Co-working spaces in New York: The Alley NYC

The Alley NYC is a coworking space started in August of this year located at 500 7th Avenue, Manhattan. Co-founded by Jason Saltzman and Jonathan Ende, it hosts over 200 entrepreneurs. A variety of coders and tech innovators walk the halls admiring the artwork, by local NY artist LA2, that drapes the walls. A vibrant, new space the Alley offers 16,000 square feet at $300 per month for desk space and $1500 and upwards a month for private offices.

Made in the USA: My Quest to Buy American

Made in America - Conscious Consumerism from Alia Fite on Vimeo.

I have spent the past three months on a quest to buy American-made goods.  From scouring the Internet to examining clothing labels at boutiques and produce labels at grocery stores, I have learned that finding American products on a budget is not easy.  But after speaking with entrepreneurs that are trying to change the way consumers shop, I am now willing to pay a premium on products--that is, of course, as long as it is within my budget.  This type of change in buying habits is part of the era of the conscious consumer.  It may be fairly new, but it's definitely here to stay.

The Nanny Diaries

The Rise of the Boutique Babysitting Agency

            It’s 4pm on a Tuesday afternoon. Bronte Sheffield, a tall, blonde 21-year-old from Colorado, adjusts her skirt and checks her makeup in her reversed iPhone camera as she walks through the entrance of the San Remo building on the corner of Central Park West and 76th St. “I’m here for the Vandersloot’s,” she tells the concierge at the front desk. “They’re expecting you,” the older man responds, smiling, and Sheffield takes the elevator up to the 30th floor of the historic apartment building. As she exits the elevator and walks towards apartment #38, two blonde children, screaming “BRONTEEE”, bound down the hallway towards her. “Hi guys!” she says, as Noah and Kyle, ages 4 and 6, wearing matching Ralph Lauren polo shirts, jump into her arms. The three of them enter the apartment, and Sheffield throws her purse and backpack onto the chaise lounge in the entryway. She greets Kim Vandersloot, Noah and Kyle’s mother. The statuesque, lithe brunette smiles, quickly glances approvingly at Sheffield's outfit, and says, “Hi Bronte! How’d your French presentation go this morning?"
            Like many college students in Manhattan, NYU senior Bronte Sheffield is a part-time nanny. When she’s not in school, at her internship, doing homework, or hanging out with her friends, Sheffield can usually be found at the Vandersloot’s $10 million dollar apartment looking after Noah and Kyle. She’s been nannying around Manhattan for three years now, but has been with the Vandersloot family since the beginning of this school year. “I’ve always loved kids and babysitting, and the extra money definitely helps as far as getting by as a college student in the city,” Sheffield says.

The Fall of Gowalla

The Almost Foursquare
 

Roughly half a decade ago, when the first mobile check-in apps were created, techies were satisfied with location-based services that merely allowed users to share their locations with friends. At present, a handful young entrepreneurs and veterans of the mobile check-in alike are innovating the practice to see how it can be used in a way that’s fresh and appealing to consumers, but this wasn't always the case.

Gowalla is an originator of the check-in app, which had over 300,000 users by June of 2010. The former iPhone, Android and Blackberry application used GPS to allow users to share their locations with friends. “It's a social adventure guide for people who like to go places, almost like having a passport or travel journal on your phone,” Josh Williams, the co-founder and CEO of Gowalla, describes in a January 2011 blog post.

“My fondest memories as a kid were road trips taken with my family and friends. I always found something a bit magical about packing up a car and driving someplace new,” Williams said. “This love for travel was no doubt the inspiration that fueled the creation of Gowalla.” 

Although the app may seem to be a copycat of the well-known Foursquare, Gowalla in fact predates Foursquare by over a year and a half, the former having been founded in August of 2007 and the latter in March of 2009.  However, while Foursquare has been able to maintain its presence in the app world as an innovator and champion of location-based check-in services, Gowalla has not. On December 5, 2011, the startup announced that it had been acquired by Facebook for an undisclosed sum.

In an interview with Mashable in April of 2010, a year and a half before the acquisition, Williams mused on the future of Gowalla: “We see Gowalla coming beyond just a declaration of ‘this is where I am,’ but ‘this is where I am, these are the people I was with, and these are the photographs that were taken,’” he explained. “So I can go in and pull up my buddy who checked into the Mavs and Spurs game in Dallas last night and see all the photos taken by fans there, and it becomes this snapshot of what happened in that moment.”

If only he could’ve known just how far beyond this vision mobile check-in apps would progress in a mere two-and-a-half years.

