Development News

According to Kirstin Eismin, jewelry artist and owner of Funky Artsy, there is no such thing as a piece of jewelry that is too big.

Eismin travels three to four weekends a month to attend art shows in the Midwest or along the East coast, creating most of her pieces in her rare free time; she works full-time as a social worker, in addition to spending nearly 40 hours per week on Funky Artsy in her Pendleton studio.

Originally from Lafayette, Ind., Eismin attended Purdue Universty, majoring in sociology and minoring in art and design. These days, she sees jewelry making as a way to help women explore their self-identity and have fun.

“I try really hard to create pieces that showcase women and their independence and their beauty," she says. "For me, it’s about finding something that will highlight some sort of color or inspiration that may come from the earth or that individual person.”

She frequently alters her pieces on the spot for shoppers and meets with women to sketch commissioned items in front of them after gathering information.

Her colors and materials' palette includes metals with natural accents, such as gemstones, shells, rocks, and, occasionally, found objects, such as antique broaches. As far as size, she says, “My big funky pieces are the large ones you can see from 100 feet away, and then I’ll do small simple, elegant petite pieces that still have some funk to them, that speak to a woman’s personality.”

The fun of owning Funky Artsy, Eismin says, is watching women take a risk on bold, oversized necklace and discover that their new look works.

“It’s really important for women to try new things, go outside their comfort zone and see that there are things that can brighten up an outfit or themselves. … They don’t have to wear just the classic pearls.”  

Earrings, necklaces and other jewelry items and accents are available at Oakley’s Trend Boutique and via the Funky Artsy website and Etsy shop.

By Robin Donovan

For four days in October, local creatives will launch a rebranding of Cincinnati as an international hub for design. CODE, which stands for Cincinnati Open Design Event, debuts Oct. 18-21.

The event is a four-day creative conference showcasing local designers and tastemakers.

The brainchild of AGAR (formerly Ionic Collective), CODE brings together international firms like LPK and Landor, as well as a bevy of freelancers and other professionals who call Cincinnati home. Over the course of four days, CODE participants will carve out Cincinnati’s creative manifesto, intent on solidifying the city’s international reputation, and build on that reputation.

CODE partners include Mitchell’s Salon and Day Spa and Navarro Photography, along with sponsors like LPK and 4EG. It is part professional education and part creative collaboration with plenty of opportunities for networking and socializing.

Andrew Salzbrun, AGAR managing partner, says, “CODE creates a unified place where local designers can really stake their flag in ground.”

CODE’s educational component will be held at the LPK Brand Innovation Center on Garfield Park and will feature a series of talks and sessions. Professionals from large firms to small will present, as will representatives from the University of Cincinnati and Miami University.

The daytime sessions are organized into tracks, including style, consumer marketing and entertainment, with topics ranging from fashion to branding to film and back again. Speakers will highlight how to leverage local design and keep working on the creative edge. The goal is brash and bold: create Cincinnati’s design manifesto.

While sessions form the framework for daytime activities, the evenings bring a whole new level of networking with peers.

Spearheaded by AGAR, event and experiential marketers that are responsible for some of the coolest events around, the CODE evening lineup includes custom designed cocktails during the Creative Directors Happy Hour, and Rocktober on Fountain Square in partnership with 4EG. The event concludes with a City Flea-inspired Freelance Market and evening fashion show.

“The creative talent in this city is as good or better than you’ll find anywhere,” says Salzbrun. “CODE gives our city a chance to showcase that talent.”

Tickets cost $125 for all three days, and can be purchased online.

By Deidra Wiley Necco

This fall, Jon Zipperstein and Hideki Harada toss their hats into Over-the-Rhine’s restaurant ring with Kaze, a gastro pub and sushi bar, to the Gateway Quarter at the corner of 14th and Vine streets.

Zipperstein owns Embers, a Montgomery restaurant that serves steak, seafood and sushi; Harada was a sushi chef there when it first opened. Although he left after two years to sharpen his culinary skills, the pair remained in contact and eventually decided to open a restaurant together in OTR.

 “We were just looking for a really dynamic part of town, and Over-The-Rhine certainly fit the bill,” Zipperstein says.
They opted for the Color building because it offers more than 3,500 square feet of restaurant space, plus an outdoor area where they will put a beer garden that will be partially enclosed with a fire pit.

Building owner 3CDC reports the $4.1 million renovation of the mammoth space will also feature 6,000 square feet of office space.

“If you’ve been to the building a year ago, when it was first shown to me, it was an absolute wreck,” Zipperstein says. “You had to have a great imagination to think about what it could be. And you could say the same about just about any building they work on down there. They take buildings that are in complete disrepair, that are 100 years old or more, and turn them into little gems.”

The atmosphere at Kaze will be comfortable yet urban, Zipperstein says. He and Harada like the idea of reclaiming the historic building, so they will be leaving a lot of exposed brick. Other restaurant plans include an open kitchen, so diners can take advantage of insiders’ views of meal prep.

The menu will be about 50 percent sushi/50 percent izakaya, which is Japanese style pub food—lots of small plates, grilled meats and noodle soups. Kaze will use local produce.

Their beverage selection will include traditional favorites, plus they will import Japanese beer, liquor and non-alcoholic drinks that have never before graced Cincinnati shelves.

The plan is to open the bar first around the beginning of November. Shortly after, they will serve food in the bar and open the beer garden. In December, the dining room will be open for private parties exclusively. After these soft openings, Kaze plans a grand opening in January 2013.

By Stephanie Kitchens

Just one year ago, the Emery Theatre, one of the nation's top acoustic concert halls, sat empty in Over the Rhine. For decades, its once-sumptuous spaces were neglected. They eroded. They crumbled. They gathered more than their share of dust.

