Naomi Adams, a Wyndmoor, PA based freelance designer was hanging out outside the Locals coffee shop with her best friend, Deuce, a friendly, shaggy, black-haired dog. She specializes in knitwear, textiles, dyeing, cut and sew, and alteration She loves to makes skirts, sweaters and dresses. Italian wool is her favorite material. Adams majored in fashion design and minored in textiles as an undergrad at Moore College of Art and Design. At Jefferson University, she earned a Masters in design management finishing her schooling with a memorable five month stay in Milan. She fell in love with Italy and didn’t want to leave but did return home just before Covid. “I have a joy for just living life and being happy and being content in the space I’m in.” Watch here the freelance fashion designer describe her work and love of Italy and life.
Chris Sanes wears a kilt for work. He was sitting parked in a sparkling green, plaid-covered “Men in Kilts” van, alongside the Cake restaurant in Chestnut Hill. He was in the neighborhood on a mission to market company’s services and hand out business cards. I wanted to see whether there was truth in advertising and Sanes obliged me by stepping outside -wearing his kilt. The company does exterior house-cleaning, power-washing, and gutter cleaning but their “biggest thing” is window-washing, Sanes says. The story goes that a Scotsman in Canada went to do this kind of work one day wearing his kilt and people took a keen interest. The idea took off and now there are 15 some or franchise operations located in Canada and the U.S. Asked about whether he received any training in Scottish heritage, Sanes related that he grew up thinking he was Irish but a long-lost cousin suggested he might be Scottish. So, after getting the job, he took a DNA test which reported he was 48% Scottish. Now he’s listening to an audio book while he works on Norse and Gaelic history. What is it like working in a kilt? “It’s very liberating, being able to move around. [Our] shirts say 'No Peeking' on them." Some Scottish connection is not a job requirement - and it appears from the “Men in Kilts” website, neither is being a man. Watch video interviewer of kilt wearing window washer here.
Gabriel Nathan has a 1963 "Love Bug" VW that screams "Drive Out Suicide" on its rear window. The car is the same model as "Herbie", the anthropomorphic Volkswagen Beetle emblazoned with a large encircled number 53 in the 1968 "Love Bug" film by Disney. Having lost an Aunt to suicide, been plagued by intermittent suicidality himself and having worked in a psychiatric facility, Nathan hopes to bring awareness to the issue with his Herbie. He is on the board of Prevent Suicide PA " and trains people in the community, "natural gatekeepers" he calls them, in the QPR ("Question, persuade, refer") method. This short training equips them to perceive when others may be in crisis and what to say and do. Nathan and his Love Bug are the subject of a short documentary film by Bud Clayman, "A Beautiful Tomorrow: Taking Suicide Awareness on the Road" and can be followed on Instagram at @lovebugtrumpshate
Frank Rapoport, an attorney, started SamsaraGear some time after his daughter Alex took her own life at 32. Alex had gone to the Himalayas during her college days, fell in love with it, and converted to Buddhism. According to Rapoport, these experiences were the brighness in her life of struggle with an eating disorder. Rapoport retraced her steps in Bhutan and discovered the colorful textiles handwoven from sheep and yak hair, a thousand year old tradition of the native people. So impressed were his friends with a vest he brought back from a trip to Bhutan, Rapoport decided to make a go of an import business of clothes and accessories as a tribute to his daughter. In Buddhism "samsara" is the cycle of birth, death and rebirth.
Related: "End The Stigma is a community that provides education, resources, and discussion about mental health. Your story matters." #EndtheStigma "Leave kind words for someone who may need them" at the Starbucks in Flourtown
Janae Davis, an apprentice at Ace Shoe Repair shop in Mount Airy was outside the store on a fine summer day cleaning boots and shoes sitting at a low wall which served as her work table. Asked about her favorite job she answered unhesitatingly it was dyeing a pair of shoes dark brown. It involved cleaning the shoes first, stripping the original color, then applying dye, which sometimes requires several layers to get the perfect effect, she added. Davis would love to learn how to fix heels. Of Ace Shoe Repair she glowed. "They do a lot of great work." Watch video of shoe repair apprentice cleaning boots, talking about her aspirations.