[Image via]

A Student Success

SleepBot: The Student Entrepreneur Project 

Photo courtesy: SleepBot 

What do college students say the never have enough of? I know, I know you're thinking monetarily, but take economics out of the equation and the answer is sleep. Lack of sleep affects your ability to work, think and co-ordinate, not to mention morphs even the sweetest of us into the grinch that stole Christmas. 

Jane Zhu, 22, would struggle with her sleep, or lack of it, when she studied Finance and Marketing at New York University. Spending her nights awake at five in the morning she would chat with her friend, and coder, Edison Wang. Eventually they started SleepBot, a mobile app designed to help you track and improve your sleep cycle. Edison was the tech architect and Jane the self taught design whiz. That was in 2010. Fast forward to 2012 and SleepBot has over 750,000 users and 200,000 daily users. All without any seeding money. 

"It doesn't require money to create the app," said Zhu, who graduated from NYU in 2012. "It requires time, and lots of it. And people value their time dearly." After setting up the app, the SleepBot team entered and won several entrepreneurial contests, most notably the 2012 NYU Stern New Venture Competition where they shared first place (winning $37,000). A few thousand dollars here and there from other competitions completed their "emergency fund". "That's not a lot of money to run a company," she says, laughing. "Thats only enough for living off ramen noodles for a year!"

Speaking fast and furious Zhu passionately described the difficulty and hard work that went into balancing being a student and entrepreneur. She had drawn a color coded graph of her last four years, and pulled it out of her bag to prove the work she had put in. At any given time she was doing at least three different things; her schoolwork, internship and extra-curricular activities or SleepBot. The one semester she did only focused on two things the grades would shoot up, and the semester she did four things her grades sunk. However graduating has not freed Zhu up as much as she has liked. "If you think you wasted time in school, try being your own boss!" she said. "There are days when you wake up and say 'oh my god I am a horrible founder'."

Fair Trade: The Balance Between Pity Products and Pretty Products

Sustainable NYC promotes foreign Fair Trade goods, while simultaneously catering to a customer base with a Westernized taste. 

Since opening 5 years ago in the East Village, Sustainable NYC has realized its goal in becoming a one-stop-shop and cafe for an eclectic assortment of fair trade, eco-friendly, and locally sourced goods. The store's marketing and events coordinator, Julia Falkenstein, has been working with the company since its inception, and attributes its success not only to its commitment of economic and social responsibility, but also to the quality, desirability, and stylishness of its products.

Sustainable NYC

From old bike chain-lined mirrors and chemical-free nail polish to 100% recycled aluminum foil and playfully-patterned tech cases made by the Ineza sewing co-op in Rwanda, Sustainable NYC has a bit of everything. However, Falkenstein says the shop's “biggest draw” is its impressive selection of accessories and jewelry. Boasting Fair Trade recycled wood stud earrings, recycled aluminum gold leaf earrings, and a slew of other necklaces, bracelets and rings from various countries across the globe, the shop's accessories are not only superior in number, but in fashionability as well.

The store's owner and founder, Dominique Camacho, came from a clothing-based background, and Falkenstein believes that it is her aesthetic that is partially to thank for the shop's success. While the store does want to support and promote foreign cultures through selling their products, it does not want to become a space that is defined solely by foreign goods that are bartered as an act of charity. “When you walk by there’s no blatancy of whats going on in here. You're not going to immediately go, 'Oh, that's another tree-hugger granola shop,'” says Falkenstein. Sustainable NYC seeks to sell goods that equalize the tastes and cultures of both parties involved in their production and consumption, not to sell pity products. “That's just not our platform.”

An oversized tote bag with pom poms reminiscent of Altuzarra's F/W 2012 collection, and a color and design scheme similar to that of a popular Matthew Williamson clutch. 

In recent years, Falkenstein has seen a notable up-flux of Fair Trade goods that have been produced with more of a Westernized style. She says that many products they sell have begun to cater towards the American aesthetic, but that they still “retain their identity of what they were and where they're from; they have just been stylized with a buyer in mind." Comparable in price to similar products that are not eco or socially friendly, conscious products are becoming increasingly demanded, and therefore increasingly produced.

Although the store is often contacted by various companies and organizations with product pitch letters, the majority of their Faire Trade Goods are found and curated by various organizations such as One World Projects and the NYC Fair Trade Coalition, which hosts its monthly meetings at Sustainable NYC. These organizations ensure that the products they sell are legitimately Fair Trade certified, and also serve as platforms that make finding such products a more feasible feat. Fashion moguls such as DANNIJO, Vivienne Westwood, Stella McCartney and J. Crew have aligned themselves with similar companies that foster a partnership between the brand and various garment-making co-ops around the globe, proving that sartorial economic and social responsibility is a movement occurring in both small local boutiques, and major global fashion houses.

