Wear This to That: Rock & Shop Market
“Wear This to That” pairs an upcoming North Carolina event with fashion and accessories made by local designers or sold at local, independent boutiques.
A better title for this post would be Wear This From That, as all of the stylish local designers featured here will be at Saturday’s Rock & Shop Market. While these exact pieces may not be at Motorco Music Hall from noon to 6 p.m., each of their designers’ will have a wide variety from each of their lines to tempt you and your holiday shopping list.
Learn more about the Market here.
1. This belt buckle from Buncombe Buckles will come in especially handy on your tour de food trucks at the Market. Tasty grub from Only Burger, Klausie’s Pizza, DaisyCakes and Slippin’ Sliders is more than enough reason to wear slightly larger pants than usual, held securely up by a more-than-slightly hipper belt buckle. This cutie gets extra points for being named after my home county in the N.C. mountains.
Circles, Swallow belt buckle, $62
2. These earrings from Raleigh jewelry line Nooni Jewelry may cause more of a buzz than the beer across the street at Fullsteam Brewery, which recently hosted a fun Rock & Shop pre-show photo shoot and will be open for the festivities. The gold and coral play off each other beautifully, hanging off over-sized french ear wires.
Coralie earrings, $42
3. This roomy T-shirt from Raleigh design line Ahpeele would be ideal with a pair of equally comfy jeggings. If in doubt, get tips on the art of skinny jeans from the bands who will put the Rock in Rock & Shop, Wilmington’s Onward, Soldiers and Greensboro’s The Ox Magnolia.
4. If you’re wearing this necklace anywhere near the Rock & Shop Market fashion show runway when it starts at 2:30 p.m., be prepared to be mistaken for a tardy model. The collar, made by TrendeFemme, is made from organza petals that have been felted into wool using a process called nunofelting. (That’s a technical term for really, really pretty.) Each necklace is made to order, adding to its charm.
Felted Poppy Collar Couture Artisan Necklace, $120
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The Rock & Shop Market, Photo Shoot
We’ve been busy here behind-the-scenes preparing for The Rock & Shop Market on Saturday December 4th in Durham. Are you coming? It’s going to be awesome – food trucks, amazing vendors and really great bands. Here’s the facebook invite with more details.
Last week we did a photo & video shoot at Fullsteam Brewery, one of our venues this year.
I think the images turned out great! We had North Carolina (and Rock & Shop vendors) illustrators This Paper Ship create the Rock & Shop graphic on the fabric and local print-on-demand fabric company Spoonflower print it for us.
Stay tuned for lots more Rock & Shop related content in the next week.
Photography by Geoff Wood
Make Out Sessions with Crown Town Handmade
I was ecstatic when I learned about the Charlotte craft collective Crown Town Handmade. I’ve briefly mentioned them on my blog but I wanted to elaborate more about the group and their “make out sessions” here.
Members of the collective regularly get together for workshops and community events. In April they began hosting monthly “make out sessions” at Charlotte’s Patchwerk Playhaus, a cool little theater in the back of a vintage shop. These craft sessions are open to the public and usually held on the last Thursday of the month. There’s a different craft and a different instructor each month, and Crown Town’s blog gives a heads up in advance about what the project will be, and what supplies will be needed.
Definitely worth checking out!
Student Designer: Origami Revolt
My favorite thing about Origami Revolt, a soon-to-be-graduate of the Art Institute of Charlotte, is the scope of her variety. A peek into her etsy shop shows just how talented and original she is. A native of Winston-Salem, Origami Revolt has mastered dollmaking, but she also designs fashion and hair accessories, change purses, phone charms, eye masks, pillows, and the most adorable cat toys!
Origami Revolt says she’s inspired by international fashion and music, and she’s especially influenced by Japanese culture. Her style comes from her hobby of altering thrifted clothes and her love of color, patterns, and fringe.
Above all, she loves seeing a 2-dimensional idea become a 3-dimensional reality. She hopes her degree in Graphic Design will allow her to continue creating 3D designs. Ultimately, Origami Revolt says, “I’d like a job where graphic design, fashion, packaging, and cuteness are just mixed together.”
