Individual questions from the video interview with Desmond Suarez & Ronno Cooke
Geraldine Plato, executive director, HandMade in America
Q. When did you become the director of HandMade in America? Are you from the Asheville area?
A. I became the executive director of HandMade in America seven months ago. The founding executive director decided to retire, and the board launched a national search to find a replacement, and I was a successful candidate. The experience has been exciting for me because I've watched HandMade in America grow and develop since its inception 15 years ago, and I volunteered with the organization over the years in various projects.
Right now, I live in Penland, NC. Before moving here permanently about 15 years ago, I had been coming to western NC for 30 years to take classes at Penland School of Craft and I held various positions there. Then I moved here to serve as the executive director of the school. When I became the executive director of HandMade in America, my family and I decided to stay in Penland, where my family is at home and my husband has a studio out here. I commute about an hour back and forth to Asheville everyday.
Q. HandMade in America seems to have its hands in so many projects. What are some of the main projects you're focusing on currently?
A. One program we're really excited about is our Small Town Renewal program, which is funded by the NC Rural Economic Development Center. Right now, we have 13 small towns in western NC participating. A "small town" is one that doesn't qualify for main street funding and usually has less than 2000 people. We have a model we're very proud of, in which a small town contacts us and we send a resource team that helps them start to figure out what they need. We don't go into these towns and tell them how to do things. Instead, they tell us about their town and their strengths and we ask how we can help. The key is that we focus on the strengths of the town. For example, we would do something very different in Cherokee, NC than we would for Penland, because both towns have different strengths. And if they need to do a planning project, we teach them how to draw the plans, apply for grants, and figure out how raise the money for the projects that want to initiate.
Another new project is the Rural Women's Entrepreneurial Program, which is funded by the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation and Tide Foundation. With this program, we are working with rural towns to identify women with small business or women who want to start small business. The purpose is to help them create and grow those businesses to stimulate the local economy.
Our Craft Registry, which is less a program and more of a tool, is an online database of craft artists in western NC. It's a useful tool to both the artists and people looking for local crafts. For example, if you were going to certain town and you wanted to find a potter in the area, you could look us the area and category on our registry and it would help you locate local potters in the town. We don't take a commission or act as a go-between with this registry. We connect people to local artists, giving exposure to the artists and people a chance to find local art.
Also, the Handmade House is a large project we have been working on for the past two years. It's exciting because it is a national model, and there isn't another house like it. It's a unique way to experience the local crafts of western NC, because it's so different than a retail space. You don't walk in and see products with price stickers. Instead, you're embraced in a completely handcrafted environment.
Our Craft Across the Curriculum program also works to bring crafts into local schools. We try to teach craft education to both teachers and students and bring craft projects into classrooms to teach about the craft heritage of North Carolina.
Q. Artists greatly benefit from HandMade in America's work. How does the community benefit from establishing this sort of "creative economy"?
A. It's hard to measure the community benefit. We're always keeping track of how we're helping to create jobs and increase tourism. We hear a lot about how people want to move here because of the art and culture and because it's a fun place to live. We contribute to this hard-to-measure aspect, by promoting this fun, creative, community atmosphere. There is nothing stereotypical about western NC, and we're working to promote the stories and lifestyles of the craft artists in the area that people want a part of.
Q. What role does real estate play in economic development in Western NC?
A. This is a new model for us and a driving force in developing it is that there is so much building development going on in western NC. A lot of homeowners are looking to build houses here, sometimes their second or third houses. We saw it as a great opportunity to connect the people who want to be here with the tremendous craft culture that exists here. We wanted to get on the front end by letting people know that you don't have to go to Atlanta or other places to find the design elements you want for your home. You can buy the local crafts that are made here in western NC. Working this real estate angle was important because it helps us find those buyers, and we're tapping into a new niche market to make these connections.
We would love to make another HandMade House in the future, and try a different venue. The first HandMade House we created was an affordable housing project, which was a great experience. After this one, who knows what the next one will be!
Q. What advice would you give to communities who would like to find funding to implement similar programs?
A. Well, they should call and hire us! We are able to teach other small towns how to do accomplish these things. We are unlike any other organization in that respect. We know how to write grants and plan for development projects. Also, the HandMade Institute is a program that makes us available to teach other communities how they can have a HandMade in America in their town. Our own financial strategy is that we try to diversify our income. We're not completely dependent on grants. We have some earned income of our own and we're working for corporate gifts and donations. We have a national reputation, so a lot of people are invested in our programs and are willing to support us.
Q. How can other communities get involved with handmade?
A. The best way is to visit our website to find out more about us. But people can just call us and ask. We're restricted to working in western NC right now, but we have resources and contacts in other areas of the state that we can share with other communities. Our programs are also so diverse, that we always need volunteers and participants, and we're able to reach out to many different communities.