Printed Pig-Out Sessions

3D Printing meets Fast Food

Tired of waiting in lines at your neighborhood Mexican restaurant or dealing with the crowds at Chipotle? Have no fear – the Burritob0t is here! The 3D food printer is designed specifically to print out the ingredients of the delicious comfort food in less than five minutes.

The printer, which took two months to create, was the thesis project of Marko Manriquez, a graduate student at NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program. As for where the idea came from, “I was just curious,” Manriquez says. “Sometimes you really need a burrito.”  

For now, the Burritob0t is about customization. A slider-based smartphone app allows users to choose their ideal combination and ratio of beans, rice, cheese, sour cream, corn and salsa (chunky, verde or picante). Link the app up to the printer and watch as it uses a syringe – as opposed to a typical 3D printer motor – to extrude the concoction onto a warmed tortilla. Might not be the most appetizing way to mix the toppings, but it sure is efficient.

Manriquez hopes to begin raising funds on Kickstarter to help expand growth and get the Burritob0t on the market, but he would also be content keeping it local. “My dream is to set up a taco truck,” he says. “How cool would it be to just have a truck with the printer inside, printing everything out as you order it?” 

Image via

Locally Grown - Affordable Apparel Made in America

Fred Scott, founder of apparel brand Locally Grown Clothing Company, produces everything from t-shirts, to hats, to tote bags on American soil.  And here’s the kicker – they’re affordable, too. 

Locally Grown provides affordable clothing options like t-shirts  and tote bags
Image, courtesy of Fred Scott.

On my journey to buy American made goods, it has been exceedingly difficult to find affordable apparel made in the U.S.  The American-made clothing movement is largely based on luxury or boutique items that I’d only buy for special occasions. 

Fred Scott, founder of Locally
Grown Clothing Company
Image, courtesy of Fred Scott.

It was a relief to speak with Fred Scott of Locally Grown.  The Iowa-based clothing producer offers products like t-shirts at $32, sweatshirts at $38 and hats at $30.  The clothing is casual and subdued, not flashy or intricate like the pieces offered at New York City boutiques; they’re practical products that allow me to integrate American clothing into my everyday life. 

More importantly, Scott has developed relationships with producers around the country, and he knows the life cycle of his products from start to finish.  T-shirts, for example, begin at a factory in Los Angeles and are then shipped to Portland, Oregon.  The factory in Portland then sends the t-shirts to Des Moines, Iowa.  Finally, Locally Grown distributes the products to retailers around the country.  While Locally Grown doesn’t have a storefront, the company supplies to 250 retailers in 28 states.

This woven men's shirt was made in Pennsylvania
Image, courtesy of Fred Scott

Scott, who completed his MBA at the University of Denver, got the idea for the 3-year-old Locally Grown after realizing the importance of the local food movement.  “I’m originally from Iowa, and I saw the demise of small town rural America,” said the 41 year-old.  “I was introduced to a new consumer who will pay a premium for products made in the USA.

After making t-shirts for the University of Iowa football team and selling his products at menswear pop-up markets, Scott segued into opening his own business.  He says that making American goods was natural for him; he never considered taking production elsewhere.  While the local and American movements are intertwined, he says that it’s difficult to buy clothing made locally.  As such, consumers should focus on just buying made in the USA, not “Made in Chicago,” or “Made in New York.”  “It’s affordable to buy food locally,” said Scott.  “But right now, because the U.S. is dominated by overseas manufacturing, ‘Buy USA’ is about as local as you’re going to get.”

This cotton t-short was made in Los Angeles
and Portland
Image, courtesy of Fred Scott

I’ve noticed a major focus on food in the American-made movement, but clothing is often overlooked.  Finding someone like Scott who makes clothing in the U.S. that I actually want to buy is a big win for my quest to buy American goods.

Harlem Residents Look to Support Local Food Entrepreneurs

Support for entrepreneurs lacking from landlords, not neighborhood 

On my continuing journey to learn about the high-risk/high-reward world of food entrepreneurship in NYC’s Harlem neighborhood, I have talked to countless restaurant owners and business experts. But, as the saying goes in the restaurant industry—it is the customer who is always right.

