powerful emotions and ideas than most other art forms.

Be sure to cast in your votes here for your favorite photographs that made it as semifinalists! The deadline for voting is at 11:59pm on September 23, 2014. The top 4 voted photos will move onto the next round and the guest judges will decide on one grand prize winner. The winner will earn $500 and have a chance to be added into our assortment!

Design

Ceramics Design Challenge Winner Announced!

May 29, 2014

In the past, the judging of our design challenges have occurred behind closed doors, either discussed through a conference call or in a room with our buyers and guest judges. Last night, we decided to take quite a different spin with our judging: to make it live for the public and contestants to watch via Google Hangout! (Yes, even including the critiques!) We’re a company that values transparency and we want all of our finalists to benefit from our judging as much as possible. Sure, we can jot down a few notes, and send the comments in an email the next day — but I think we all can agree that nothing beats hearing what the judges have to say in real time.

Below is our very first Google Hangout judging session for the Ceramics Design Challenge. The judges we invited to spill their expertise onto the table about each individual piece were Joanna Hawley, a designer and the voice behind the blog Jojotastic, and our Assistant Buyer, Hannah Weber. (Gaby and I joined in on the fun by moderating the conversation and putting in our two cents when we felt it was needed.) Be sure to watch and see who our Ceramics Design Challenge winner is!

Congrats, Ronald and Jeni! Your ceramic piece is beautiful!

Maker Resources

How to Write Your Artist Bio

February 10, 2014

When I was first asked to write a blog post about writing about yourself, I got really excited because, like any 20 something year old girl who majored in writing, I’m pretty well versed in writing about myself/thinly veiling mortifying moments from my adolescence and calling it fiction.

Thankfully, the kind of bio-writing we’ll be discussing doesn’t require you to reveal that you wore braces to your senior prom. It has a lot more to do with selling yourself to potential vendors, sites that sell your goods, and customers who want to know all about you. Much less awkward for all of us.

You really are an extension of the product you’re asking people to buy or sell. When it comes to unique, handmade goods, people love being able to put a face with their new gift. People want to know:

where you’re from
what you do
how you got in to what you do
what inspires you to do that thing that you do
your plans for continuing to do these things in the future

In addition to being an excellent checklist, this is also a good order to put them in.

You don’t have to start with the fact that you were born in a barn on a balmy Tuesday morning under a double Pisces moon. However, the fact that you grew up in the country could say a lot about your influences. Can you remember any early inklings that you could become an artist? Who were your inspirations?

Now that we have the early stuff covered, how did you start your life as an artist? Did you start of with a 9-5 and then gradually turn your craft into a full time business? Did you start working with a local collective? How have you seen your style change throughout the years? What was a favorite project of yours?

If you want some extra personality, a short and sweet anecdote can complete your written image. When writing my own bios, the quirky facts that come to my mind are 1. I’m very scared of goats. And 2. I was the girl who wore braces to prom. These facts might not have anything to do with my craft, but it does give a little insight into the type of person I am–something a customer would be able to garner if they were able to talk to you at a craft fair or chat with you at the register.

Whatever you do decide to highlight, just remember to keep it relatively short–epic tales of heroism and metaphors on life are best suited for your memoirs (and preferably written from a small cabin in the woods, Thoreau-style.)

With these basic guidelines, you’ll be able to create a friendly, readable bio that will give your creations a more personal edge. Happy writing!

Here are some of our favorite artist bios:

Etta Kostick

Etta is compelled by glass in its many different forms and applications. She grew up in the woods and by the seashore in Massachusetts, in a family of glassblowers. After moving to Chicago in 2007 she started experimenting with stained glass, attracted to the many colors, textures, and its relationship to light.
Over the years Etta’s fascination with glass has grown and has lead her to pursue and experiment with different methods of manipulating glass. Torch fired enameling, fusing, and incorporating intricate solder work are some of the techniques that Etta uses. She loves the transformative properties that occur when integrating these materials and techniques into her glass work.

Etta’s love of jewelry was initially inspired by tribal jewelry and adornments she had collected from South Asia. Strong shapes and the feeling of empowerment they give to the wearer are elements that inspire her. Her jewelry incorporates bold designs as well as more delicate and organic elements that emulates things she sees in nature. Etta is constantly exploring and developing new visions for her work in glass and jewelry.

