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Ready to get your hands dirty?

Come join us at the Belle Isle Conservancy's Annual Spring Clean Up!

The Conservancy will supply rakes, picks and garbage bags. Wear boots & bring gloves!

 Hot dogs, potato chips and drinks will be served.

 Meet us at 9 a.m. at the Bell Isle Casino! Registration is not required, but you can contact the Conservancy at 313-331-7760 or belleisleconservancy@gmail.com if you'd like more information.

 Groups welcome!

The craft beer movement continues to boom across the USA. 10 Best editors have compiled this state-by-state guide so you can plan your next beer pilgrimage.

 5. Michigan, 102 craft breweries Michigan is quickly moving up the ladder in the world of craft beers with over 100 breweries in the state. You may not find the big name craft brews of other states, but what you will find is some hidden gems -- and maybe your new favorite -- at local institutions like Bells Brewery and Founders Brewery.

Click HERE to read the full article!

Detroit was one of the hardest-hit cities in America during the recession.

Its auto industry, which helped build America's middle class, needed multiple government bailouts. Unemployment rose to 20% in the city in 2011, but could have been as high as 50% if you include people who stopped looking for work.

But every bad situation has a silver lining. The lack of enterprise and abundance of failed businesses left great opportunities for newer and cooler businesses.

From restaurants and bars to bike shops and tech startups, these are the coolest businesses in Detroit.

You Never Know Who You'll Run Into Shopping At Hugh
#12 Hugh

4240 Cass Ave.

What it is: A furniture and barware store that evokes "classic bachelor pad style"

Why it's cool: Hugh sells furniture, barware, and accessories that pay homage to the Old Hollywood era. The idea is to invite customers to live their very own version of Mad Men by purchasing household items that, as owner Joe Posch describes it, are inspired by "classic bachelor pad style." Customers can buy items like vintage champagne buckets, stainless steel cocktail shakers, and shaving brushes and razors.

Click HERE for the full list!
10. Light rail is coming to Detroit
Light rail is coming to Detroit

In January, US Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced a federal commitment of $25 million to the M-1 Rail project, thus tentatively setting construction to begin in the summer for the 3 mile stretch of rail between downtown and New Center. Gone will be the days when Detroit's only rail transit is a glorified amusement park ride!

9. Detroit inspires the world's music
Detroit inspires the world's music

Though Diana and Stevie aren't at the top of the charts, Motown lives on in hip hop, pop and R&B music every time you hear the likes of Beyonce and India.Arie. This sound is inherently tied to Detroit and people know it. Next time you're playing DJ at a party, put on "Baby Love" and count how many people don't sing along. My prediction: zero. If it's more than that, you might want new friends.

8. Detroit is a living museum of 20th Century architecture
Detroit is a living museum of 20th Century architecture

Perhaps no where else in the world can one so easily access some of the greatest pieces of early 20th Century architecture than in Detroit. You can literally walk into the Guardian Building - a world-renowned Art Deco masterpiece - and snap a photo, hit the ATM and buy a cup of coffee in less time than it would take to navigate around the throngs of tourists at 30 Rock, let alone the security. I'll use all that extra time to watch Liz and Jack deal with New York on TV, thankyouverymuch.

Click HERE to read the full list!

detroit recovery
Gilbert, left, and Chrysler's Sergio Marchionne announced the 'Chrysler House', the first time the company will have an office downtown. Photo: Bill Pugliano/Getty Images

Sandra Patterson's face lights up at the mention of Dan Gilbert. She works the car valet desk at Detroit's Greektown Casino Hotel, which the entrepreneur has just taken over. "It's like he's sprinkling rose petals all over my city," she says beaming. "He's really rooting for Detroit."

And how. A self-made billionaire Gilbert, 51, was born and raised in Detroit. His father owned Saskey's, a bar in the city, and his grandfather ran a car wash. In the 1990s Gilbert and partners including his brother Garry started a mortgage business that became Quicken Loans, now the US's largest online retail mortgage lender.

Three years ago as Detroit seemed on the edge of destruction he moved his headquarters downtown and began snapping up swathes of real estate. His Bedrock property management company owns 22 buildings with more than 3m square feet in the city. He's attracting big names back into the city. Gilbert convinced Chrysler to take office space downtown and renamed a building after the car firm; he recently toured the city with Microsoft's Steve Ballmer. He's effectively created a business campus in the heart of a city some had written off as dead. A death that had been a long time coming.

Detroit had a population of nearly 2 million in the 1950s, and now it's below 700,000. People and their money fled to the suburbs decades ago. The city is struggling with $14bn in long-term liabilities, falling tax revenues and declining services, 60% of its children live in poverty. It's a decline that has been a long-time in the making.

"People around 55 and down have no memory of what people call the good Detroit. You'd hear from your parents and grandparents how incredible Detroit was," says Gilbert. For his generation those golden years were just stories. "The 1967 race riots are my first memories," he says.

Gilbert's vision of Detroit's future is of a city filled with young people from local universities, the majority of whom now skip town on graduation. This summer he'll have 1,100 interns working downtown, and he's convinced many of his tenants to follow suit. The company gives employees who buy property in the city $20,000 on condition they live in the city for five years. Occupancy rates downtown are close to 100%.

"Detroit has the bones, the infrastructure, the people, to be a very special city. We have to do a lot of clean up then we have to start playing offense. The part that is difficult is here already. Look at these buildings. It's laid out well; there are parks. It's like a lot of great hardware with no software," he says.

Click HERE to read the full article!

Silicon Valley transplant Jerry Paffendorf chose Detroit: "I thought I should look at big problems. You know, let’s get real."

In addition to her retail shop, Margarita Barry runs a design business and a website for young entrepreneurs.

Alicia and John George faced down financial hardship and endless bureaucracy to create the only coffee shop for miles.
When a much-touted light-rail project stalled, 26-year-old Andy Didorosi stepped in: "We're the other option, all of us scrappy folks."

Click HERE to read the full article from Fast Company!

"What’s amazing to me about Detroit and Detroiters is they are IN. They’re 100 percent in. You hear it in their voices: ‘This is my city, I don’t care what you say about it. I love this city. I’m here. I’m not leaving.’ That passion is really important. It will happen. It’s not a matter of if. It’s a matter of when. It will."

-Jessica Goldman Srebnick, CEO of Goldman Properties.  Full article by the lovely Karen Dybis HERE!

Art X Detroit: Kresge Arts Experience makes its return to Midtown this Wednesday, April 10, through Sunday, April 14. For five days, an exciting collection of visual art installations, dance, musical and theatrical performances, and literary readings will debut throughout 15 cultural venues in the vibrant Midtown district, featuring the 38 Kresge Artist Fellows and Eminent Artists awarded in 2011 and 2012.

The biennial Art X Detroit (AXD) attracted thousands in its 2011 debut, and Detroit’s arts scene continues to generate excitement nationally and internationally. Attendees will experience new works and performances at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD), the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA) and Detroit Film Theatre, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Music Box, the College for Creative Studies and other venues in Midtown’s Cultural Center. Due to capacity at many of the venues, attendees are encouraged to arrive early to ensure access to some events.

· Opening Reception - Art X Detroit will kick off with an Opening Reception on Wednesday, April 10, 6:15 -11:00 p.m. This multi-venue celebration will include a number of live music and dance performances.

Registration is required at this event and can be done through ArtXDetroit.com or by calling 313.420.6000.

· Hubert Massey’s Mural Unveil - Known for his large public installations, Hubert Massey will unveil his new 30’ x 60’ mural titled, “The People’s Vision,” during a public ceremony on Thursday, April 11, at 2:30 p.m. outside of the Wayne State University Press Building at the corner of Woodward and Warren. The mural’s imagery is based on discussions that took place during community forums held by Massey as part of his artistic process. A post-unveil reception will take place at MOCAD from 3-3:45 p.m. and his preliminary drawings of the mural will be on view at MOCAD throughout April.

· DFT Film Screenings - On Friday, April 12, the DIA’s Detroit Film Theater will host a variety of film screenings. Films include Corrie Baldauf’s, “Frames for the People: A City of Halos,” Ken Meisel and Passalacqua’s “Never Alone,” “Star by Star: Naomi Long Madgett, Poet and Publisher,” and Maria Costa’s premiere of “¡Viva America!” Following each film screening, attendees have the opportunity to attend a Q&A session with the artists and filmmakers.

· AXD 2013 Exhibition - MOCAD will keep the spirit of Art X alive throughout the entire month of April by hosting the Art X Detroit 2013 Exhibition. From April 10 - 28, the creative works of all twelve Kresge Visual Arts Fellows and one Kresge Literary Arts Fellow will be featured in the exhibition. From paintings to sculptures, photography to mixed-media installations, this exhibition provided the artists an opportunity to showcase recent or new works, collaborate with others or explore an altogether new medium for their work.

· AXD Panel Discussions - Six engaging Art X Detroit Panel Discussions will take place April 10-13 at MOCAD. Nationally-recognized panelists, along with local arts practitioners, will dive into a number of topics, including community engagement through the arts, creative placemaking, arts coverage in the media and higher education in the arts.

