Inspiration

We took a ride to North Adams, the home of Mass MoCA yesterday. I think it is the biggest Museum of Contemporary Art in the country?? Huge galleries filled with interesting spectacles are around every corner. Funny, my friend Daniel, of Dream Away Lodge ilk, and I decided on the way up that we were good for about an hour in a museum of any kind, and that was all it took. The show we were chasing was the Sol LeWitt wall drawings exhibition. It will be there for 25 years so don’t rush but do see. I recommend the audio tour (you can download it free from here). The science behind the artist’s intention adds immeasurably to the experience. The lovely Jody Joseph, Mass MoCA Retail Manager was an eloquent and thoroughly entertaining guide.














































Afterward we enjoyed the best cuppa Joe North County has to offer at the new and truly enchanting Elf Parlor on Ashland Street. Just open for a few weeks, this place wreaks eye sweets from entry til exit. The staff is cute and friendly and man can they make a great hot drink. Affordable and yummy, they even offer Hot Vanilla Creams for the wee ones – ingredients: warm milk, honey, vanilla, fluffed up just enough to feel fancy, served in a kid sized to go cup for a buck! How nice is that! An affordable kids drink without sugar, relatively healthy too! They have tasty baked goods. We shared a handful of yummy homemade cookies including molasses, the traditional chocolate chip and something called Butternut which was a buttery, chewy cookie laces with nuts and praline to beat the band! All in all a great way to spend a day and be inspired. There might just be some new blankets coming out of this!

Crispina and Friends Studio Sale

It was a huge success! I am talking about our recent studio sale.
23 of the Berkshire's finest - and funnest, gathered on the weekend of the 13 and 14 of December and sold lots of super cool stuff.
Enticing scents from the hot food and amazing baked goods from Judy Merrit and David Rizardi's Tutti Baking Co. filled the air. Music wafted through too from Steve Elling and his friend Christopher who played traditional Italian mandolin and acordian tunes as we opened on Saturday.
My new friend Shirley Edgerton and her AMAZING, eloquent, engaging, fine young group of steppers and drummers added their magic to festivities. They were raising money for competition uniforms and subsidizing a trip to the inauguration for a few of the group. In exchange for donations they were wrapping gifts in paper they had made and performing a few times each day.

This is certainly the tip of the iceberg but at the moment I have a little stenographer here helping me making this post one to be continued.

I hope I can get mention in here of my dear old friends Heather Cupo and Sean Kimball who came by with Louisa age 6. It was super fun to meet her for the first time and Heather had on a vest I had made prolly 10 years ago - and so did another customer I didn't know. They got to meet and I took their picture!

Sorry for the lack of well designed layout. I am a novice blogger and need help. Does anyone know how to move pictures around?

Cheers for now - check back soon!

December Studio Sale

After making several unsuccessful trouble shooting attempts to correct the problemo of VERY WEIRD color translation of the accompanying image, let me just say that:
On December 13 and 14 I will be hosting a brand new kind of studio sale! 23 of the Berkshires and surrounding area's finest makers will gather at my studio to sell their wares from 10-5 both days. Affordable gourmet lunch will be available on site as well as Holiday greenery, pottery, jewelry, mobiles, and more. Gift wrapping will be provided by donation by Melville Street's very own Youth Alive. There will be music and hooping and all manner of high jinx to be had as well as a lot of great gift ideas inclucing Dolphin Studio Calendars and John ffrench ceramics.

Calendar Time

The ffrench family business, called The Dolphin Studio started 38 years ago by John and Primm, (my Mom and Dad) is in the throes of another busy calendar shipping season. We produce a hand silkscreened calendar every year and have since the beginning. When I was a kid printing was one of the daily chores that each kid was required to carry out. It was our task to register the paper on the table and then carry the fresh, wet prints from the print table to a clothesline to hang to dry. Since then things have gotten a lot more organized and fluid.
Primm cuts all the stencils, John did do all the printing single handedly for many years. This year he had help from his friend and master screen printer John Ahlen.
Sofie, my sister, and I have been heading up the mailing and shipping departments. It has been really great to have time to add this to my day.
Just last year Primm hand wrote each mailing label and 'thank-you for your order' enclosure. She swore off it after literally doubling sales due to features in the NY Times Magazine and DailyCandy.com. Sofie and I hold onto her personal touch as much as we can while adding computer printed labels and UPS pick-up to the mix.

We normally sell out by mid December and they are going fast so if you want to get one, don't wait. They cost $50 and can be ordered right from here: The Dolphin Studio.