In this spirit, I spent an afternoon in the upcoming neighborhood of SoHa (that’s South Harlem for those of us who didn’t know, including myself) talking to residents about their views of the area’s burgeoning restaurant scene. After spending only a few minutes with “Seasoned Vegan’s” Brenda Beener outside her future storefront on 113 and St. Nicholas, a half-dozen local residents came up asking: “Are you opening soon?” “What kind of restaurant is it?” “What happened to the last place in this space?”

While some residents were giddy over the idea of a new restaurant and others even volunteered to help cook free of charge, one neighbor expressed concern for the future of Harlem’s food start-up scene.

“We’ve been waiting forever for something to come,” said longtime Harlemite Sandra Daley about the space on 113th, where Seasoned Vegan will make its home. “It would be great for the neighborhood.”

Daley has noticed a frighteningly quick in neighborhood food start-ups. Take the beautiful corner spot on St. Nicholas and 113. Before Beener, it was a fish and chips joint that didn’t even make it to opening day, and before that it was a clothing retail store for less than six months.

“You’re trying to support shop-owners of color, but they’re only open a year and then gone,” said Daley, who has noticed than many of the hip and successful joints on Frederick Douglass are not owned by African Americans in the community. “There’s a lot of turnover in these restaurants.”

Harlem’s skyrocketing rates might be an unidentifiable villain for the failure of so many food entrepreneurs in the area, but Daley sees the responsibility fall on very real people—the landlords. “You gotta give folks a break,” she said when asked what can be done to help foster entrepreneurship. “(The landlords) need to come up with a better way to work with entrepreneurs in this neighborhood.” Instead, landlords looking to capitalize on Harlem’s resurgence are charging upwards of 40 percent higher rent than before 2008.

But Daley is not at all pessimistic about Seasoned Vegan’s potential—in fact, she sees a lot of vegan food in her future. It might not be the bright lights of Frederick Douglass’ “Restaurant Row,” but Beener’s corner spot certainly has its charm.

“(Restaurant Row) is thriving, but sadly there isn’t nearly as much support for restaurants here,” lamented Daley, who waited to support the fish and chips place, which never made it to opening day. “People are looking for a reason to come, hangout, and give Frederick Douglass Blvd. a run for its money.”

From Earth With Blood

Bright Future and the Anti-Industry

Frank Midnite's decision to release his official debut album, From Earth With Blood on the December 21st apocalypse/re-awakening might seem a peculiarly ominous symbol for his small label. With no official backing from PR campaigns, touring contracts or industry bookers, Midnite's startup label Nite Thief Records seems to have the odds stacked against it -- competing on an international scale with millions of other bedroom Bright Futures. 

But connected community networks who curate the virtual unknowns are changing the game -- offering unsigned bands like Bright Future a chance at promotion, release parties and precious press attention based more on merit than the internet's anarchic hype. 

"What it comes down to is attention," he says. "People assume that hits equals talent and companies are less willing to take risks on you," says Midnite. "But I didn't go into music so I could do PR." 

Instead, the artist emailed promotional agencies directly with a sample of the album and waited for a response. The same day, he got replies from several independent agencies like Popgun Booking who wanted to give his lo-fi electronic pop music - fusing elements of hip hop, post punk and cinematic disco dance swells - a real chance. The need for a label middleman is shrinking as DIY artists find networks willing to foster them at a higher risk." 

PopGun is Brooklyn's community anti-label; promoting, booking and connecting fresh artists with fans via email newsletters and popular venues in the Williamsburg scene. Since its inception, the curation company has jump started the careers of hundreds of musicians with weekly showcases.

Thanks to independent booking, Midnite now has access to official industry parties, 20% of the night's take and connections to a huge fan base that got the likes of Twin Shadow, JD Samson and Lana Del Ray on top Billboard charts. 

"I reached out to PopGun because they have done a lot for local artists and all the shows they book are a part of the underground scene I'm a part of," he explains. 

"The biggest hurdle has been being able to compete with other artists in terms of exposure without sinking down to shameless self promotion. That's not the message I'm trying to send with my music," says Midnite. He says booking on his own through the community has allowed his music to reach fans without sacrificing that.

Bright Future is one of the anti- industry's new artists to watch. From Earth With Blood can be heard first on December 4th at Glasslands in South Williamsburg with Majical Cloudz and a promotional EP can be heard here. The album is officially out on cassette and digital download on December 21st, 2012.

To-Be Culinary Incubator in Crown Heights Boasts Pop-up Space

3rd Ward's new project plans a venue for aspiring chefs and established restaurants.