For a complete Art X Detroit schedule visit www.ArtXDetroit.com. Visit Art X on Facebook for updates and for behind-the-scenes information. For more information on the Kresge Arts in Detroit program, visit www.kresgeartsindetroit.org.

Art X Detroit is funded by The Kresge Foundation and produced by Midtown Detroit, Inc., a nonprofit organization spearheading reinvestment in Midtown through the arts, beautification and economic development. Supported by ArtServe Michigan, the College for Creative Studies and MOCAD.

Detroit's creative class is located along the lakeshore in the city, as the map above indicates, in a narrow strip that runs north along Jefferson Avenue from downtown through historic Indian Village towards Grosse Pointe. Home to Wayne State University and major arts and cultural institutions, rapidly revitalizing Midtown has also drawn a growing creative class population.

The purple blotch in the north is upscale Palmer Woods, noted for its large Tudor homes close to Detroit Golf Club. The neighborhood was founded in the early 20th century as an exclusive enclave for auto industry barons, including the founders of Fisher Body, and is where a number of Motown recording artists live today.

Greater Detroit's class divides overlay and underpin its long history of white-flight and racial cleavage. Reviewing the various causes of the city's decline, Daniel Little, chancellor of the University of Michigan-Dearborn, recently pointed to race segregation as the most significant factor over on his blog "Understanding Society":

Despite the economic pounding it has taken, or maybe because of it, the revitalization of Downtown Detroit has gained significant momentum as I pointed out in the Financial Times today.

With its fraying social fabric and the imposition of an emergency manager to cope with its collapsing finances, it would be easy to argue a city that was a global centre of carmaking and musical innovation 50 years ago has passed the point of no return.

Easy, yes; but wrong. Detroit’s days as a manufacturing powerhouse – like those of many industrial cities in America, Europe and elsewhere – are irrevocable. But its downtown is rebounding, thanks to the kind of central location, affordable property, improved efficiency and productivity also bringing people and businesses back to struggling former industrial hubs such as Cleveland and Pittsburgh.

According to recent report, Detroit's Greater Downtown spans 7.2 square miles: across the city's riverfront from the central business district to trendy Corktown, home of Slows Bar B Q, Astro Coffee, Sugar House, Brooklyn Street Local, and the Honor & Folly inn; Mies van der Rohe's verdant Lafayette Park and Rivertown, north to the Eastern Market, Detroit's farmer's market; the Cass Corridor, with arts institutions; Midtown, home to Wayne State University and Detroit Medical Center, up Woodward Avenue to Tech Town and New Center. This corridor has a population of 36,550 people, or 5,076 people per square mile. It is more affluent, diverse, and educated than the city as a whole. College educated residents between the ages of 25 and 34 made up eight percent of the population for Greater Downtown, compared to just one percent for the city as a whole, three percent for the state of Michigan, and four percent for the nation.

One of the things that nearly killed downtown Detroit was the misguided notion that its function as a location for offices and headquarters could be transplanted to its suburbs. The region can no longer afford the outmoded and incorrect notion that it can build an alternative "downtown." As I pointed out in a recent talk to the Detroit Regional Chamber's Policy Conference, "Anyone who believes you can build an alternative core out there in the suburbs need a head examination."

A new generation of business leaders understands this, like the billionaire entrepreneur Dan Gilbert of Quicken Loans, who has moved more than 3,000 jobs from the suburbs to downtown, purchasing millions of square feet of office and residential space to accommodate them. (Gilbert owns 15 buildings with 2.6 million square feet of commercial space and two parking garages with some 3500 spaces). Compuware has brought thousands of professionals, techies, and creatives into downtown Detroit as well. "[W]e realized we needed to control the hardware, or the buildings -- the real estate," is the way he put it.

University of Michigan's Little points out in an email: "The influx created more racial and ethnic diversity in the center of the city as 20- and 30-somethings are moving into office buildings retrofitted as rental housing." This was not just based on community altruism, it was also good business. Gilbert realized that locating his business in the center of the city was more attractive to many employees and cheaper. "The good news was there was a skyscraper sale going on in Detroit at the time," he added.

A major new initiative by the highly regarded Project for Public Spaces has outlined plans to animate the district with dozens of pop up food markets, cafes, and shops. It is based on PPS's landmark "Power of 10" framework that proposes "a great city needs at least ten great districts, each with at least ten great places, which in turn each have at least ten things to do." PPS describe this strategy as a "Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper strategy that will include installations, pop-ups, and other activities in key public spaces like Cadillac Square, Capitol Park, and Grand Circus Park." The aim is to reorient downtown Detroit from its historic focus on streets for cars to a place for people and pedestrians. As PPS's Fred Kent put it when presenting the vision in Detroit: "We want to create a city where you don't drive through the center, you drive to it."

Detroit's Greater Downtown district is home to the region's major arts institutions — the Detroit Institute of Arts Museum, the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, the Max M. Fisher Music Center, the Bonstelle Theater and the Fox Theatre. The Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, founded in 2006, is part of the Sugar Hill Arts District. Midtown is also home to the vaunted music venue The Magic Stick. Writing in the New York Times, Maynard described it as the veritable epicenter of the contemporary Detroit music scene, where acts like The White Stripes and The Von Bondies among others got their starts.

Long home to a cutting edge music scene which spanned soul, jazz, rock, pop, electronic, and techno, downtown Detroit also features a world class design community, which we profiled in our "Detroit Rising" series.

In an email to me, Christian Unverzagt, a Detroit-based architect who lives in Lafayette Park and teaches at the University of Michigan's Taubman College, pointed out the transformation that the Cass Corridor has undergone. Long home to activists and artists, its gritty, windowless galleries and practice spaces have given way to a variety of renovated spaces including Green Garage (a co-working space), Great Lakes Coffee, and small retail shops such as City Bird, Nest, Hugh, and Nora, along with several yoga studios.

The area has become so attractive, Unverzagt adds, that there is now a shortage of rental housing. As a further signal of how far its transformation has progressed, a Whole Foods (the standard bearer for gentrification) will open there, a few blocks from Ye Olde Butcher Shoppe, another market that opened in 2012. Unverzagt notes that even hard-hit Hamtramck, a diverse working class community, has more recently become a destination for artists who are buying homes to both live in and experiment on. Its downtown has seen an influx of several storefront galleries and restaurants, and the artist-initiated Ride-It Sculpture Park and the skateboard shop Chiipss, relocated there from Plymouth, a suburb 25 miles to the west, have become the hub of a local skateboard culture. As Roy Strickland, a leading urban designer who heads the urban design program at the University of Michigan (he was previously director of the urban design program at Columbia University and a faculty member at MIT), pointed out in an email, downtown Detroit is being powerfully revitalized around four key legs: higher-ed, health, arts and culture, and technology. The confluence of these forces has brought considerable revitalization to a core that was once virtually hollowed-out. Put a rectangle around this area, he adds and "Detroit looks pretty healthy."

On top of that, the greater Detroit region broadly remains economic powerhouse. Even with its diminished population in the city, the metro area's population puts in the same league as San Francisco and Boston. With $200 billion in economic output, its economy is the same size as Ireland's, Hong Kong's, or Singapore's. It is connected to the world through its airport. On top of this, the region is home to an incredible cluster of universities and knowledge based institutions, the University of Michigan in nearby Ann Arbor, long a center for top researchers and now an emerging nexus for tech start-ups, Michigan State in East Lansing, and Wayne State in Detroit. The region's talent base is especially deep in engineering, design, and industrial know-how. Before all those assets can be fully-leveraged, suburban interests must come to the table, and transit must be extended outside the core to the suburbs and ultimately all the way out to Ann Arbor.

Detroit's nascent turnaround is different than slum clearances of the past; its impetus comes from a very different place than the redevelopment programs of the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, that staked huge sums of public money on ill-conceived mega-projects. The initiatives that are making the difference today are more market-driven and less top-down; they are organized not by the federal, state, or local government but by a unique coalition of profit-driven entrepreneurs, old-line philanthropic foundations, and grass roots neighborhood groups.

A consortium of companies and foundations including Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, the Detroit Three, Quicken Loans, the Kresge Foundation, Penske Corporation, and Platinum Equity have announced plans to purchase 100 police cars and 23 ambulances and lease them to the city of Detroit.

The Kresge Foundation's Complete Neighborhoods program has channeled millions of dollars to "[f]oster sustainability, increase economic opportunity and stabilize property values and the city's tax base by investing in neighborhoods that are magnets for new residents and that sustain existing residents," while its Detroit Future City initiative will provide $150 million to create more concentrated economic development, reuse the city's 100,000 vacant lots, add much needed parks and green space, and create more economically viable and healthier neighborhoods. With backing from local businesses, foundations, and the federal government, a new light rail system will help connect and consolidate development across the several distinct creative class clusters that have developed across this corridor.

The challenge for the city and region moving forward is to spur further urban economic revitalization while bridging this class divide.

