Thursday, April 12, 2012

A Place for Contagious Creativity


Have you ever walked into a place and felt so inspired, delighted, happy and....at home? This happened to me recently during my trip to CA. I was showing my Fleaology partners some of my old stomping grounds from when I lived in LA and I took them to South Pasadena which has a charming little downtown area. We were looking for a place to eat and found this sandwich shop and as we were coming out this window display caught my eye. I just had to go in and see what the store was about.

I imagine I must have felt what Charlie did on his entrance to Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory. My eyes popped out as I took in the eye candy and whimsy of this delightful store. Basically it is a store for artists and crafters, especially those who love vintage and mixed media design. In the center is a awesome smorgasboard of items you can buy to create one of kind mixed media masterpieces. A lot of the items were vintage and really reasonably priced.


The store owner was really charming and we had a chance to talk with her a bit. She has artists teaching classes there every week and as I looked at some of the projects, I was wishing we could stay and sign up for a few. If you don't have time to take a class she has some great artwork for sale that you can just purchase. I loved looking at all the creations for sale.


Everywhere you turned there was a bit of inspiration in this store, especially this gorgeous hanging lampshade. I loved it. She told me it was continually a work in progress. I'm thinking about how I can start my own....



I truly loved everything about this store, the displays, the goods, the wonderful and kind staff and the creativity around every corner.

I loved the tag line of the store.....a place for contagious creativity....and while I haven't found a store like this around me, I hope all of you can find that space in your life. Where is your place for contagious creativity?

 


 


Make sure if you ever in the LA area, you stop at ZINNAS in South Pasadena, it will make your HEART sing!

2 comments:

Outofmymind said...

OH MY WORD!!!!! I would be going crazy there, plus I wouldn't have wanted to leave. Can we all get together and open a shop like this here in Utah?!!!!

laura said...

I have been looking for a new direction to take my studio. The traditional "gallery" space isn't doing it for me anymore. This is excatly what I was looking for! YAY!