Rendered image of the new culinary project in Crown Heights. [Image by: 3rd Ward]

Since announcing a new culinary wing to his successful design incubator 3rd Ward in February, founder Jason Goodman has been running from meeting to meeting. Unlike his 30,000 square-foot space in Bushwick which hosts creative types from budding furniture designers to fashion photographers in need of stark white studio sets, the building in Crown Heights will hold commercial kitchens, curated retail space for products, and a nine-thousand square foot beer hall operated by Brooklyn Flea founders Jonathan Butler and Eric Demby.

While Goodman said the site will be focused on developing distributable and sellable products like Whole Food’s familiars McClure’s Pickles and Sweet Loren’s cookie dough, that doesn’t mean chef hopefuls are excluded from the incubator. “There’s a huge amount of work that goes into opening a restaurant and finding the right space,” Goodman said. After a friend pitched the idea, he decided to develop a rotating pop-up restaurant space for the incubator, where either emerging chefs or those established in the industry a chance to do something new.

“There’s a cultural desire for pop-ups and we enjoy that experience where food and entertainment meet fulfillment of life,” he said. “You can’t replicate the overall experience.” With the incubator set to open in fall 2013, his team is “way far away” from setting rental quotes, but Goodman said he wants the environment inside the $6 million project, which receives funding from grants, Economic Development Corporation, and Borough President Marty Markowitz’s office, to be innovative and spectacular. “It will be something for professionals and the audience,” he said.

In addition for providing a platform for restaurants, like culinary members within the incubator, he plans to provide resources to enrich their businesses like lectures on supply chain issues, food technology and urban farming, and artisanal production. “We want to be a resource for the entire community,” Goodman said, likening 3^rd Ward’s vision more to the integrated model of Harlem’s incubator Hot Bread Kitchen.

Though Flea founder Butler is renovating, Goodman said the direct partnership between the gourmet superstarters stops there. “Without Brooklyn Flea it probably wouldn’t have happened this way,” he said describing the overwhelming support for the community development project. “But he’s my landlord and we have different models.” 

Thiel Foundation Fellow: James Koppel

$100,000: Too Much Or Not Enough?

The Peter Thiel Foundation held an 'Under 20 Summit' in Tribeca this weekend, with guest speakers and mentors speaking to a large number of aspiring entrepreneurs under the age of twenty. Lecture hall 2, at the 92Y coffee shop, contained a small group of youngsters holding a discussion about who, or what, is a 'lifelong learner'. The discussion was started and led by James Koppel, 20, who is a member of the new batch of '20 under 20' entrepreneurs given $100,000 by the Thiel Foundation to drop out of college and pursue their startup dreams.

A programmer by trade, Koppel double majored in math and computer science at Carnegie Mellon before being accepted into the Foundation. Now seven months into his two year program he is working on his startup Tarski Technologies, an automated program repair system, or a computer program that fixes other programs.

Koppel admits his parents were not thrilled at the idea of him dropping out. "They were against me applying [to the foundation]", he said. "At first they said 'Its ok a lot of successful people drop out', but then only really relaxed when I assured them I would graduate eventually." Koppel's mother works as a hiring consultant, a position he says "helps her see the value of the [college] 'degree'."

$100,000 dollars may seem like a lot of money, but when distributed over two years to cover the costs of starting a company and doing research work, not to mention living expenses such as rent and food, it is substantially smaller. "[The $100,000] is not enough money for two years. I can't hire a person., he said. Tarski Technologies is just Koppel sitting at his desk, reading papers and programming. 

Please, Check In Responsibly

Roughly half a decade ago, the only mobile check-in apps you could find were general ones, like Foursquare and Gowalla. These days, on the other hand, they seem to be popping up in specific, peculiar markets. One of the more recent mobile check-in apps to appear on the scene is Untappd: "a new way to socially share and explore the world of beer with your friends and the world," according to its website. 

On Untappd, which has roughly a quarter million users who have collectively checked in 13 million times, users "check in" to what beer they happen to be drinking, as well as where they are drinking it. When they do so, the app shares the information on a feed, where users can see what and where their friends are drinking.

Recently, I sat down with 27-year-old Untappd Co-Founder, CTO and Developer Greg Avola at Hell's Kitchen's The Pony Bar, one of his favorite places to drink in the city. As we sipped Imperial Pumpkin Ale from Brooklyn's Kelso Beer Co., Avola explained how Untappd came about, as well as where he sees it going in the future.

Avola and his partner Tim Mather -- who's the CEO and Designer of the app -- founded the startup in October of 2010. While each was looking for a potential business partner, the duo met on Twitter. They both knew they wanted to make a location-based service app, but at first, they weren't sure in which market they wanted to create it. 