Bookish but fashionable types may be seen wearing miniature book earrings or necklaces. At a workshop at the Free Library Northeast Regional Branch presented by Valeria Kremser, whose weekday day job is conserving rare books, participants like your correspondent and his wife learned how to create these miniature books approximately one inch square. They are true books with stitch sewn folios, endpapers, hard board covers and hinged spines. One of Kremser's most prized miniature books in her collection is from the Gutenberg Museum containing the Lord's prayer in seven languages. It measures about 1/8" square, is hand bound in leather with gold plating and Kremser notes, "comes in one of those little plexi boxes with a magnifying glass on top that swivels open." Watch how to make tiny wearable books - earrings and necklaces - here"
On New Year’s eve day, four young women newly arrived from South Korea for government-sponsored internships in Washington, DC browsed the "America" store in Alexandria Virginia with bemusement Your correspondent asked if they were interested in purchasing any of the merchandise - a jolly mix of seriously patriotic and comically political clothing, accessories and knickknacks. People don't buy or wear such things in South Korea they explained. When one jokingly vamped with a patriotic T-shirt emblazoned with Donald Trump's face against an American flag background, I asked what she thought of our dear leader. "If I say frankly, Trump will shoot me." To be honest? "I think he’s crazy.“ Watch video of young Korean women browsing "America" patriotic and parody store.
Wanna hear a cool story? a vendor at the Art for the Cash Poor fair in Northern Liberties asked me as I walked by. Sure! Two friends in a bar are talking about what kind of animals they would be were they to have animal form. One said a wolf because he's fierce; the other, a pig because he's big. Beer spilled on the bar counter and when they looked down at the suds they saw a wolf and a pig. "Wolfpig!" they exclaimed.
The brother of the guy who identifies as a wolf is an art teacher and he knew they wanted to go into some kind of business with the "WolfPig" theme. Along with another art teacher friend they settled on a t-shirt business because "wearable art" is an economical and effective way of making their art accessible to the public. At the fair they were selling exquisitely drawn t-shirts which they had made on a fine mesh screen using a process called discharge. The technique selectively removes the color from the black and grey t/shirts and bandannas they use. Themes draw on Aztec, Hindu and other mythologies and employ the wolf and pig motif, indicative of the yin and yang balance of nature and life. On some shirts the pig is more simply a commentary on the piggishness of the current administration.
"Based on the premise that everyone can be an art collector, AftCP is one of the longest running art festivals in the Kensington/Fishtown area. The best part: all works, by both emerging and established artists alike, are priced at $199 and under."
Kalam Shaheen a new United States Postal Service mail carrier hasn't yet received an official uniform allowance so when a guy came around the Post Office [in the hot weather] offering workers tank tops emblazoned with the Postal Service logo, she bought one out of pocket. Now she believes she is starting a style trend among "the girls." Your correspondent recalled seeing her making deliveries Sunday, the day before. Shaheen says that substitutes are required to work Sundays, delivering Amazon packages. She knows she has a lot of hard work ahead of her the next couple years but as someone who hasn't attended college. she is hoping to turn this job into a career as it offers benefits and a pension. Watch video here.
About 20 women and your correspondent gathered in the park outside Lovett memorial library in Mount Airy on Saturday June 13, 2015 to celebrate World Knit in Public day. According to co-organizer Eleanor Pabarue of Ladies of the Knit and the Hooker Auxiliary, ours was one of 867 similar events that day worldwide. Many of the women knit for relaxation and oh what beautiful useful handmade clothing and accessories that relaxation was producing. With the steady patience of Teresa Glover, your correspondent managed to knit a few not totally straight rows on his own and was rewarded with yarn and a pair o needles to practice his technique at home. The consensus was that he was not quite ready to learn to purl.
Claire Chappelle had passed by the Handcraft Workshop in Germantown for a year before she ventured in and took a pillowcase-making class. So enthusiastic was she about the experience that in the days leading up to Christmas she was coming in to sew dozens of pillow cases for gifts to friends to family. On the Friday eve before Christmas Chappelle, attended an Open Sew and was putting the finishing touches on some pillowcases while proprietress Heather Hutchinson Harris was cutting fabric and giving instructions to a gentleman working on pajamas. Harris says the pajama making classes are popular with students who take the introductory pillowcase class and then want to move on to a more challenging projects that require working with a pattern. Harris sewed up a career as a teacher and geriatric social worker before launching her shop. Husband Andre Harris, an IT professional, was on hand at the Open Sew helping out.