Dolan Geiman

Dolan Geiman is a nationally recognized mixed media artist known for his Contemporary Art with a Southern Accent. Born and raised in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, Dolan Geiman’s formative years were defined by outdoor adventures in his bucolic surroundings. Twenty-plus years later, the flora and fauna, found curiosities, and fading Appalachian culture still define Geiman’s contemporary-folk creations. Trained in printmaking and sculpture, Geiman’s mediums span painting, collage, silk screen, drawing, and 3-D assemblage. An advocate for green design and sustainable business, Geiman and his wife Ali Marie currently work from a green warehouse in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood.

Fred Conlon

Raised in Colorado, Fred Conlon lives now in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he makes garden sculptures out of recovered objects. For his helmet sculptures, he uses real recovered World War II helmets. “It is very satisfying to transform something once used in war into a peaceful garden decoration,” he says. His work has been featured in Niche Magazine, the Salt Lake Tribune and HGTV. What would he be if he weren’t an artist? “Happy…just kidding!” he answers. “I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

Maker Stories

Sean and Armelle’s Glass Design Wins Upcycling Challenge

February 7, 2014

It can be said that with every creative couple, the ultimate dream is to one day collaborate and use their talents and ideas together to create something pretty special. Sean O’Neill and Armelle Bouchet O’Neill did exactly that with their genuine love of glass making. The O’Neills proudly run Studio Manufact and push themselves to the limits to perfect their craft and to supply well-designed glass products to their community. We received dozens of unique and clever entries for our annual Upcycling Design Challenge, yet it was Sean and Armelle’s Upcycling Glass Tumblers design that caught our eyes. The tumblers are sleek and simple, it’s a product that can be used everyday while still appreciating the actual design itself by not just looking at it, but holding it. Starting to design a new glass collection, the couple decided to scavenge glass bottles from around their neighborhood venues. Sean says, “It is really refreshing to create something unique out of something as ubiquitous as a beer bottle. We have been so encouraged by the positive response from our community that we are really excited to share our design with the wider world.” Meet The O’Neills, our Upcycled Design Challenge Winners.

What’s an Uncommon fact about you and your hometown?

Sean: I went to four different high schools in three different states.

Armelle: I grew up on a farm in the south of France. An uncommon fact about our neighborhood park is that it was designed by the Olmsted brothers, sons of the designer of Central Park. Seattle is covered in parks, over 10% of the city is either a park or open space.

Your Upcycled Glass Tumblers are an elegant and beautiful design, how did the idea of recycling bottles and to make them into a product come about?

Sean: I have been making a line of glasses I call “crinkle cups” for years, that design lent itself seamlessly to use recycled bottles as the starting point. We are planning to move into a new studio and bring our production capabilities in-house rather than continually handing over large sums of money to rent a studio for the hot glass component of our production. By designing objects that we can create using existing glass we can cut out the glass melting part of the equation. With the reclaimed bottles, we have a consistent supply of materials that would, otherwise, be destined for the waste stream. So it was a progression that came as a result of wanting to make affordable, unique designs that we could produce consistently and be able to offer them to a wider audience.

How long have you been working with glass?

Sean: I got into glass making in high school in 1997, I moved around quite a bit over the years, but I have found a way to work with glass everywhere I’ve lived since then.

Armelle: I started while I was a student in Art School in 2001 and fell in love with the material. A few years later, I went to school at the Danish Design School to specialize in glass and moved to Seattle in 2009.

Where do you find inspiration within your work space?

Armelle: We collect many objects for their texture, form and color that as inspiration for our fine art work and our business, Manufact. Working with materials and and refining processes also inspires us, so the more we work in the studio the more ideas we get. We are also really fortunate to share a space with over a dozen other makers. So being in that proximity to so many other creative people is very inspiring.

Where does down time fit into a day of being productive?

Sean: Between making artwork, starting a new business and having a young family I can’t honestly say that downtime is a daily occurrence. But now that we have the wheels turning on so many facets of our life that we are passionate about, the next step is to organize them in such a way that downtime takes some priority.

How do you recharge your creativity?