"We were thinking about industries that are very social, but don't have an online social presence," Avola said. "Beer drinking is very social, and the activity has never really existed online. [...] So, we thought to ourselves, why don't we incorporate the technology of the check-in to the social activity of beer drinking?" 

Currently, Avola and Mather run the app on their own, and they do so bicoastally, with the former based in New York City and the latter in Los Angeles. Avola also has a full-time job in addition to developing Untappd: he's a web developer at ABC News.

Though he acknowledges the uniqueness of Untappd in relation to other mobile check-in apps, Avola insists that the current version of his app is far from the final product. 

"We want to have a better system to connect the user with the brewery, and also the venue," Avola said. "A lot of times, people say to me, 'Where can I find beer X?' We want to provide a platform that gives you where to find it, where your friends are, who's serving it right now, and where is it on draught as opposed to bottles."

[Image via]

With New Harlem, Comes New Food

Harlem's Food Scene Gets Cookin'

By Joseph Tepper

Harlem ain’t just about soul food anymore. Just ask Jackie Orange.

Since 2008, Orange has led hundreds of food junkies on her “Taste Harlem” tour through the nabe’s top eateries. From classic soul food joints like Sylvia’s to the last Italian joints in East Harlem, Orange makes sure her clients get their fill of Harlem cuisine.

Lately, the lifelong Harlemite has noticed a dramatic increase in food startups in the changing community. Daring food entrepreneurs are trying their hand at meeting an increasing need for a more diverse Harlem menu. While Sylvia’s will always be on her tour, Orange has a lot more options to choose from than just a few years ago.

“Let me tell you, when I started my food tour I didn’t have a lot of options,” says Orange. “In the past, Harlem didn’t have diverse food options.”

The tour leader believes that Harlem’s food boom is an integral part of improving the Harlem community. The neighborhood’s “Restaurant Row” on Frederick Douglass Blvd. is bringing in customers from the community and even from the rest of the city. “Now we’re keeping money and keeping people in the community so they don’t have to go downtown.”

Orange points towards Hurricane Sandy for proof of Harlem’s emergence as a restaurant destination. When the Hurricane shut down many of the more upscale restaurants of lower Manhattan for a week, downtown residents flocked to Harlem’s new restaurants like “Five and Diamond” and “Chocolat.”

But Orange notes another disturbing trend in the Harlem food scene—as soon as one place opens, another seems to close. “Many of these restaurant’s can’t survive—the rent just took them out.” She points to the closing of MoBay uptown, which faced tripled rent and bankruptcy. The average price for retail restaurant space has increased from $50 to $175 per square foot in the last two years. “How are they supposed to survive with these rents?”

Orange sees food entrepreneurship in Harlem as a way to save their identity from over-commercialization. “These landlords want Bed Bath and Beyond, Red Lobster, and things that take away from the neighborhood.”

Without a vibrant food start-up scene, Orange fears that “soon Harlem will look like middle America.”

Kibonen Nfi: A Catalyst of Change

Kibonen Nfi is changing how traditional African fashion designs are being received on a global scale. Known for their conservative shapes and loud prints, Nfi has been able to strike the perfect balance between traditional fabrics and more modern cuts, and is therefore revolutionizing the African fashion industry both in New York city, and in her home country of Cameroon.

 The Cameroonian designer that is changing the face of African fashion both in her home country itself and in America.

The popularity and success stories within the African fashion industry are continuously stunted both in Africa, where being a designer is considered a lowly or unimportant job, and in America, where traditional garments are often perceived as unstylish and unwearable. However,  Nfi is changing this perception by creating designs that are universally stylish yet true to her culture's sartorial roots, while also using them as a vehicle to catalyze positive social and economic change.

Kibonen Nfi wearing and posing next to some of her designs.

Nfi's eponymous line, Kibonen NY, is revolutionary in the sense that it appeals to the Western customer base, while still retaining many design elements that are traditional to the Cameroonian culture. While most traditional African designs are cut or structured in a way that prevent them from being fashionable in America (often characterized by long, stiffly-structured skirts and conservative bell sleeves), Kibonen is able to melange certain African rouching, hemming and structural techniques with more fashion-forward garment shapes to create a product that is both traditionally founded yet universally stylish. The most unchanged traditional aspect of the line is its use of colorful toghu rope, which is embroidered onto the garments in the shapes of various African symbols. The brightly colored rope also gives the garments a very personalized feel, and fits right in to the trend of neon accents that is currently taking over the high fashion industry.

