Press release from The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design (CCCD):
ASHEVILLE, NC – The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design (CCCD) is pleased to announce its participation in WantedDesign Brooklyn May 7-17, 2016 during NYCxDESIGN, New York City’s official annual citywide celebration of design. CCCD will display Made in Western North Carolina (WNC), an exhibition featuring work by twenty-four regional textile, ceramic, and furniture studios.
“CCCD is grateful to the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority (BCTDA) for making it possible to bring Made in WNC to Brooklyn during New York’s annual design week,” said Stephanie Moore, CCCD Executive Director. “This sponsorship demonstrates significant leadership and support for our cultural sector. We are proud to be working with the BCTDA to export the quality and authenticity of Asheville to New York.”
Made in WNC is an exhibition examining the legacy of craft-based industry in western North Carolina and its influence on artists and designer-makers working in the region today. Since 2008, the designer-maker movement has established itself as new form of creative entrepreneurship defined by small-batch or limited-run scale of production, combining craft-based practice with new technology, and marketing to a design-based consumer. The studios and artists included in Made in WNC exemplify how designer-makers in this region are at the forefront of innovation in new business models combining craft, design, and industry.
Curated by CCCD’s Assistant Director, Marilyn Zapf, the exhibition was on view throughout Fall 2015 at CCCD’s Benchspace Gallery & Workshop in Downtown Asheville with nearly 4,000 visitors. The importance of the exhibition was underlined by a private closing reception hosted by North Carolina Senator Terry Van Duyn.
“The studios represented in Made in WNC are creating and selling products to an international market. They are working with brands such as Calvin Klein Home and Starbucks, are sold at the Le Bon Marché or in Dwell on Design, and grace the pages of publications like Monocle, Garden and Gun, and Bon Appétit. WantedDesign Brooklyn is a fitting stage to showcase the top-quality work being produced in this region as part of the international designer-maker movement,” said curator Marilyn Zapf.
WantedDesign is a platform dedicated to promoting design and fostering the international creative community at large throughout the year. CCCD will join an international cohort of organizations, designers, brands, embassies, and design schools in providing content for ten days of exclusive exhibitions, workshops and conversations at WantedDesign Brooklyn. Other participants include Aalto University (Finland), Brooklyn Glass (U.S.), Centro (Mexico), Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum (U.S.), Cultural Services of the French Embassy (France), ENSCI les ateliers (France), Escuela de Comunicación Mónica Herrera (El Salvador), Industry City (U.S.), Trend Tablet, Toronto Design Offsight Festival (Canada), and Pratt Institute (U.S.) among others.
Made in WNC is organized by The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design, curated by Marilyn Zapf, presented by the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority, and received support from the N.C. Arts Council, a division of the Department of Cultural Resources.
PARTICIPATING STUDIOS:
Appalatch (Weaverville, NC), Blue Ridge Chair Works (Asheville, NC), Bow + Arrow (Asheville, NC), Cause and Effect (Asheville, NC), The Circle A Brand Mfg. Co. (Asheville, NC), Claire Minihan Woodworks (Asheville, NC), East Fork Pottery
(Marshall, NC), Element Clay Studio (Asheville, NC), FEHLŌ (Asheville, NC), Hudson’s Hill (Greensboro, NC), Iron & Ash (Asheville, NC), Lightheart Gear
(Arden, NC), A Little Weather (Leicester, NC), Melissa Weiss Pottery (Asheville, NC), Mudtools (Bat Cave, NC), New Colony Furniture (Bakersville, NC), Nick Moen (Asheville, NC), The Old Wood Co. (Asheville, NC), OUTRA (Asheville, NC), Overlap Sewing Studio (Asheville, NC), Raleigh Denim Workshop (Raleigh, NC), Shelter Collective (Asheville, NC), Sketchbook Crafts (Marshall, NC), TSUGA
(Boone, NC).COLLABORATING STUDIOS:
Bernhardt Design & Bernhardt Textiles (Lenoir, NC), Capricorn Bicycles (Marshall, NC)ABOUT THE CENTER FOR CRAFT, CREATIVITY & DESIGN
Founded in 1996, The Center for Craft, Creativity & Design (CCCD) is a national 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the field of craft through fostering new ideas, funding craft scholarship, and backing the next generation of makers, curators and critics. CCCD has developed a strong national reputation as a significant resource for artists, museums, academic researchers, university students and arts organizations. Each year, CCCD administers over a quarter million dollars in grants to those working in the craft field. craftcreativitydesign.orgABOUT THE BUNCOMBE COUNTY TOURISM DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
The Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority (BCTDA) oversees the Asheville area destination marketing and sales efforts which attract more than 3.3 million overnight visitors, providing a base of customers that spend more than $1.7 billion and generate a total $2.6 billion economic impact for the community. BCTDA has also supported more than 27 community capital projects with $23 million in Tourism Product Development Fund grants. For more information on the BCTDA, visit bctda.org.
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