Such dramatic change has stoked considerable demographic shifts, which mirror the region's class and racial divide. "On one hand, you see a 'new' Detroit. Young, white, educated, and employed are the characteristics of those who are taking a chance on the city," argued Karen Dumas, former press secretary to Mayor Bing in the Detroit News this past summer. "They stand in stark contrast to native Detroiters — most of whom are African-Americans and many who are undereducated and unemployed — who have stayed and stuck it out over the years, through challenge and controversy." The challenge for the city and region moving forward is to spur further urban economic revitalization while bridging this class divide. That will require greater cooperation between the city and its suburbs.

Still, what's happening in and around downtown Detroit should not be minimized: It is a critical step, if only a first step, toward creating the jobs, economic activity, and tax revenues that are needed to underwrite broader recovery and building. As is the case in most of America's older industrial cities, Detroit's days as a manufacturing powerhouse are irrecoverable; its future economic growth will turn on its creative and knowledge industries — and the transformation of its low skill, low pay service jobs into higher-wage, family-supporting jobs by involving workers in continuous productivity improvement. A new urban social compact is desperately needed to make this happen: to upgrade its underfunded schools and to train and connect more workers and residents to the new economy that is emerging downtown. The same kind of compact is needed in cities like New York, San Francisco, and even London which, while more affluent, suffer from the similar if not worse inequality.

All that said, the new developments downtown, taken together with the broader region's economic assets, put Detroit on a much better economic footing than has been the case for a couple of generations. While the jury is out on the city's long-term future, "the resurgence at its heart," as I note in the FT, "provides grounds for real hope tempered with cautious optimism."

Click HERE to read the full article!

influencers: veronika scott at home

What is it about Detroit that makes you want to call it home?

In Detroit, everyone is doing something engag- ing and of their own creation. The city is a hub of creativity, whether you’ve lived here your whole life or moved here to start something new. We have a strong entrepreneurial community, where the people who own businesses and buildings have their own proactive ideas for the future of the city. People in the city recognize that for the success of the whole—we need to look beyond individual success and work together as part of a bigger system. There are many issues that need to be tackled, and no one person can do it on their own. I have lived in many places, but Detroit will always be the one I call home, because I know that I would have never been able to start the Empowerment Plan in any other city in the world.

Tell us a little bit about the building you live in and how you designed your space.

People have many preconceived notions about Detroit, but where I live we walk around at night, ride our bikes around the neighborhood, and new businesses are always popping up. The Canfield building is located in the heart of the city. The building is an old manufacturing facility that is now home to a beautiful loft space, as well as three different storefronts. I have been a nomad most of my life, and this is the first time I have really settled into a home. Because of my job I travel quite frequently, and I am doing construction projects every few months. In picking a place to live I wanted a safe haven that was easy to maintain and relaxing. When I moved in, there was a rather interesting color scheme—purple and green—I had to change it. I used white to open up the space and a relaxing yet vibrant blue instead of a more aggressive color. The loft bed was already in place but I built the wall under it so that people wouldn't be looking at a bed from the living room. Most people don’t even realize it’s there until I point it out.

Any tricks to living in just 750 square feet?

You have to have the ability to minimal-ize, which was easy for me because my possessions were few when I moved into the loft. But realistically it’s all about the hidden storage that you can create in a small space. The bed is on top of a walk-in closet and there are shelves and bins throughout the space for everything else. I enjoy the small space because when I was in a larger loft, I felt like I couldn’t make it my own. I couldn’t afford to furnish a large space, and with my loft now I am able to personalize it and really enjoy it as my home.

Click HERE to read the full article!

Opportunity Detroit is looking for innovative, creative, and inspired designs for a new building that will sit on the historic Hudson’s site, one of the most beloved locations in downtown Detroit.

First Prize: $15,000
Second Prize: $5,000
Third Prize: $2,500

Register before April 30th: http://bit.ly/Yipx83

Detroit Collision Works

As I wrote in my last post, Detroit Collision Works is a new 36-room shipping container hotel under development near the sprawling Eastern Market in downtown Detroit. Founder/CEO Shel Kimen is presently raising money through Kickstarter to build a pop-up prototype called FIRST CONTAINER that will consist of two containers near the permanent site. Like the hotel, the pop-up is designed to be a gathering place with scheduled programming where locals and visitors can gather to discuss the future of community development, food production, sustainable design, green transportation and other New Urbanism topics. Kimen’s priority is creating a place for sharing stories—a platform for people to talk about what’s important to them, both personal and professional.

I have spent the majority of my career walking through hotels around the world and interviewing thousands of hotels reps for a variety of consumer and industry media. Over the years, certain hotel groups have established trends that other hoteliers copied. The Kimpton and Morgans collections, for example, started the designer/boutique hotel movement in the 1980s and 90s. Ace/James hotels invented the residential-style hipster hotel early this century. NYLO Hotels, 21c, Unlisted Collection and others are bringing “industrial-chic” into the mainstream.

Collision Works has the chance to be the next big thing because, like those mentioned above, it’s dialed into both the mindset of today’s traveling public and socio-economic themes of this era. Here are five reasons why Detroit Collision Works is a game changer.

No other city in the country suffered from the Great Recession as much as Detroit. Once the symbol of the American dominance in manufacturing and the American Dream, Detroit lost 25% of its population from 2000 to 2010. That was the largest drop of any U.S. city over 100,000 people, including New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. But as celebrated urbanist Richard Florida writes in The Atlantic, Detroit is rebounding with a renewed spirit of innovation and cultural arts at the grassroots level. The people making up this community need places to share ideas. Collision Works is purposefully designed to meet that demand.

In effect, Collision Works is moving into a new “community accelerator” hotel niche and venue for people to learn more about local start-up companies. In New Orleans since Katrina, the rate of start-ups is about 30% higher than the national average. In Detroit, organizations such as I Am Young Detroit and Detroit 4 Detroit are spurring the same drive among community entrepreneurs. Detroit Collision Works will tap into that energy and knowledge and share it with visitors.

Can one person in America make a difference? The rise of Social Entrepreneurship is one of the most exciting and fastest growing developments in business today. The idea that a company can have a sustainable business model and make a positive impact on the community is highly attractive to the Millennial generation. By leveraging that interest, Collision Works is the hotel of the future where locals and guest can learn about social issues in both a fun and experiential manner.

Founder/CEO Shel Kimen (read her story here) says:

“Everyone loves a good story. Stories make place and bind communities. I wanted to create a project in Detroit that creates lasting and sustainable value for both the people that live here and the people that visit. A combined hotel/co-working space built around stories seemed like the best way to do that. Detroit needs a super cool hotel that helps visitors understand what Detroit is really about and it needs places for people to gather and work beyond coffee shops. It also comes from a belief that great design and rich experiences do not have to be expensive.”

Hotels have been trumpeting their corporate social responsibility by becoming greener and leaner over the last decade, and that’s great. Detroit Collision Works is designed from the ground up to be low impact. Basically it’s the birth of “urban ecotourism,” and how cool is that?! Container architecture is a fast growing building technology in both residential and commercial applications all over the world, from the Re:START village in Christchurch to the FREITAG store in West Zurich. The Platoon project in Berlin might be the coolest urban culture/arts development in the world right now.

There is a glut of shipping containers in cities around the country because freighter companies often find it more affordable to buy new containers in Asia versus rerouting the boxes back to America’s ports. And that supply continues to grow due to North America’s trade deficit within the Pacific Rim. While there are downsides to using containers for building purposes, the process attracts a huge interest among consumers. And that type of heightened exposure is pivotal for generating discussion among the masses about the future of America’s urban cores.

Memphis mayor A.C. Wharton Jr. wrote a letter to Kimen in March requesting that she consider building another Collision Works in his city when Detroit is up and running. The beauty of Collision Works is that it’s easily scalable around the country and simple to adapt to any commercial urban setting. Think of this. If a Collision Works hotel was in your city, would you visit? Chances are yes, especially if you’re a creative professional, because there’s nothing like this right now.

The idea of a community think-tank “attraction” proved itself with the opening of the popular BMW Guggenheim Lab in New York’s East Village in 2011, followed by a road trip through Berlin and Mumbai that ended in January. Data and discussions collected from the project will be displayed at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York later this fall.

Now imagine if this type of discussion could take place every day in every major city in America, with a network set up to share all of the information among all of the hotels with the public. This is where Detroit Collision Works gets especially exciting.

Click HERE to read the full article!

"Go to Detroit. It's more honest. Also, there's a great art museum, a proper public market, some of the country's best architecture, the music scene is fun, the food scene is better than it has been in ages and the beer is better and much cheaper. Everything's cheaper. Also: Detroiters are friendly -- Chicagoans are just polite. There's a big difference."

Bring The Summer X Games To Detroit (video)!

Lemonade Day Detroit launched its third year by welcoming a famous local “lemonader” and announcing a new partnership with Detroit Public Schools.

Lemonade Day Detroit will take place June 8, and is already teaching local children how to start, own and operate a business through the simple and time-honored act of running a lemonade stand.