Because she lives part-time in Cameroon, her success as a designer has not gone unnoticed. In her hometown, where "creative people are despised, and professions in fashion, modeling, and photography are considered professions for the underprivileged," she hopes to change how her profession in regarded. Nfi hopes that the respect, profits and notoriety that she is slowly gaining from her designs will begin to change this outlook, and spark a movement towards the idea of fashion as a valuable career in apprehensive African countries. Claudia Adelu, the 2010 winner of Nigeria's Next Super Model, wore a dress by Nfi when she accepted her crown, as did Krista White, the 2012 winner of America's Next Top Model, when she took to the red carpet at a Black Entertainment Television. These two public celebrity appearances in Nfi's designs have exposed them not only to American fashion fans, but to African pop-culture followers as well.

 Another way that Nfi is changing the way Cameroonians see fashion in by having all of her garments made by a group of around 50 women in Cameroon who are part of Made in Camer, a fair trade incorporated organization that employs impoverished women. She believes that this positive economical impact of her business will also help show Cameroonians that fashion can be more than exterior change.

Although she does not yet have a store of her own in New York City, the Made in Camer Harlen boutique carries her design, which is also sold on the popular E-commerce site, Etsy.com. Through the generous support of her fans, Nfi was able to raise $4,000 this past year on crowdfunding website indiegogo.com, which she used to perfect and show her line in South African Fahsion week 2012, where it was very well received.

Rioux and the New Music Industry

Indie electronic artist Erin Rioux was approached last year by four different labels to put out his debut album of electro-psychedelia bedroom beats. Instead, he fashioned a DIY record label in his bedroom, got in touch with some friends and fared the New York industry solo.

He's since been put in a pool of 30 other musicians for a Grammy, been featured in popular TV shows like MTV's Skins, and is working a contract to score a feature length film, due out in 2015. He contracts shows and licensing deals worth thousands, is featured in a Google commercial and has an extensive fan and professional network to base his burgeoning career. And he did it all himself.

The self-taught multi instrumentalist claims the music business isn't what it used to be - and is opening up to a small community of creative entrepreneurs willing to learn, create and collaborate on the fly.

"You have to be really creative to create opportunities for yourself," says the artist, whose medley of tailored beats, pop leads and organic instrumentals combine the energy and hype of dance music with the feel of indie rock. "But, that challenge is what breeds the excitement of music today."

Instead of sharing nearly half of all his profits in exchange for professional recording contracts, PR campaigns and industry bookers, Rioux cultivates his business opportunities from bedroom production, independent networks, like PopGun, college friends whose careers are starting to take off and community collaborations with likeminded entrepreneurs - all through the magic of the internet, which has made it easier than ever to not only produce music, but distribute, market and make profits for a fraction of the cost.

"We're the kids who get to make the new industry. And that's exciting."

His latest, self-released EP - Come on All You Ghosts - is up for sale on ITunes and Amazon, and for free download on his website.

People's Pops Owner Helps New Food Vendors

A popsicle stand secures a location and a platform for other emerging food companies.

Owner David Carrell (right) with People's Pops team. [Photo by: ny-made]

On the fourth floor of the old Pfizer factory in Williamsburg, People’s Pops owner David Carrell tidies up his commercial kitchen from the yesterday’s snowstorm catering event. While it’s technically off-season for his popsicle company — his Chelsea location closed up before Halloween — his wholesale business is hopping and has a year-round contract with the Whole Foods. “People still buy ice cream during the winter, they just go to the grocery store,” Carrell said.

However he does recognize that with his 15 retail location ranging from Chelsea Market to Green Grape Provisions in Fort Greene closed for the season, business will be slower. So when he secured a seven year lease on Union Street in Park Slope and a kitchen in Williamburg, he planned to sublet his space out to other seasonal shops. “Four years ago I couldn’t even get our business credit card to raise our spending limit above $500,” he said. “Now that we can make this a stepping stone for other businesses.”

Already his 500-square foot store front has been sublet to Landhaus, a sustainable sandwich shop from Brooklyn Flea until the popsicle company resumes business in April. “We never wanted to do a split store," Carrell said, referring to ice cream partnerships like Dunkin Donuts and Basket Robbins. “It was a leap of faith when we first did it, but we saw a demand from small business.” His commercial kitchen has hosted juice maker The Stand. 

Carrell said through markets like Brooklyn Flea and Chelsea Market food businesses have developed a support network. Before moving in the Pfizer building, he and other Flea vendors Brooklyn Soda Works and Kombucha Brooklyn would meet up at 61 Local. “When you see the same people every week, you really do create a bond,” he said. 