Since last November, more than 6,000 guests have seen art shows, watched dancers perform, heard beautiful music and witnessed a dream unfold in the spaces Mary Emery had built to serve the people of Cincinnati.

That dream, known as the Requiem Project, continues to build this fall with a five-event series called "Art Moves Here," which debuts Sept. 30 with a FotoFocus-affiliated exhibit called "Handsome" by Chris Hoeting.

Hoeting built "Handsome" specific to the Emery's nooks and crannies, knowing that his show would run in tandem with Midpoint Music Festival performances at the site as well as a showing of Mike Disfarmer's beautiful and sometimes unsettling portraits, set to be on display starting .

Like so many other endeavors over the past year, "Handsome" reflects the power and the potential of the Emery to occupy an emerging space in the local arts scene—to bring together art forms, artists and neighbors and together, to build a stronger, vibrant and diverse community.

"All of these things live together," says Requiem Project co-founder Tara Lindsey Gordon. She and partner Tina Manchise lead the all-volunteer effort to restore the Emery, which publicly kicked off on 11.11.11.

Since then, the two have built a non-profit business dedicated to the idea that Cincinnati needs the Emery. The idea that the space gives something powerful to the community, from guests at performances and fundraisers to the four neighborhood kids who "work" at the Emery after school.

Their fall season is filled with partnerships that bring something new to the city, from multimedia shows in conjunction with FotoFocus and independent artists, to a show with the Contemporary Arts Center that features Andy Warhol screen tests that will be projected on stage during a music performance.

"This is a huge endeavor," says Manchise. She could be talking about the complex programming line-up that involves Requiem's five major events this fall or the massive renovation work the Emery needs. The building sat empty for years, she notes, because keeping its doors open requires near-constant work.

She and Lindsey Gordon, who average between 40 and 80 hours a week doing Requiem Project work, take no salaries. They admit the task before them can feel daunting. But unlike last year, when some looked at the Emery as "the Tina and Tara show," now they know there are far more people involved, and invested in the theater's success.

First, there's the core of more than a dozen dedicated volunteers who help with everything from volunteer coordination to site logistics. Then, there are the neighbors, from fellow business owners to the fire marshall (who checks in weekly) to neighbors who find support and respite at the Emery.

Manchise and Lindsey Gordon take the "open door" policy seriously, partnering with groups large and small to offer spaces, time and support to independent artists, groups like the YPCC, Exhale Dance Tribe and even the Starfire Council, who look to the Emery as a safe place for practice and experimentation.

"We're not only a venue," says Manchise, who notes that one of the "Art Moves Here" events takes place outside of the historic theater.

"Contained," a collection of 11 shipping containers filled with different artists' works, will be set in the Grammer's parking lot on Walnut Street. The Oct. 20 event illustrates the Requiem Project's goal to connect with the community both inside and outside of the Emery.

Manchise and Lindsey Gordon know the stakes are high. It will take $25 million to revive the Emery. For now, the partners are in a sense performing perpetual CPR on the site, keeping it alive, making improvements as they can and building a community of supporters who aren't afraid to get their hands dirty, literally.

They work with partners who accept the extra challenges inherent in a space with a temporary certificate of occupancy. (Manchise and Lindsey Gordon will apply for another next year.) They work with weekend volunteers who clean under every seat in the auditorium because maintenance doesn't come cheap. They head home with green hands and way too much information about Port-o-lets and water supplies.

They stress over taking on too many projects. They squabble over printer jams and QuickBooks. They joke that they spend so much time together that it's like they are sharing tight quarters on a ship.

And still, they couldn't be more proud of the space where they have invested their money, their time and their lives.

"The theater is doing exactly what it is meant to do," Manchise says. "A buiding like this can do so much good."

Find out more about the Requiem Project's fall season as well as the fall line-up of events at the Emery on the newly re-launced website, built by Mower + Associates.

By Elissa Yancey
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Brew River Gastropub. The name alone prompts stirrings in the hearts and bellies of Cincinnati foodies.

Joby Bowman, Christian Babani and chef Michael Shields, along with a silent partner, have been developing their casual-meets-gourmet concept for more than two years, while their combined experience spans decades, numerous cuisine styles and geographical locations, from NYC to NOLA.

Brew River soft-opened in July and plans a series of grand opening events later this month. So far, the response from the community has been enthusiastic, a testament to the collaborators’ passion.

“We’re all extremely particular and detail-oriented,” says Bowman. “It shows in everything from the décor, which we’ve done entirely ourselves, to the atmosphere and recipes. People have told us it’s clear there’s a lot of love in every detail.”

When it come to the menus, it’s like Brew River’s answering machine claims: “Local is our focus; libations are our passion.”

Chief among the local ingredients used in their cooking are their house brews—the products of an exclusive partnership with Great Crescent Brewery in Aurora, IN.

“We had all been [home brewing] for quite a while,” says Bowman.

That’s why early in their quest for the perfect location, the group toured—or, as she puts it, “spelunked”—many of the storied former breweries on McMicken Ave.

Soon after, they learned that Maribelle’s would not be renewing their East End lease, and, says Bowman, “Everything just sort of came together from there.”

Well, almost everything.

The Riverside Drive location allows the partners—who Bowman describes as “sort of obsessed with water”—to weave in Cincinnati’s rivertown history. One upside to the building’s non-conforming use zoning? You won’t see copycat bars and restaurants cropping up nearby.  

The lease, however, does not allow for on-site brewing—a minor setback that Bowman and crew hope to eventually remedy by housing that part of the operation in a vacant church just across the street.

In the meantime, the pub’s entrepreneurs are more than happy with their Great Crescent partnership. Patrons seem content, too, imbibing specialty blends like Island Queen Blonde Ale and Ubiquitous Coconut Porter by the pint.

By Hannah Purnell
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