Mike Fezzey, president of Huntington's East Michigan Region and third-year presenting sponsor, announces that Joshua Smith, the 10-year-old Detroiter who ran a lemonade stand to raise money for his financially strapped city, is joining forces with Lemonade Day Detroit to share its message of entrepreneurship.

Fezzey added, “We’re also very excited to share our partnership with Detroit Public Schools. For the first time, DPS teachers are integrating the Lemonade Day program into their curriculum. Our goal in combining this program and our outreach is to empower 50,000 young entrepreneurs in 2013.”

Children pre-K to grade 12 can register for Lemonade Day backpacks, full of easy tips and suggestions that are age-appropriate for each group. Register online at detroit.lemonadeday.org, and pick up backpacks at locations listed on the website.

“Lemonade Day’s mission is to arm our youth with tools that help them see that they can do whatever they want, and be successful,” Fezzey said. “Lemonade Day walks children and caring adults through every step of setting up a business, and they are also learning life skills. Everyone needs to learn to balance a budget; who knew it could be fun?”

A key message of Lemonade Day, a national event that includes 260,000 kids in 39 cities, is for its young business owners to “spend a little, save a little and share a little,” donating a portion of their profits to a local charity of their choice.

“I want kids to know that you can make a difference, no matter how small you are,” Smith said, adding that he was able to raise and donate almost $4,000 to the City of Detroit. He plans to have another successful stand on June 8.

To register, or learn about ways that everyone can get involved in Lemonade Day Detroit June 8, visit detroit.lemonadeday.org.

For information about sponsorships, partnerships or donations, please contact Emily Paraskevin at 586.219.4014 or LemonadeDayDetroit@gmail.com.

On Friday, April 12, the innovative Red Bull House of Art kicks off its 2013 season with a gallery opening unveiling its latest batch of artists. The opening — hosted in historic Eastern Market from 7pm to 11pm at 1551 Winder Street and free to the public of all ages — is ringing in Red Bull House of Art’s one-year anniversary, which has offered residencies and unlimited artistic opportunities to 32 local artists since its launch.

The fourth cycle of artists is made up of eight metro-Detroit artists — Lisa Poszywak (oil paints), Tylonn J. Sawyer (oil paints), Kristin Adamcyzk (mixed media), Lindy Marie Shewbridge (oil paints), William Harris (oil paints), Kevin Skinner (mixed media), Greg Siemasz (oil paints) and Ellen Rutt (digital & physical collage).

With a heavy emphasis on oil paint as a medium, Red Bull House of Art curator Matt Eaton is looking to redefine the expectations placed upon the art form by pulling from a diverse range of artists, each with their own style and approach to their craft. While Kevin Skinner builds cosmetically stunning ‘budget rayguns’ out of found items, Tylonn J. Sawyer and William Harris look past the paint to share a richer, in-depth narrative. Lindy Marie Shewbridge uses her day-to-day human interactions to fuel her art whereas Greg Siemasz is removing the human element to draw on animal instincts and how we respond to the wild. Likewise, Kristin Adamzyck’s mixed media approach allows her to anatomically dissect the world around us without sacrificing story as Lisa Poszywak and Ellen Rutt celebrate the basic beauties that surround us every day.

Red Bull House of Art has been dedicated to growing and supporting the thriving art scene in Detroit, breaking down barriers for artists and revolutionizing the local art scene by doing so. By giving local artists the tools they need to create art in a curated space, Red Bull House of Art has created a space for artists to have the freedom to show and publicize their work on a national and global scale.

In addition to two more gallery openings in 2013, the house also participates in Eastern Market's "Third Thursday" — a citywide initiative that opens up galleries, workspaces and more to the public each month — as well as hosting guest lectures from influential artists including Tristan Eaton and Glenn Barr. The Red Bull House of Art has also launched artist workshops on Saturdays, inviting the public become more familiar with new and innovative styles in the modern art world.

The gallery opening will feature music by Brian Gillespie.

 Click HERE to learn more and donate!
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Cocktails at the Conservatory is the Inaugural event for the Belle Isle Conservancy's Emerging Patrons Council. Explore the conservatory, and learn more about the Emerging Patrons’ plans for Belle Isle…all while giving back to the park.

Ticket includes: networking, refreshments, cocktails, and entertainment. Light appetizers provided by Hatch Detroit 2012 Winner La Feria.  Tickets are limited and this event will sell out!

The conservatory is the nation’s oldest, and it is our goal to add contemporary flair to this classic landmark.

*Note* Cocktails at the Conservatory attendees can enjoy $20 off their first Uber.com ride with the code "BelleIsle." Valid through the end of May 2013.
Code: BelleIsle

The Emerging Patrons Council is an auxiliary group within the Belle Isle Conservancy that works to engage young professionals in the Conservancy’s mission to protect, preserve, restore and enhance Belle Isle as a public park for the enjoyment of all – now and forever. Through the use of social media, organized events, recreation, and community engagement, the Council will provide exposure to the positive things happening on the island, and serve as an outlet to engage young professionals in the process of restoring it.

Host Committee

Dominic Arellano
Bryan Barnhill
Maggie Brookens
Kerry Doman
Tatiana Grant
Evette Hollins
Meredith Kerekes
Erin Rose
Ed Siegel
Christianne Sims
Michelle Srbinovich
Terrence Thompson


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Published online: Mar 01, 2012 Seed Potatoes
Viewed 757 time(s)
Web Exclusive
Traditional potato-growing practices in the Andes that once provided in situ conservation of the vast diversity of native varieties have been waning over the past decades. Roads now bring in truckloads of rice, pasta and other sources of convenient carbohydrates to these once remote villages 4,000 meters above sea level.

By 2002, growers were noticing that the decline of their traditional practices led to a low supply of quality potato seed and output. As well, their potatoes had become more susceptible to pests and disease.

Communities in Huancayo, Peru, heard about the potato collection at the International Potato Center (CIP) and travelled to its headquarters in Lima in hopes of acquiring clean seeds.
In response, CIP began repatriating disease-free germplasm to growers in Andean communities. Ten years later, 2012 marks the first time that native potato varieties have been repatriated to the communities as in-vitro potato samples.

"Repatriation through in-vitro seedlings offers the highest quality of clean seed," says Rene Gomez, the native potato curator at the CIP's genebank.

"It took us 10 years to build the infrastructure and train the communities to be able to receive potato samples by in-vitro. But if you look at it from a big picture perspective, 10 years is just a dent in the history of potato growing, which dates back 10,000 years," adds Gomez.

In 1971, when CIP began collecting potatoes from Peru's highland, the fields abounded with diversity. Centuries of traditional growing methods meant that on average each Andean grower planted a bountiful 400 varieties of potatoes a season on hectare-small plots.

CIP initiated its collection to conserve the genetic resources of potato and widen the selection of desirable traits for breeding improved spuds. Today, CIP houses the world's largest potato collection-more than 7,000 accessions in an earth-quake proof, state-of-the-art conservation chamber. This vast genetic diversity is now an insurance policy to deal with unforeseen events and climate change, as biodiversity offers a wide portfolio of traits, valuable for adapting to changing environments.

CIP's collection now serves as backup to the biodiversity lost in the fields. To date, CIP has repatriated 410 native potatoes varieties among communities across the Andes. The long-term aim is to establish thriving community genebanks to ensure that the genetic resources underpinning the food supply are secure for farmers today, and in the future.

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vemm tec

Metering Devices for Gas and Liquid Flow Measurement

vemm tec Messtechnik produces and sells metering devices in the field of gas and liquid flow measurement. The company has more than 15 years of experience in gas flow measurement and more than 40 years' experience in liquid flow measurement.

Gas flow measurement systems

Our gas flow measurement systems include gas turbine meters (DN50 to DN400; pressure ratings PN16, 40 and 64, and ANSI 150, 300 and 600), rotary gas meters (DN50, DN80 and DN100; pressure ratings PN10 and 16, and ANSI 150), and electronic volume correctors (PTZ-Box and Cas-Cada).

The main applications for these gas flow measurement systems are gas transfer / pressure-reduction stations, company consumption metering, and high-pressure applications.

Liquid flow measurement systems

Liquid flow measurement systems from vemm tec include COGEM oval gear meters (DN10 to DN100, pressure ratings PN 10/16, PN25 and PN40, and ANSI 150), the main application of which is in petrol and oil metering. We also supply a special meter for the metering of AdBlue® or urela for fuel dispensation stations.

Gas chromatograph stations / systems

Vemm tec is also a manufacturer of gas chromatograph stations / systems, using the Daniel / Emerson and Yamatake gas chromatographs.

Volume and flow meters for gas and liquid measuring

Our volume and flow meters for gas and liquid measuring are used both as industrial volume meters and for custody transfer. They have domestic and EC type-approval certificates.

In addition, the OIML R117-2 test report under the terms of the Measuring Instruments Directive (MID) is available for our oval gear meters. Our instruments can be used in hazardous areas.

The vemm tec measuring instruments have a very high measuring accuracy and are available with mechanical registers, electronic pulse generators or electronic registers.