Sean: If I feel like I need to recharge I make sure that I disconnect from the internet and look through my photos and sketchbooks where I inevitably find lots of ideas to revisit and explore.

Armelle: Ideally, by going on excursions, observing, and taking pictures. But lately it has been difficult to find the time to go on field trips.

Other than working with glass, what else do you do?

Sean: As for me, in the midst of pursuing a career as a glassmaker, I started a business designing and building self-watering garden beds, mainly the byproduct of building six of them on the roof of our studio. I am also a technician in the School of Art at the University of Washington.

Armelle: We have a two year old little girl, spending time with her after working with glass is our favorite occupation. We also teach, ride our bikes, and garden!

Do you have any special projects or events that are in the works?

Armelle: I’m preparing for two group shows with my artwork, one in Seattle and one in Chicago.

Sean: I’m designing the layout and new equipment in preparation for our move into a new studio!

What are your most essential tools that you must have on your side while you design?

Sean: A camera is an essential tool for me to document and translate a lot of what I see in the world around me.

Armelle: My coffee cup, living in Seattle has made me addicted to coffee!

What was the toughest lesson you learned working with glass?

Armelle: That you can’t count your chickens before they’ve hatched, meaning that you can’t get attached to material things that has to endure such extreme and exacting processes because there are so many opportunities for something to go wrong.

Sean: The realization of the occupation that I have chosen as my path in life, working with glass takes a long time to master and it’s very energy intensive. This is one reason why the Upcycled Glass Tumblers are so exciting, with them we have found a way to offer a product that is unique and efficient by using recycled materials.

What advice would you offer the Sean and Armelle of 5 years ago?

Sean: To trust that if you pursue your passion your efforts will be acknowledged and rewarded. The most important thing is to be true to yourself and if you do that, the rest will begin to fall into place. It seems really easy to focus on the byproducts of success and attempt to attain those rather than aiming for the essence of what makes something work well and creating that for yourself.

Armelle: Do it right the first time! This advice can be applied in so many circumstances and it most often holds true. You must really take care to do things well so as not to waste time fixing them later, that way you have the freedom to move forward.

Are there any particular artists or similar businesses you look up to?

Armelle: I got my start working in a studio called Glassmedjen Denmark. They have been a model business for me ever since. In addition, there is a Finnish artsit, Anu Penttinen, who I have always looked up to as an example of what is possible if you stay true to an aesthetic and continue growing and pushing forward with your designs. Here in the states I would say I look up to Joe Cariati. He is a talented artist who has also created a successful business making really refined handmade objects.

How did you celebrate when you learned you were our Design Challenge winner for the Upcycling Design Challenge?

Sean: We got pretty giddy and congratulated each other but to be honest, we’re still waiting to celebrate…

What quote keeps you motivated? What does that quote mean to you?

Armelle: “Choose a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.” -Confucius

Sean: “Everybody does better when everybody does better.” I feel a little silly because I saw this quote on a bumper sticker and I’m not sure who actually said it but it really resonates with me. I think that when you thrive, those around you thrive and vice versa. It is also a reminder that you can’t wait around for other people’s success to rub off on you, you have to go out and create it for yourself.

What are some new skills you are trying to acquire to perfect your craft?

Sean: I am trying hard to hone the business side of the equation these days, by spreading the word about our business and getting people excited about it and meanwhile trying to be diligent in our record keeping and the less glamorous side of working for yourself.

Armelle: I am excited about utilizing technology to compliment my handmade process, so I am learning various design programs to translate my ideas and images into the objects I create.

What are the pros and cons of being business partners and married at the same time?

Sean: We really complement each other by offering a different perspective to one another. It always helps to see something with a fresh set of eyes and that is sort of built in when you work with a partner. We both excel in different areas so we are able to cover a lot more bases than we would working alone. The cons come with the territory of sharing everything… home, business, and studio. Work is always part of our life, it is hard to stop and not think about it once we leave the studio.

What advice can you offer anyone who is submitting their work to the next Upcycling Design Challenge?

Sean: Love it! Share it! Offer something you believe in and inspire other people to get behind it.

We are pleased to announce that the Upcycled Glass Tumblers are now available at UncommonGoods.com!

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