Pop-Up Printing

A new holiday 3D printing pop-up store adds some extra festivity to the holidays

Though it seems impossible, Christmas just got a little more exciting for kids.

OpenHouse New York, a non-profit that promotes appreciation of New York's architecture, culture and design through various projects, has teamed with 3D printing companies Shapeways and Ultimaker to create 3DEA!, a 3D printing pop-up store located on 29th street and 6th avenue. The store, open from November 29th through December 27th, marks another milestone in the movement to make 3D printing more accessible to the general public, along with adding some creativity to holiday shopping.

In order to get kids more involved, OpenHouse plans on having iPads attached to Ultimaker 3D printers so kids can use software to draw different doodles and print them out on location. The doodles can then be turned into ornaments and hung on the 3DEA! Christmas tree in store. Kids with the coolest doodles will be entered in a raffle to win an Ultimaker printer for their school.

An Ultimaker 3D printer

Greg Spielberg manages all the pop-up productions of OpenHouse. He is excited for the project, which has been in progress since early February, to finally materialize.

"I wasn't sold on 3D printing until about a month and a half ago," Spielberg admits. "I don't really think much about tech or gadgets, and I thought everything that was printed just looked like little trinkets. Then I did some more research and realized how serious and important it was."

Like others in the 3D printing movement, Spielberg believes the most important aspect is getting other people to explore the printers up-close and have a hands-on experience. The store will have multiple Ultimaker printers set up for demonstrations and for purchase, along with showcases of various 3D printed products from different designers and companies, ranging from jewelry to various trinkets.

                                                                                            

Though the pop-up store is, naturally, only temporary, Spielberg does not believe OpenHouse is finished with the world of 3D printing.

"I'm 95% sure we will do another project relating to the industry," he says. "This [3D printing] is a straight up revolution."

[Image via]

Buy Local, Buy American

In an effort to support the "Made in America" movement Gaia DiLoreto opened New York store Buy Brooklyn as a marketplace for locally made goods

A “Buy American-made” update:  In April of 2011, entrepreneur Gaia DiLoreto opened a store called Buy Brooklyn to exclusively sell goods made in Brooklyn.  With offerings like bacon-flavored mayonnaise, hand-woven purses and paintings of the skyline, Buy Brooklyn provides a marketplace for entrepreneurs that don’t have the resources to produce the high volumes necessary for larger stores like Williams Sonoma or Crate & Barrel.

Gaia DiLoreto, at her store in October 2012, left New Mexico for New York to pursue a career as a restaurateur.  She soon realized that she wanted to open her own business, and Buy Brooklyn was born.  DiLoreto funds the store exclusively with her money, and she only has one employee.

While DiLoreto’s store has been open for a year, she is now getting attention from established brands.  Living Social recently approached her to sell goods from her store through the website during the upcoming holiday season.  This deal provides the manufacturers she showcases in her store--like a former chef who makes gourmet pickles--with greater exposure to large markets.  She notes that as a result of the deal, a craftsman who provides copper pots to Buy Brooklyn now has the opportunity to sell his pieces through the Williams Sonoma catalogue.

Wall art at Buy Brooklyn reflects DiLoreto's local pride.

In terms of the American-made movement, DiLoreto has proven that the “Buy Local” movement and the more recent trend of “Buy American” go hand in hand.  As she continues collaborations with large companies, she puts American-made goods on the map.

The "Made in America" Movement - Manufacture New York

The newest in the “Made in America” movement is Manufacture New York, an emerging incubator-factory hybrid that helps local fashion designers manufacture their products in New York.  Founder Bob Bland is a designer who hopes to bring attention to the dying garment industry and fuel the movement for locally-made goods.  Bland likens the American-made movement to the locally-grown food movement, suggesting that as more consumers and manufacturers focus on local products, the garment industry will have a greater chance of survival in New York. Bland is partnering with fellow designer and co-founder Kaci Head; four other team members work on marketing and branding. In lieu of venture capital funding—which Bland hopes to avoid—Manufacture New York has begun a Kickstarter campaign. 

Manufacture New York will offer classes and mentorship for designers who want to make small batches of clothing locally.  Bland, who went to design school, says that while design students are assigned to mentors and get much-needed guidance while in school, they have few resources once they graduate.  She hopes to fill this void and make the local fashion industry a community-oriented effort.   Forty-two designers have signed on to be a part of the incubator since its inception this summer.

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