Flourishing, our brand-new line of limited-edition home accessories will debut this Saturday at the Betts House at 416 Clark St. in Cincinnati’s West End neighborhood. The exhibit is entitled HOME WORK and includes, well, work for the home. You can preview our work and purchase it in the Flourishing section of our online shop.
We started this project by photographing the many examples of ornament found on 19th century buildings in Over-the-Rhine, where we live:
After digitally tracing the ornaments, we began to reconfigure the pieces into new patterns and then applied them to various objects, including these cream-colored pulpboard coasters:
We also designed patterns for small quantities of various ceramic serving pieces and tabletop accessories:
The textile pieces include linen throw pillows and table runners. We printed each patterned bar individually in different combinations, so that each piece is one-of-a-kind:
We’re really excited to have the opportunity to display our new work at the Betts House. Built in 1804, the Betts House has been part of Cincinnati’s history for over two hundred years. Built in 1804, it is located at 416 Clark St. in the Betts-Longworth Historic District, in the city’s West End. In 1995 the oldest surviving brick building in Cincinnati became the Betts House Research Center, a place dedicated to the study of building materials and traditions.
If you’re on Facebook, please RSVP to our reception, which takes place on Sat 20 Feb, 5-8pm. The work will be on view through Sat 3 Apr, and everything is available for purchase in our online shop.
Also, be sure to check out the CityBeat write-up by arts writer Matt Morris. Thanks, Matt!
Department of Everyday Visualingual 
Dan and I are hoping to make it to the showing… I love the idea behind these patterns and can’t wait to visit the Betts House, too.
Maybe we’ll finally get to meet you guys? 🙂
That would be awesome; we can discuss the nuanced history of professional baseball teams!
oh man, these would make amazing letterpress ornaments! If you’re willing to share, I’d love to send them to owosso to get plates made and mounted!
Are you saying that you have a press? Because we’d love to try our hands at letterpress but A. we don’t have one, and B. we probably wouldn’t be able to get one into our third floor apartment. So, we’re always on the lookout for a letterpress collaborator in Cincinnati.
I’m in Chicago and use communal presses right now, but I’m from Cincinnati originally and plan to get my own press at some point in the future!
If you ever get a press up and running in Cincinnati, we should talk.
as much as I’d love to return to Cincinnati, it doesn’t seem likely. Likewise, if you decide you’re willing to settle for collaborating with a Cincinnatian-by-heart but Chicagoan-by-geography let me know. I’d love to use these flourishes with some of the wood type we have in the studio here.
If there’s something specific you have in mind, let me know. I’d be happy to run some artist’s proofs for you gratis.
You may get an email from Michael or me about this in a few months, because we’ve definitely been thinking about letterpress. Right now, we’re still reeling from this latest, massive project, but we’ve got plenty of ideas tucked away in the backs of our minds.
great! I have a bunch of studio time this spring, so I will look forward to it!
I can’t wait to see the work in the space. Great job, my friends.
Um, my favorite local design blog + my favorite Chicago-ian Letterpresser? Everyone needs to promise me that this will happen please, the idea is superwonderful.
M&M;
Thanks for breathing new life into our living tradition of decorative arts! This stuff is fantastic.
Thanks, all. We’ve got more ideas than time at this point, but I think this particular direction is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s a lot more we can do with the ornamental heritage of Cincinnati.
I love how your environment inspires you. I really like the pattern on the eggholder, it’s very elegant and pretty. I can see how you can develop this idea further. And just by looking at the coaster I can imagine each piece being seperated and made into a mobile.
Cincinnati and OTR in particular has beautiful architecture and I am so excited to see this inspire material culture. Just lovely.
Thanks Alexis! It’s probably pretty obvious that we’re smitten by our adopted home of Cincinnati, and especially our neighborhood, but the cool thing about Flourishing is that it pulls together forms that you can find in pretty much any city that was developing during the second half of the 19th century. These forms aren’t exactly ubiquitous, but they’re certainly not limited to Cincinnati at all.
Great photos and gorgeous work!
Love the stone carving detail, it just goes to show that inspiration is all around us if we only look for it.
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