The COGEM oval gear meter is the latest vemm tec series for the measurement of nearly every industrial liquid. This series is characterised by an even higher measuring accuracy and wider measuring ranges than previous models.

For analysing technology applications we recommend our PTB-approved stationary or mobile gas chromatograph equipment.

Gas measuring equipment

vemm tec's gas measuring instruments and additional devices are used for solving complex measurement tasks.

The instruments are approved for custody transfer measurement as well as industrial measurements and meet the highest demands and all national and international standards.

Oval gear meters

Oval gear meters can be used for industrial measurement, process control and custody transfer.

Whether for the chemical or pharmaceutical industry, when filling or emptying road tankers, or for airplanes or ships using diesel fuel, petrol, lubricants or AdBlue, our oval gear meter systems are long-lasting measuring instruments that provide the highest accuracy. Our engineers guarantee an optimum adjustment of each measuring instrument to suit its respective measuring task.

Compact natural-gas analysing system

vemm tec has designed a comprehensive solution for a high-quality natural-gas component analysis and heating value (BTU) calculation.

The NGAS11 compact natural-gas analysing system is a complete solution for indoor and outdoor installation and contains all components required for a high-quality measurement.

Process gas chromatograph systems

Our stationary and mobile process gas chromatograph systems for the analysis of gas or determination of gas composition, which are approved by PTB, consist of a gas sample probe, a gas chromatograph, a bottle rack for calibration and carrier gas, and a process computer for controlling the gas chromatographs and other electronic devices.

Contact Details

vemm tec Messtechnik GmbH
Gartenstrasse 20
D-14482 Potsdam-Babelsberg
+49 331 70 96 275
+49 331 70 96 270


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text:
How to “Split the Atom” of Your Potential & Release Your Power

How to “Split the Atom” of Your Potential & Release Your Power

 Split the ATom of Your Potential

Want to reach the heights of success you’ve only dreamed of?

Make the decision to work with a mentor and watch what happens. I call this process “splitting the atom” of your potential. By saying “Yes” to a new opportunity you split the atom of your potential and release an enormous untapped power trapped inside of you. This power moves mountains and can reshape the topography of your life. Every human being possess this pure potential but sadly few utilize it. Instead it sits there until time goes by and one day it’s too late.

There isn’t a problem in your life that someone else hasn’t already been through

So many earnest and hardworking soulful practitioners think that if they just keep “soldiering through” whatever business challenge they’re facing that eventually they’ll overcome it. The problem with this way of thinking is if they do solve the problem at all it will take a very, very long time but it’s more likely they won’t solve the problem because they approach it with the same thinking that created it in the first place.

And that’s just sad.

The way to overcome your business challenge, or any problem for that matter, is to “split the atom” on your own potential and learn from a mentor. A mentor is someone who has successfully navigated through the same problem. Working with one releases your untapped potential.

My stubborn refusal to work with a mentor dragged down my business success for years. I thought I could do it on my own but I was wrong.

When I discovered the mentorship model my first thoughts where, “How simple! How elegant! Why did I waste so many years before I took this route?” Now I wouldn’t even consider not working with a mentor an option.

Take Intuitively Inspired Action

When you are offered a solution to a problem by a mentor who has successfully overcome what you are facing – grab it the moment feel the pull toward it. You must not think of it as spending money but investing money in yourself. This is an intuitively inspired moment where you are being given an opportunity to walk through a door to an alternate reality where your unleashed potential and success awaits you. Don’t let your thinking hold you back.

Allow yourself to act upon this inspiration because the door to this alternate reality remains open for just a few seconds. If you don’t go through it the door slams shut. When you slam the door shut on splitting the atom of your potential what’s really happening is that your fear is pulling you back to your cozy comfort zone where you feel “safe” and can continue playing small.

Don’t shortchange your success

A few ways that soulful entrepreneurs shortchange themselves is by thinking….

1. “I’ll go for the mentoring I need after I make the money in my business.” This is a huge illusion. If what you are doing now isn’t making you the money, where will this money come from or how many years are you willing to struggle and put off your success until you have it?

2. “I’ve tried other training programs and they don’t work for me.” Proper marketing and sales training work. People are making a good living using these methods. How can they not work for you? The only reason they wouldn’t is if you didn’t fully implement the training.

3. “I’ll just watch what this successful person does.” This is a big way to shortchange your success. You’ll never see all of what you need to learn from copying what successful entrepreneurs are doing whether it’s their emails or products and systems, etc. You’ll only meet with mediocre success and work way to hard for it by doing it this way.

4. “I’ll research it on online and get it all for free.” This is a scatter shot approach that will shortchange you in the end too. You will definitely be able to find most of the information online for free. The problem is that you’re likely to gather this information from a large assortment of successful mentors. What you’ll end up with is a collection of pieced together tactics rather than a seamless business system. And this too will having you working way to hard and take longer than working directly with a mentor.

5. “I’ll go for one off coaching instead.” You’ll never master a complete business system by going for on again off again coaching. Thinking you will just “pick the brain” of someone never works. You’re missing too many pieces because you don’t even know what you don’t know – so you don’t ask the right questions. This will slow your success way down too.

Do yourself a favor and stop shortchanging yourself. Jump in with both feet when you feel that pull toward an opportunity to work with a mentor. You will make back your investment in your training at lightening speed when you say “Yes” to yourself. So split the Atom on your potential and unleash your power and success by working with a mentor.

Wondering whether a mentor could help you? Book a complimentary session and see if and how it could benefit your life. Click here for your complimentary session now.

How has studying with a mentor catapulted your success? Share with us.

If you enjoyed this article share it with a friend on Twitter, Facebook of Google+.

P.S. Learn to take advantage off Intuitively Inspired Opportunities: Click here.

Image: © Nejron Photo –

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text:
Finding Ways To Keep Up With Businesses

What You Need To Know About Heating and Air Conditioning Systems

If you are living in a place with extreme summers and winters, your air conditioning and heating systems should have the best quality as well as be properly maintained. This is so that you can live comfortably no matter what the seasons are.

Because of the cleaning and filtering, central heating and air conditioning systems will also keep your air clean aside from making sure the temperature is comfy for you. A ductwork is being used by heating and cooling systems in order to join various rooms or areas in a home or office. You can have a stable and uniform temperature at all places because of ducting. So that you can protect yourself from harsh temperatures, it is best to install heating and air conditioning, whether it is centralized or local.

The duct systems originated with the romans and they created them to be used for private homes and baths because it was an easy yet clean thing to have. In modern days, you can get good heating and ventilation with the help of HVAC heating and air conditioning systems. A regular HVAC central air conditioner will be put outside a home or building which would then connect directly into the air ducts of the areas meant to be air conditioned. Heated or cooled air inside the ducts will result to the required temperature in the room. The air is being heated or chilled by the air conditioner. The heated or cooled air is then being pushed into the different spaces of your home with the use of the fan units.
Study: My Understanding of Resources

When air conditioners are being used all the time, it could make the air ducts dirty. The heating and air conditioning system could then have molds and mildew growing on them. It is important to have your air ducts clean in order for the conditioning equipment to function properly. Air duct cleaning companies make use of advanced air duct cleaning equipment in order to remove dirt, dust and mold from the ducts. You can keep your air clean from hazardous pollutants by having duct cleaning done every year as this will also make sure the equipment will be energy efficient.
What I Can Teach You About Businesses

Hire the right heating and air conditioning company to ensure your needs are met when it comes to the temperature of your home or office. It is vital that you pick the right contractor when having your air conditioning system installed.

Sometimes people would just contact a HVAC company when there is already an emergency and there is not enough research done. When hiring a HVAC repair company, you should do proper research and only pick the ones that you believe will help you resolve your issues. They can also help you maintain your systems so that it will last longer and sudden break downs will be prevented.


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Nigeria @ 56: Abuja residents mark anniversary in recreation centres

Residents of Abuja on Monday continued to throng recreation centres to celebrate Nigeria’s 56th Independence anniversary with their families in spite of the economic recession.

The Federal Government had declared October 3, 2016 as public holiday to commemorate the anniversary.

A correspondent, who visited some amusement parks and fun centres in Abuja, observed that fun seekers trooped to the centres to relax and enjoy themselves despite the economic recession.

Some of those who spoke to NAN, however, disclosed that unlike the previous years’ celebrations, this year had the current economic downturn factored into it.

According to them, everything has had to be significantly scaled down.

Kenneth Itopa, a civil servant, said: “I just managed to take my children to the Magicland Amusement Park to have fun and get them off my back.

“Prices of foodstuff and indeed cost of living, generally, have skyrocketed, and consequently, many private firms are being forced to shut down with resultant job losses.

“Today, most states across the country owe their employees anything from three to six months’ salary arrears and the citizens are struggling to cope.

“Normally, I would have done more than I am doing now but have had to cut my coat according to my cloth,’’ he said.

Juliana Chinyere said that she had big celebration previously but maintained that she was not planning any big party because she had no money to throw a party.

“I just want to catch a little fun with my friends, nothing big because I have no money in my pocket,” she said.

Isa Momoh, a banker, said in spite of the economic recession, caused by falling crude oil and activities of local militias, he still had reasons to thank God.