Pittsfields Third Thursdays

This is my firend Megan, she is the Cultural Director for the City of Pittsfield. Not sure if they had anyone in that post before her. Her contribution to our city is truly amazing. To see what I am talking about come to our last 2008 Third Thursday this week. Megan came up with the idea and made it happen with help from community members and a LOT of hard work and organizing. In the top image she is taking a well deserved break on my porch before last months festivities. In the bottom image, she is, twittering while riding in one of the hot air balloons that were here on our Common as part of Third Thursdays on September 18, 2008. This month promises to be a great seasonal kick-off with street performers, music, and magic tricks planned to take place all up and down North Street. WaHOOOOooo Megan! Thanks for bringing our community together!

Good Green Living

this past weekend I did a hands-on workshop at The Green and Healthy Living Expo that was held at Butternut Ski Area in Great Barrington. Eugenie Sills, of The Women's Times reknown, invited me to participate in there giant SPONSOR booth.
It was really very cool!
Foot traffic was quite light but when you are not trying to sell product that seems a whole lot less important! The exhibitor roster was impressive! Amazing things to learn and network opportunities abounded.
I had a really tight weekend FULL of activities that were not going to allow me any free time at the Expo. The magic of the weekend culminated when my Sweat Lodge sisters decided that the heat of the summer and lack of ability to gather opened my Sunday afternoon to freedom to explore the Expo. It was really lovely. Chris and the girls were there too. We were able to bask in the afternoon sun with all sorts of interesting and smart like-minded people. I hope to help market the event better next year. I felt that it wouldn't take much more work to get a lot more people to know about it.
While I wait for pics from the event to arrive to my inbox, I couldn't wait another day to tell you about it!
The workshop I did was on Flowers. We made a ton of them! There were kids and grannies and everyone in between. Friends and folks I had never met. It was fun and easy to learn, empowering and a great way to meet lots of people. Thanks for the opportunity Eugenie!

This Week's Favorite Artist

In addition to my recently established list of goals for my blog, I would like to add a weekly column showcasing a favorite artist. This is my first pick for that column. Let me know what you think.






I have been noticing these amazing portraits donning our local bridge tressels, dormant train cars and over passes. Got pictures of most of them but missed the biggest work done on the Rt 41 underpass in Great Barrington in my old neighborhood. I love them!
I just heard about a store in GreenpointBrooklyn called Alphabeta that sells supplies to graffiti artists. They have a couple of walls to showcase their clients work that change all the time. This work, and the genre in general, is free, transient art to appreciate before it disappears. There was an interesting blurb on NPR about graffiti yesterday.

Phew! Glad that is over!

Rumors are flying around about changes happening at Fuchsia, Inc. dba Crispina Design Workshop on Melville Street in Pittsfield! It is with good reason as things are happening that are exciting yet a little difficult to explain - and still so many 'unknowns'.

Here is a short summary:
Crispina ffrench (that's me) sold her 15 year old recycling company to Nancy Fitzpatrick, a well known figure in our community in 2003. Nancy, local philanthropist and business leader made the decision to purchase the company based on the company's need of financial and business structural support. Nancy bought-in 100% and I became Creative Director for the company founded in 1987

The support Nancy brought with her gave me confidence in the company, product, and marketability of the company and the products from it.

In the following 5 years Nancy spent more money than could be imagined on keeping the business afloat. As we entered our annual planning meetings held in February this year, it became apparent that 2008 had started with very soft sales and we needed to get all hands on deck selling.
It also became apparent, or reiterated, actually, that Nancy and I needed to get on the same page for the future of the company change course toward financial viability.

I had morphed from being Creative Director to taking on the daily running of the company. This included product development and design, supporting marketing material design, trade show booth design, set-up, selling, training and tracking employees, scheduling, purchasing, marketing, advertisement design for the studio and our retail store, working with large volume retailers to develop product for them specifically, watching our numbers, working to empower our employees, preparing materials for our home sewers, and so much more. I tried to accomplish all of this without many key tools that would have been useful. An on time budget, an annual planning meeting held in a timely manner, a business plan, clear communication with our owner. I was not able to make any financial decisions, not even able to give a hard working employee a small pay increase without verifying it with our bookkeeper and owner. This is an example of the less than empowering environment I worked inside of for much too long!

Phew! Glad that is over!

Sorry for all the people who counted on the company for a paycheck or product for their venues. I will miss our employees, customers, vendors, and all the wonderful people who came into my life through that business.

I feel strongly that something more suited to my desire will come to fruition. Stay posted here. I will be keeping my progress noted and let you all know what I am up to. Thanks to each of you for your support and friendship over the years!

In the meantime, I will be filling retail orders and doing some small local shows selling product I am making to support my next endeavor.