See you tomorrow! -
Indie Kids: about town
One of our favorite places to visit in Raleigh, especially during the holidays, is Logan Trading Company. The family-owned garden shop lives in an old train depot, which gives it really unique character.
We’ve shopped there for years, for everything from bird seed to fall pansies. And Seaboard Cafe serves up some of the best lunch in town. My favorite is the house specialty “veggies on sunflower” sandwich. With pickled carrots on the side, of course.
My toddler loves Logan’s, too. The greenhouse always delights, especially the big coy pond. Thank goodness they put a bench nearby, because she’d be content dipping her fingers in the water and talking to the fish for hours.
Another thrill for the toddler set is the occasional rumble of a train passing through. On this particular visit, the conductor waved to all the kids. Which totally made my daughter’s day.
Logan’s is packed with gorgeous holiday-themed goodies right now, including a collection of beautifully decorated artificial trees. In short time they’ll carry all things evergreen, and the entire greenhouse will be stuffed floor-to-ceiling with poinsettias. It’s a sight to see.
On our recent visit, I cheated on my usual veggie sandwich with this, a delicious homemade chicken salad with walnuts, grapes, apples and raisins. YUM.
Logan’s is hosting Family Night on December 4, where kids can enjoy marshmallow-roasting, hot chocolate and story time with Santa. Hope you have a chance to check out this special Raleigh landmark!
The Art of Tiffany Jones
I could feel Tiffany’s strong creative passion through what she shared with me:
I grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina. My father was an artist who owned a huge art store in New York. He is one of my huge inspirations and a reason I believe I have pursued art and creativity like I have.
I started out with photography, and developed an eye for color, light, and composition. Ive always been fascinated by art and the beauty of it around us every day. When I was 17, I picked up a paint brush and started painting, which has left me obsessed, and in complete adoration of creativity and art and all things out of the box. I believe in art and I believe in its voice/ sound that is released when an artist displays his/her heart on a canvas. It is a tool that is so powerful, yet so completely fun at the same time.
Tiffany is currently Charlotte-based and sells both originals and prints at Tiffany Jones Fine Art.
All about: Jennifer Bennett of Handmade Stuffs
Thrifty, multi-talented, fabric & textile artist Jennifer Bennett of Kittyzilla’s Handmade Stuffs moved to Charlotte from California and immediately jumped into the city’s craft scene. She showed at the now-defunct Craft Attack and has been blogging about her many adventures and participating in the monthly Crown Town Handmade Collective ever since.
Jennifer shared with me more about her work and inspirations:
Through the Lens: Aspen Hochhalter
From Charlotte photographer Aspen Hochhalter
The Day of the Dead at Pura Vida Worldly Art
Hi everyone! I’m Brooke from the newly launched My Indie Charlotte and I am honored to be indieNC’s guest contributor for the week! This week on indieNC, I will be showcasing some of my favorite crafty people and places from the Queen City.
Pura Vida Worldy Art is one of the most beautiful shops in Charlotte. The store opened in 2004 and relocated to NoDa, the city’s art district just a couple months ago. Thanks in part to the district’s bi-weekly gallery crawls, the move has been a success.
Pura Vida sells worldly art, clothes, jewelry, books, and housewares, offers a magnificent remembrance “shrine, ” and has a comfy sitting area where visitors can respond to a question or quote posted on a wall-size chalkboard. Pura Vida also holds multicultural events throughout the year. On November 1, the store held its annual El Dia de los Muertos (The Day of the Dead) celebration. The Latin American holiday honors those who have passed with colorful memorials and offerings. The overnight event featured performing artists, and guests were invited to create tombstones for their loved ones or inspirational heroes.
If you have a chance to stop by, don’t forget to meet the hip owner, Teresa Hernandez. She is a warm, caring, community-oriented person who’s positive energy will stick with you long after you leave!
Band Profile: Monsonia
Triangle-based Monsonia, with Carter Browning on guitar and lead vocals, Nick Petersen on bass and Andy Willard on drums, launches its new album, 33.3, tonight with a party at Nightlight in Chapel Hill. Over some beers at the Rockford last week, the band chatted with me about their unique sound, the record release party and the beauty of vinyl.