The others also said that the economic downturn should not stop Nigerians from celebrating the day to thank God for giving them another opportunity to mark one more independence anniversary.

Nigeria gained independence on October 1, 1960.

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text:
Welcome Homeowners

Prepping your home to MAXIMIZE photo potential

Why Prep For Photos?

- Make The First Impression Count -

OnlineIt's where buyers start

The majority of home buyers start their search online, so it is important to make the first impression count! Follow these tips to prepare your home for the best real estate photos possible.

- Tips for all areas in the home -

  • Thoroughly clean whole house (vacuum carpet, mop hard floors, clean countertops, clean windows)
  • Turn all overhead lights and lamps ON
  • Replace all burned out light bulbs
  • Use bulbs of the same temperature (ALL incandescent or ALL compact fluorescent)
  • Turn all ceiling fans OFF
  • Turn all TVs OFF
  • Turn all computer screens OFF
  • Open blinds/window treatments to let in outside light
  • Remove personal photographs (or replace with general landscape/object photographs)
  • Make all beds
  • Remove small floor rugs to reveal actual flooring
  • Place all shoes/jackets in closets

- Online “curb appeal” and a relaxing oasis -

Front Exterior

Online “curb appeal” - the front exterior is usually the first photo buyers see

  • Close garage doors
  • Remove cars from driveway and front of home
  • Clean up landscaping (mow, trim shrubs, clear leaves)
  • Remove empty planters
  • Use broom to remove cobwebs from eaves and door frames
  • Remove visible water hoses
  • Remove toys, sports balls, basketball goals, soccer goals, etc.

Back Yard

The back yard should be an oasis to relax

  • Clean porch, tidy up outdoor tables/chairs/cushions
  • Pillows/cushions should be fresh, not faded
  • Clear out kid's toys, balls, frisbees, etc.
  • Clean pool
  • Remove pool vacuum/cleaner hose
  • Hide pool cleaning supplies
  • Turn on pool fountains/water features
  • Remove visible water hoses
  • Remove trash cans

- Sometimes the focal point, the kitchen deserves attention to detail -

  • Clear countertops completely. No knife blocks, baking supplies, mail, etc.
  • Leave out max of one small appliance (ex. coffee maker)
  • Clear outside of refrigerator of magnets, papers, photos, etc.
  • Hide garbage cans in pantry or closet
  • Remove dishes from sink, place in dishwasher

Dining Room / Table

- Allow buyers to imagine a nice family meal -

  • Clear table, dust and polish the table top
  • Use decorative place setting if available
  • Feature one center piece such as a bouquet of flowers
  • Straighten all chairs and space them evenly
  • Remove child seats/booster chairs

Living / Family Room

- The space to enjoy conversation and spend quality time with family -

  • Remove stacks of magazines, papers, mail, etc.
  • De-clutter fireplace mantel/hearth (no more than 5 items, including art)
  • Clean interior of fireplace and re-paint if needed
  • Fluff and arrange furniture pillows
  • Remove kid's toys

- Rest for you and guests -

Master Bedroom

A good nights rest recharges the body and mind

  • Make bed, including decorative pillows/shams if available
  • Press bed linens and bed skirts
  • Clear nightstands of all personal items
  • Store away phone/tablet charging cables
  • Remove all clutter from top of dressers
  • Remove family photos from walls
  • Clean under bed, removing items that may show in the photos

Kid/Guest Bedroom

Don’t forget about guest bedrooms

  • Remove personalized names from walls
  • Remove wall stickers/posters
  • Remove diaper genies
  • Clean under bed, removing items that may show in the photos

- To be spa-like, the bathroom must be clear of all personal items -

  • Clear countertops completely. No soap, toothbrushes, medications, deodorant, etc.
  • Put toilet seats down
  • Close closet doors
  • Remove shampoo, soap, loofahs, etc. from showers and tubs
  • Remove dirty towels - leave out only new, unused towels
  • Remove floor mats

- Pets are loving, but their presence should be minimized -

  • Place food and water bowls in pantry or closet
  • Place pet beds/toys in pantry or closet
  • Use lint roller on furniture to remove pet hair
  • Contain pets in hidden crate or outside
  • Clear back yard of pet waste/toys

Need Help?

- Staging helps provide top dollar and a quick sale -

What to Expect

- Expectation During the Photo Shoot -

The house should be shoot-ready when we arrive

Hi I'm Rob Estep, owner and photographer of LMP 360 Media. I look forward to taking photos of your home!

We want the photos of your home to be the best they can be. This requires teamwork and cooperation that will result in an outstanding online presence when your home goes LIVE on the market.

Although we would love to help you style/design your home, we unfortunately do not have the skill set required to do so. When we arrive to take photos of your property, we ask that all staging and cleaning be done prior to our arrival. To efficiently maintain our busy schedule and deliver the level of service our clients expect, we can not spend unnecessary time at the home waiting for it to be cleaned, dusted, de-cluttered, etc.

Please review the previous sections for tips on preparing your home for real estate photography, please do not turn off any lights until your photographer is done photographing the home, and note that we are not responsible and will not partake in any of the following duties while photographing your home:

We Do Not:

  • Move or re-arrange furniture
  • Make beds, clean, dust or de-clutter
  • Pick up toys or yard items
  • "Photoshop" vehicles, walls, damaged walls, power lines, wall pictures, cords, etc.
  • Touch personal bathroom supplies (shampoo, toothbrushes, deodorant, towels)


text:
A Biography

Bengt Jangfeldt

Read an excerpt: "A Show-Trial".

Bengt Jangfeldt

Translated by Harry D. Watson
616 pages | 161 halftones | 6 x 9 | © 2014
Cloth $35.00 ISBN: 9780226056975 Published December 2014
E-book $21.00 About E-books ISBN: 9780226188683 Published December 2014
Few poets have led lives as tempestuous as that of Vladimir Mayakovsky. Born in 1893 and dead by his own hand in 1930, Mayakovsky packed his thirty-six years with drama, politics, passion, and—most important—poetry. An enthusiastic supporter of the Russian Revolution and the emerging Soviet State, Mayakovsky was championed by Stalin after his death and enshrined as a quasi-official Soviet poet, a position that led to undeserved neglect among Western literary scholars even as his influence on other poets has remained powerful.
With Mayakovsky, Bengt Jangfeldt offers the first comprehensive biography of Mayakovsky, revealing a troubled man who was more dreamer than revolutionary, more political romantic than hardened Communist. Jangfeldt sets Mayakovsky’s life and works against the dramatic turbulence of his times, from the aesthetic innovations of the pre-revolutionary avant-garde to the rigidity of Socialist Realism and the destruction of World War I to the violence—and hope—of the Russian Revolution, through the tightening grip of Stalinist terror and the growing disillusion with Russian communism that eventually led the poet to take his life.
Through it all is threaded Mayakovsky’s celebrated love affair with Lili Brik and the moving relationship with Lili’s husband, Osip, along with a brilliant depiction of the larger circle of writers and artists around Mayakovsky, including Maxim Gorky, Viktor Shklovsky, Alexander Rodchenko, and Roman Jakobson. The result is a literary life viewed in the round, enabling us to understand the personal and historical furies that drove Mayakovsky and generated his still-startling poetry.
Illustrated throughout with rare images of key characters and locations, Mayakovsky is a major step in the revitalization of a crucial figure of the twentieth-century avant-garde.

A Most Joyous Date

1. Volodya, 1893–1915
2. Lili, 1891–1915
3. A Cloud in Trousers, 1915–1916
4. The First Revolution and the Third, 1917–1918
5. Communist Futurism, 1918–1920
6. NEP and the Beginnings of Terror, 1921
7. Drang nach Westen, 1922
8. About This, 1923
9. Free from Love and Posters, 1923–1924
10. America, 1925
11. New Rules, 1926–1927
12. Tatyana, 1928–1929
13. The Year of the Great Change, 1929
14. At the Top of My Voice, 1929–1930
15. The First Bolshevik Spring, 1930
16. A Game with Life as the Stake
17. Mayakovsky’s Second Death

