Design on the Weekend
At Atomicdust, we don’t leave our love for design at the office. We’ve taken field trips to a local house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, picked up framed artwork at the Savvy Surroundings grand opening party and stressed out about creating unique invitations for our kids’ birthday parties.
And this past Saturday, a few friends and I decided to hit up the 3rd Annual Cherokee Print League Holiday Sale. For years, Cherokee Street has been known for its antiques, but lately it’s also becoming known as an up-and-coming art district. Just walking around, you can feel the creativity in the air.
The Cherokee Print League is a collection of artists and businesses that support the local art scene and was recently mentioned alongside Atomicdust in AgencySpy’s list of ‘dangerously creative’ design shops in St. Louis. Their holiday sale featured a variety of print work – printmaking, letterpress, screen printing, stencils, printed fabrics, and more – all from local artists. We wandered in and out of all of the different shops; along the way, we met a ton of different people and saw an unbelievable amount of talent.
I was first introduced to All Along Press when Atomicdust took a field trip there to screen-print some t-shirts. They are a cooperative print shop, specializing in letterpress, screen printing, fine art prints and book arts. This past weekend, I snagged some awesome holiday cards.
Visiting Firecracker Press was probably the highlight of the afternoon. Even though I’ve admired this place through the windows for years now, Saturday was the first time I finally made it inside their shop. We received a studio tour from their Shop Manager, Matty Kleinberg, and he even let us check out some of their old wood cuts and business cards. I was so impressed with their studio that I’m thinking about signing up for one of their letterpress printing classes.
And the design work isn’t limited to the print shops. We admired the work of David Langley, which is showcased on the walls of The Mud House, and ran into the ever-so-talented Sleepy Kitty while getting drinks at Foam. This amazing local music duo, made up of Evan Sult and Paige Brubeck, also own a screen-printing business and we all walked away with some of their work.
Without a doubt, it’s exciting to know that Cherokee Street offers such a talented and creative scene — right here in the STL. If you’re interested in checking out the full list of artists and venues that participated in the 3rd Annual Cherokee Print League Holiday Sale, check out their Facebook page.
Erika Cruse is an Account Manager at Atomicdust, working with our clients daily to develop marketing strategy. She’s also a vegetarian and sports ‘jeggings’ from time to time.