You guys write your music together. How does that work?
Carter: It’s always been collaborative; we normally start every practice getting warmed up and just start playing …
Nick: … it’s like a splatter painting. And if we all land on something, we’ll go with it. Carter has a recorder, so we’re able to go back to it.
Your label for 33.3, Holidays for Quince Records, describes your sound as “equal parts Touch and Go-style noise rock and dynamic, jazz-inflected avant-metal.” How would you guys describe your music?
Nick: This is a tough question; “challenging” is appropriate, but it’s a little bit of a daunting term.
Andy: We try to not be inaccessible, but what we play is challenging.
Nick: There’s a big physical sensation of playing the music … I adjust my body language to different dynamics and changes in the music.
Has your sound changed over time?
Carter: I definitely feel like it’s changed. When Nick started playing, the rhythm section of the band got a lot stronger.
Andy: It’s nice to have power behind the rhythm so that it doesn’t become tedious, so that there’s feeling to it and it’s not mechanical or belabored.
Nick: I think we’re less experimental than we used to be, in a better way, a more mature way.
So, you’ve kind of come into your own?
Nick: I think so. The sound of the band is a little more defined; our roles are more defined.
Carter: If you compare our last album [Growler] to the new one, they’re pretty different, but also similar in a lot of ways. The overall sound is consistent.
Andy: The words I’ve always used to describe us …. dark, bassy, rhythmic … still apply, but I think what we’re doing has shifted some.
What are your lyrics about?
Carter: That’s a good question. There’s no rhyme or reason to what I write about; I’ll think about it while we’re playing the song. What’s cool is that the lyrics are not really front and center, the music comes first.
Where do you guys like to play?
Andy: Carrboro, Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh and Greensboro. Home base these days is Nightlight in Chapel Hill. We also have fun playing the Reservoir, and we’ve had good experiences playing the Pinhook in Durham.
Nick: The Reservoir anniversary show is always really great; we get to play with a bunch of bands we really like
Does any particular show stand out in your memory?
Carter: It’s hard to pick just one. There are some shows when you just feel like the energy is really good, or the set list worked well.
Nick: The show that stands out in my head is when the studio [Track and Field Studios] moved; we had two nights of live music … it was really fun.
Tell me about your new album, 33.3.
Carter: It took us about two years to complete.
Andy: We took a different approach for this recording, where we recorded the songs in batches in different sessions while they were still kind of fresh and fun to us, where previously we had booked time in the studio and recorded the whole thing in a weekend. For the new record, there’s a lot more energy. I can still listen to it after two years because the songs are still fresh.
Carter: The songs were recorded at different places and with slightly different equipment in some cases.
Andy: Nick [who owns Track and Field] is the sound engineer on all of our records and is very meticulous in his work, so it is not glaringly obvious that the songs have been recorded differently. But there are certain subtle touches or a character to a song that make for a more interesting listening experience, we hope.
How did you come up with the name of the album?
Andy: It’s a numerology thing: there are three of us, it’s our third release, we’re all in our 30s … we take a bit of a documentary approach with our recording, to time stamp it. Also, in a very personal way, this album marks a different life stage for each of us. Since we began recording these songs, Carter’s daughter was born, I got married and Nick’s studio moved. So all those things come into play.
Nick: It’s a 33 1/3 rpm vinyl record. But we’re also releasing it digitally. Each vinyl copy comes with a digital download card, and it’ll also be available on iTunes.
Andy: The whole idea behind the project was to do a record with that classic size, sound quality and visual aesthetic. It was a lot of fun for us.
Monsonia’s new album is available for purchase on iTunes and at Schoolkids Records in Raleigh, Bull City Records in Durham, CD Alley in Chapel Hill and All Day Records in Carrboro. It also will be sold at tonight’s record release party, which starts at 10 p.m. at Nightlight in Chapel Hill. The lineup also features local bands MAKE and Minor Stars, as well as live projections by Projexorcism. Click here to listen to one of the new album’s tracks, “Age of Machines.” And check out this video of Monsonia playing “Sessions at Studio B” earlier in the week. For more information about the band, visit their website or Facebook page.