Index of Names
Review Quotes
New York Review of Books
"A gripping account of the poet's tumultuous life and tragic death."
Literary Review
"Jangfeldt carefully shows the way in which all aspects of Mayakovsky's life--his womanizing, his astonishing productivity, his chain-smoking, his gambling, his poetry--came from the same source. In Jangfeldt's concentration on how Mayakovsky's art and life were absolutely and inextricably intertwined, the granite Soviet figure is made into something more akin to a butch Russian Oscar Wilde, and is all the more interesting for the metamorphosis. . . . Mayakovsky is also a beautifully coordinated group portrait of the individuals surrounding Mayakovsky. . . . This is a wonderful book that presents us with a captivating, contradictory, frustrating human being."
Marjorie Perloff
"Vladimir Mayakovsky, a forester’s son from the Caucasus, became the leading Russian avant-garde poet of the pre-World War I years, a prophet of the 1917 Revolution, the author of a long poem on Lenin, and then an increasingly disillusioned--though still firmly 'Communist'--poet, agitator, dramatist, and film maker in the Soviet Union of the 1920s. A dazzling lyric poet who never quite grew up, he tragically committed suicide in 1930 at the age of 36. Bengt Jangfeldt prize-winning Mayakovsky, first published in Sweden, gives a beautifully detailed portrait of the period as well as the individual life, especially of Mayakovsky's passionate and tormented relationship with Lili Brik, herself a leading figure of the period. Jangfeldt's absorbing story is full of surprises: it lays to rest many common assumptions about everyday life under Soviet rule even as it underscores others. A real page turner, copiously illustrated and well translated, this biography is essential reading not only for students of modernist poetry but for anyone interested in the relationship of literature to life in the former Soviet Union."
The Complete Review
"Jangfeldt paints a fine picture of, especially, the fascinating Lili, as well as Mayakovsky. Parts are underplayed: there is frequent mention of Mayakovsky's suicidal disposition, but fairly little exploration of it in any detail, from what lay behind it to what exacerbated it. But the man, and the most significant works, are well introduced. . . . A very impressive study of a remarkable poet, and a rather remarkable group of people--a who's who of Russian literature of the times. Mayakovsky is also an exceptionally well (and helpfully) illustrated biography."
"This will of course become a standard work, not only as the first non-Soviet biography of Mayakovsky but because of Jangfeldt’s exclusive access to sources. For more than three decades he has had intimate contacts with people from the poet's circle. The richness of detail in the captivating tale we now have access to is a result of his important private archive."
Dagens Nyheter
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49ers’ Goldson hoping for long-term contract
Published: February 6, 2013

SANTA CLARA, Calif. —San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh will make it a priority to re-sign franchise safety Dashon Goldson to a long-term contract this...
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Lorraine S. Harrison
Enjoyed polka music, dancing and Halloween
Published: September 10, 2013

Lorraine S. Harrison, 95, of Shickshinny went home to be with her Lord on Saturday, Sept. 7, 2013. She was a resident of Hampton House, Hanover Township, for...
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Ampersand Collection

Posted by Abbey on Jun 22, 2017

A dramatic aesthetic of blacks, white and gold metallic foil make the Ampersand the perfect selection for a polished and exclusive Wedding.

Finished in a bold colour palette, the typography of the design has been selected to showcase your names and let the design speak for itself - a modern sans serif in both upper and lowercase.

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PEAVEY Power Amplifier IPR2 3000 DSP

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PEAVEY Power Amplifier IPR2 3000 DSP

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PEAVEY Power Amplifier IPR2 3000 DSP

IPR2™ power amplifier, designed for years of reliable, flawless operation under rigorous use. The groundbreaking IPR2 series utilizes an advanced design that allows Peavey engineers to dramatically reduce weight while increasing output power, reliability and thermal efficiency. IPR2 Series amplifiers are designed with a resonant switch-mode power supply and a high-speed class D topology that yields the highest audio resolution and efficiency available. This revolutionary amplifier offers the sonic superiority and unsurpassed reliability for which Peavey is famous, in an extremely efficient and lightweight design. Advanced technology and extensive protection circuitry allow operation with greater efficiency into difficult loads and power conditions. The DDT™ (Distortion Detection Technique) circuitry ensures trouble-free operation into loads as low as 2 ohms. DDT protects drivers and ensures that sonic integrity is maintained, even in extreme overload conditions. The IPR2's high-efficiency design allows the amplifier to operate at very low temperatures, and does not require massive heat sinks to cool.

As the name implies, the IPR2™ 2000 and 3000 DSP all include advanced digital signal processing. The DSP was designed to be incredibly effective, yet extremely easy to use. Using unique and revolutionary advanced bass enhancement processes, the IPR2 DSP amplifiers dramatically improve the perceived level of bass in any system, using a fraction of the power that would be required with any other power amplifier.

  • Rated Power 2ch x 2 ohms: 1450 watts
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Clogau chairman completes City Three Peaks challenge for charity

LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 07:  Bill Roberts of Cloagau Goldmine descends the Cheesegrater for The City Three Peaks with The Outward Bound Trust And The Royal Navy And Royal Marines Charity on September 7, 2015 in London, England.  (Photo by Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images for the Outward Bound Trust and the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity)

Clogau Gold chairman, Bill Roberts, conquered a major feet in the name of charity as he took part in the recent City Three Peaks event in London.

The event saw intrepid adventurers, philanthropists and business leaders abseil down three of the UKs most iconic buildings: The Gherkin, The Cheesegrater and The Walkie Talkie. The 1,916 foot abseil is the longest civilian abseil ever undertaken in history and it is the first time all three of these buildings have been officially involved in this sort of challenge.

Roberts joined an even more elite group as he was only one of four people taking part who had also completed the historic ‘Descent of The Shard” in 2012 during where he raised over £27,000 for the charity.

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Roberts said: “It wasn’t your average Monday!  It was one heck of an experience and all in the name of charity.”

Being chairman of a globally renowned Health & Safety Software firm, Safety Media, Roberts was especially keen to keep an eye on the technical side making sure everything was up to scratch and all training was taken seriously.

Roberts went on to comment: “At the tender age of 71 I did not dream I would be able to achieve so much for such a worthy charity but in the spirit of The Outward Bound Trust it just goes to show what you can achieve if you give it a go and believe in yourself.”

Roberts has a target of to raise over £100,000 for The Outward Bound Trust which is a charity that seeks to improve the lives and opportunities of thousands of young people across the UK. Together with the other s fundraisers the event is set to raise over £4 million for The Outward Bound Trust, The Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity.

If you would like to contribute all donations are gratefully received and can be made via:

Photo credit: Outward Bound Trust/ Getty

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FEATURE: An analysis of the silver market in 2015

Branded silver may have saved retailers during the dark days of the recession, but now optimism is surging and spend is returning could it be in for tough times of its own? We analyse the silver market from the perspective of bullion dealers, assay masters, manufacturers and brands to find out more.

Let’s start with the facts. According to figures compiled by the Birmingham Assay Office from all four UK Assay Offices, silver hallmarking fell by 6.4% in the first quarter of 2015, with 925 dragging the results down considerably.

Sterling silver experienced a dip of 6.7% compared to the same period in 2014, with 1,039,613 items being assayed overall. Granted, this is still a gratifyingly high number, but it does lend itself to the argument that gold is having a renaissance, perhaps to the detriment of its cheaper precious metal peer.

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Gold assaying rose by 3.1% in Q1 2015, with 18ct up 12.4%, 9ct up 0.7% and 14ct showing a slight decrease of 0.1%. Of course, this only shows what’s entering the market, but it’s a convenient place to start.

Dr David Jollie, head of research at Mitsui Precious Metals explains that on a wider scale, silver demand is holding its own. He comments: “Silver demand has been fairly robust in recent years despite the wild movements in its price. Industrial demand has been fair as growing use of silver in the solar power sector off-sets thrifting, where industrial users have tried to minimise their use of this metal in existing applications, following the move above $40 (£26.34) an ounce.”

He continues: “Jewellery demand has been relatively strong, particularly since the price has fallen, while investment flows have been much steadier than in its sister metal, gold. Although there seems little prospect of strengthening demand driving higher prices, slow economic growth should provide some support at current levels.”

Similarly, Jewellery Quarter Bullion Ltd founder and managing director, Rob Halliday-Stein, comments: “So far in 2015 our silver sales are up slightly by 2%, but due to the lower price our volumes are up 15% to almost five tonnes. Silver investors tend to be even more responsive to movements in price than gold buyers and are very quick to take advantage of price dips.”

If demand is strong and prices are low, what does this say about the UK jewellery market, which appears to be tipping in favour of gold?

Simon Rainer, chief executive officer of the British Jewellers’ Association London last year and even at this year’s Baselworld fair, members are reporting a healthy rise in demand for yellow gold and I hope this trend continues – 375 in particular is a great barometer for our industry.”

Consumers are likely to be the ones driving the trend towards golden hues, especially as the summer season and 1970s fashion revival hits the High Street. However, Edinburgh Assay Office assay master and chief executive officer, Scott Walter, suggests that a dip in hallmarking stats for silver could be due to other, less obvious, factors.

He explains: “I think there are some additional factors to take into account with regard to the drop in demand for silver hallmarking in the UK that may otherwise skew the picture. The move by many leading brands towards silver products combined with other materials like leather, fabric and rubber mean that many of the items fall below the mandatory hallmarking weight.

“There are a number of significant global players in the market that have centralised hallmarking in other European locations in the last 24 months. Their product still sells in the UK but the numbers are not reflected in the hallmarking figures. On this basis we have to be careful about drawing any firm conclusions, based solely on the drop in demand for silver hallmarking.”

Bearing in mind the troublesome nature of hallmarking figures, it’s perhaps best to turn to those manufacturers and wholesale brands selling silver on a day-to-day basis.

According to George Curteis, account manager for chain specialist Curteis in the London area, silver isn’t an immediate concern. He notes: “There’s certainly been an increase in the popularity of yellow gold; however this hasn’t translated into a fall in white metal sales.”