Desmond Suarez, furniture-maker (www.sabbathdaywoods.com)
Q. How did you become involved in HandMade for America? And how are you involved currently?
A. HandMade in America originally contacted me when they were working on their trail books, a project to create tourism books that map out where artists' studios are located in the area. Since then, I've participated in a number of different ways. Most recently, for the HandMade House I designed and made the kitchenette area table and chairs in a cherry walnut wood. The overall design of the house was Arts & Crafts style, so I created an Arts & Crafts style kitchenette that also reflected some Asian and Scandinavian influences.
Q. Where did you learn your craft?
A. My father was a furniture-maker, so I am a second-generation furniture-maker. I went to college in Tennessee and England where I studied fine art and history. I also once owned a company that designed and created commercial furniture, but now I am a full-time artist and furniture-maker.
Q. How has the organization benefitted you as both an artist and a community member?
A. HandMade has benefitted me in multiple ways. They give us great exposure and they act as the cumulative spokesperson for the arts community, but they also offer us a community where artists can interact. Sometimes it can feel lonely working in your studio on your own, and they give us a great feeling of community where artists can work together.
Q. What's the most important aspect of HandMade in America to you?
A. They are a great organization not just because they promote the arts and are working to build the arts as a new leg of tourism in western North Carolina, but also because they reach out to other communities, craftspeople, architects, designers, everyone. I've never experienced anything like this before.
Ronno Cooke, woodworker (www.ronnocooke.com)
Q. How did you become involved in HandMade in America?
A. I'm not sure if I found out about it over the Internet, if someone told me about it, or if I picked up a piece of literature somewhere, but about two years ago I was looking for galleries to market my work to. I found HandMade in America's online craft and art registry that has contact information for their members, a list of galleries with contacts, and information about what each gallery is looking for at the time.
It was a helpful tool for me when I was first starting as a craftsman and artist because I didn't know much about the galleries in the area, who to contact, or who was looking for what I made. The very first thing HandMade in America gave me was this wealth of information, narrowing down galleries so that I didn't have to spend all of my time running around.
Q. What is your craft and how did you learn it?
A. I am a woodworker. I build mostly furniture but also some sculpture and architectural elements. It was long road to becoming a full-time woodworker. I've done just about everything in my life from being an electrician to working in a nuclear power plant, but I've always enjoyed working with my hands. A few years ago, I took a job building a log cabin. We built it the old way, the way they were built a long time ago, and that built on my interest in making things the old way.
After that, I took a job with a cabinetmaker and I learned so much from him about wood species, standards and quality. He was very passionate about what he did and made everything high quality and to the highest standards. Then, I started making small things on my own at home. I also got involved in the Historic Morganton Festival in Burke County where they celebrate the history of furniture-making, and I sold almost everything I brought. Then I did some other events, and that's what got me started. Once my work started going out into galleries with the help of HandMade in America, I started getting more and more commission jobs, too. I learn everything by reading books and learning it myself. Whenever I do something different, it's usually the first time I've ever done it. No one teaches me, I just try it.
Q. What did you make for the HandMade house?
A. I made the dining room table and benches in a black walnut wood, the coffee table in the living room, which is a black walnut slab piece, and the bench in the sculpture garden outside. When I committed to all these pieces, I almost bit off more than I could chew. It was a lot of work and it took a lot of time, but it was such an awesome opportunity, I knew I had to do it and it was worth it.
Q. How has the HandMade House project benefitted you as an artist?
A. The HandMade House is just one of the many, but probably the biggest thing they've done that has benefitted me. It has provided exposure to newspapers, TV, magazine, all kinds of media, and a large number of people, to see my work and find out about me and the kind of work I do. I could never have bought that kind of advertising. It would have h taken years to build that level of exposure without HandMade in America's help. It's important to have that kind of platform to build on, and all of the artists benefit from it. It's overwhelming to me that I've come this far in just two years, and I couldn't have done it without HandMade in America.
Q. Anything else you'd like to tell other communities and artists about HandMade in America?
A. Handmade provides so many opportunities for people like myself who work in the arts and crafts industry in western NC, and the things they provide and help with are things that are not really available anywhere else. There is so much involved in setting out and doing arts and crafts for a living. It can be scary. And without the assistance they provide and the programs they run, I know I wouldn't have had as much success as I have. And as for the HandMade House, it's an incredible feeling to walk into the house and to see so many artists work under one roof. It was an amazing feat for HandMade in America to accomplish.
Interview with Desmond Suarez & Ronno Cooke
An interview with Becky Anderson