F A L L
one week &
weekend
workshops
ceramics
studio assistantships
work study
scholarships
residencies
credit & CEUs
arrowmont.org
>4RRCW/M0NT
school of arts and crafts
556
Parkway, Gatlinburg, TN
865-436-5860
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sponsored by
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1 1 L i v l v l
Raymond James Financial
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7
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250,000 attendees attracted to fine art, fine crafts and
festivities in beautiful downtown Tampa, Florida.
$75,000 in cash awards, including $15,000 Best of Show,
plus a generous Purchase Award program.
A rtist Z a p p licatio n d ead lin e:
S e p te m b e r
3 0 ,2 0 0 9
Pr o f e s s io n a l l y j u r ie d • Ex t e n s iv e m a r k e t i n g c a m p a ig n
C o m p l im e n t a r y r e f r e s h m e n t s • O v e r n i g h t s e c u r it y
APPLY ONLINE zapplication.org
Visit our website a: gasparilla-arts.com
Phone: 813-876-1747
E-mail: [email protected]
P ro d u ct Placem ent
B e e h i v e C o - o p
Several years ago, Petra Gei-
ger was living in Atlanta and
struggling to find the right
sales outlets for her handbags
and stationery. Many other
designers in the area, she real-
ized, were in the same boat.
In 2004 she got a group of
them together and founded
Beehive Co-op. They launched
a store, a sleek contemporary
bazaar where some 50 mem-
bers showcase their stylish
handmade clothing, home ac-
cessories and jewelry, such
as Olaria Studio’s Chatham
ceramic necklace©. Geiger,
41, recently' moved to Mt. Kis-
co, New York, and opened a
Beehive branch there. North
and south, the merchandise
is high-quality yet affordable.
“Our goal is to make craft and
design more accessible,” she
says. “I want people to fall in
love with something, and be
able to buy it.”
With both stores getting
good buzz, Geiger plans to
build Beehive into a national
brand with an online shop and
franchise locations around the
country—all with a consistently
“fresh, polished, modern”
presentation, each reflecting
its own distinctive regional
flavor. “The word ‘franchise’
has cookie-cutter connota-
tions. That’s not what we’re
about,” she says. “Local by
design” is a concept she’s con-
vinced can succeed anywhere.
Collaboration is the basis
of Beehive’s business model.
Customers get to buy local
goods directly from the source.
Designers grow their busi-
nesses by pooling resources;
working in the store, they en-
joy what Geiger describes as
“a sense of place, of not being
isolated in their studios.”
“The best thing is the cama-
raderie. It’s so nice to know
I’m not the only one out there,”
says Heather Swanepoel, a
maker of artisanal bath and
body products. She adds,
“The sales have been great,
the exposure has been amaz-
ing. The Beehive name has
clout now in Atlanta.”
And the time may well be
ripe for Beehive to blossom
nationwide. Geiger happily
reports that after months of
limiting their purchases to gift
items during the economic
downturn, “people are start-
ing to buy things for them-
selves again.”—j .l.
beehiveco-op.com
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