He adds: “Silver has proven itself to be remarkably resilient both at lower price points and for more aspirational design-led pieces.”

From a manufacturing perspective, Weston Beamor’s business development manager, Glen Day, is also optimistic about silver. “The main demand for silver castings is from customers making earrings, pendants and brooches. We do also cast silver rings but not as frequently as the other pieces.”

Day also notes that Fairtrade silver is growing in popularity, with Weston Beamor receiving more and more enquiries from British silver jewellery companies, which currently have their stock cast overseas, looking to return production to home shores.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, H&T Pawnbrokers operations director Peter Kelly agrees with Curteis and Day. “Silver is experiencing a mini-revival at the moment in both our H&T Pawnbrokers and Est1897 Discount Secondhand Jewellery stores,” Kelly remarks. “We have started increasing the amount of silver jewellery we have in store due to the higher demand. In particular, we have noticed a rise in popularity of silver jewellery for men, such as chunky bracelets and chains.”

Taking all of the above into account, could the UK jewellery industry be in the midst of a double-whammy – a steady silver market and a growing gold market – spurred by a slow climb out of the recession?

This certainly seems to be the case at multiple Beaverbrooks, with diamond and jewellery buyer Lorna Burnhouse noting that both silver and gold are performing well. She says: “Both silver and gold play a very important role for our customers at Beaverbrooks and there is a lot of talk about gold being more desirable this year, but obviously it is still too early to say. However, all the signs are showing positivity which is great for a buyer as we can have much more fun with ranges and really give our customers fantastic choice at great quality and prices.”

Currently, Beaverbrooks channels its silver product into two broad ranges; classic and trend-driven. Burnhouse notes: “I think the three colours – white, rose and yellow – will stay a popular choice for customers this year. Coming into spring we are seeing, and hearing within the trade that colour is in great demand too.”

This certainly seems to resonate with Sarah Bennett, jewellery director at The Genuine Gemstone Company’s designer brand, Gemporia. She remarks: “Silver jewellery sells really well for us at Gemporia and this season we’ve seen a rise in pastel coloured gemstones set in silver, with favourites including aquamarine and morganite. As the summer approaches our customers are opting for statement pieces that will take them from day to night.”

Equally, British silver jewellery brand Kit Heath has noticed the same emphasis on coloured gemstones. The brand’s eponymous founder explains: “Our Society collection has always been popular, even more so when we filled it with sparkling gemstones. London blue topaz and amethyst have been the best-sellers in all designs.”

Blue topaz and amethyst played a starring role at the spring trade shows, especially at Amore Argento and Mark Milton. In fact, shades of blue have been popular across the board, from fashion jewellery brand Ti Sento with its faceted zirconia, to Stephen Web- ster, Claudia Bradby and Dower & Hall.

Kit Heath continues: “The muchloved Lust Heart necklace is an all time favourite. It sells time and time again. The artistically designed solid sterling silver heart makes a pretty everyday throw on accessory or a special gift.”

Notably, the Lust Heart necklace is completely devoid of any additional decoration and RRPs for £45, putting it comfortably into the accessible jewellery bracket for consumers.

We’ve firmly entered the arena of trends in the silver jewellery market, but what’s interesting is that there isn’t mass-agreement on what’s trending and what’s not — signalling the vastness of the silver jewellery market itself, the varying tastes of customers and the design freedom the metal offers generally.

For Glen Day at Weston Beamor, consumer tastes appear to be focused on natural products – like starfish and shells – presumably playing into the wide organic trend that Professional Jeweller noted in the wake of Jewellery & Watch Birmingham in February.

At Edinburgh Assay Office, Scott Walter points to the continued popularity of friendship and charm bracelets. He comments: “The evolution of the concept has moved strongly towards the use of silver in combination with other materials like chord, fabric, leather and rubber. The use of gold-plated or solid gold elements to contrast with silver and the use of brightly coloured chords and leather have continued to develop as a dominant trend.”

This was perhaps best seen at the spring trade shows, with the duo metal trend – mixing silver with either gold or rose-gold plated elements – proving particularly influential at Clogau, Purity 925, Pandora, Mark Milton and Gecko’s Elements Gold ranges, among others.

But doesn’t the growing trend for duo-metal finishes, coloured gemstone adornments and the phenomenal rise of gold and rose-gold plated pieces in general, suggest that plain silver in its simplest form is no longer going to cut it for the consumer? It’s price and accessibility is obviously still paramount, but what about its look? Even Pandora, the power-house of branded silver, is gearing-up to present its Pandora Rose offer later this summer, for example.

Assay master Scott Walter believes the continued rise (and rise) of gold-plated silver highlights that the self-gifting market “wants the gold look and that they also want to purchase in precious metal but perhaps can’t stretch to the higher price points”.

Director of JHJ Consultancy, Jo Henderson, is also of the assumption that the “fashion for heavy generic silver jewellery has passed, due to the historic price rises in raw materials and due to the huge impact brands have had”.

She continues: “We are certainly seeing a move towards plated jewellery and not just to add colour, most if not all brands now rhodium-plate their silver to eliminate tarnishing.” Henderson points to the layering options available at ChloBo and Clogau’s collection of silver and rose gold designs by Sarah Jordan as particular highlights, with Sif Jakobs, Alexis Dove, LucyQ, Oak and Muru also on her list as silver collections to watch.

Kit Heath appears to agree and disagree in equal measure, admitting that the self-gifting market is turning its eye from silver, but isn’t afraid to opt for duo-metal pieces with a hint of the ‘old favourite’ packaged in new ways. He comments: “It feels like there is an excitement for luxury goods as people are starting to self treat. People have always been happy to buy silver jewellery as a gift for someone special but found it hard to justify for themselves.”

Heath continues: “There is definitely a rise in the call for gold pieces, but we have noticed this is mostly popular where silver and gold are combined. This has become a substantial offering within our collections, creating the perfect mix of sterling silver and 18ct gold or warming rose gold plate to ensure we are fulfilling that section of the market.”

There appears to be three strains of the silver equation that disrupt the all-to-easy ‘rose and yellow gold-plated pieces and gemstone adorned pieces are out-selling plain silver’ argument. The first is offered by Kit Heath, who notes: “Ultimately, I think there is a real love for quality silver designs and I don’t feel this will change.” The second is offered by Jo Henderson who argues customers are so brand-orientated they are “less concerned with what a product is made of and more which brand it is”. The third was offered by Scott Walter when he suggested that customers are buying plated-silver because they’re aspiring to fine jewellery and might not quite be able to reach the RRP.

With all three of these creating the back-drop for silver in 2015, it puts retailers in an all-too-familiar territory trying to appease the needs of brand-fanatics, traditionalists and luxury seekers.

For the latter, recent developments suggest 9ct and 18ct yellow gold designs could be on the rise. “There has been an increase in the number of 9ct gold articles submitted for hallmarking. This has no doubt been facilitated by a relative reduction in the gold price,” explains Walter of the Edinburgh Assay Office. “We hope this increase will be sustained but this will be dependent on sell-through at retail.”

Leaving the market for significant – bridal, wedding, christening – and investment jewellery purchases to one side (as those are typically gold and platinum), could the interest in plated jewels signal a move towards more expensive yet still fashion-orientated purchases?

Evidence would suggest yes, especially across the megabrands like Pandora (with its 14ct yellow gold collections) and Links of London (with its LunaGems offer). Equally, Thomas Sabo has introduced a fine jewellery collection across its flagship boutiques and Mi Moneda offered visi- tors to Baselworld a glance at its new fine jewellery offer — incorporating the same interchangeable coin and pendant design in 18ct yellow gold.

Despite this, silver will always have price on its side. As Walter argues: “Until the price of 9ct gold significantly drops, I think that silver and especially gold-plated silver will continue to perform strongly. For the mass market the emphasis remains on ‘the next big thing’ and any fashion brand’s fortunes will ultimately remain hinged on their success in leading and/or predicting those trends.” George Curteis adds: “Despite the market being fairly densely populated with competing large branded companies selling high-volume silver jewellery, silver remains sought after by the consumer and as the medium in which many of Britain’s best young jewellers choose to work.”

To further the debate, Professional Jeweller opened the floor to some key players in the UK trade; both established retailers and brands to emerging talents, to discover their opinions on the silver market in 2015. Specifically, we presented them with the purposefully provocative statement: “Silver is no longer enough on its own — it needs adornments, yellow or rose gold-plating, gemstones, crystals or unusual textures to tempt the UK consumer in 2015.”

Their answers can be seen here…

Rachel Galley, founder and designer, Rachel Galley Jewellery

“My brand is quite focused on pure sterling silver. I don’t use a lot of plating, only on certain collections and they command higher price points — gold costs more money even in overlay. I think consumers dislike the fact that plating wears off, and they don’t accept that they should have to pay for this to be re-done after a period of time. They presume it is like pure gold and therefore should last eternally which as we all know is not true. So there are some awkward customer situations that occur when trying to discuss plating issues, certainly when people treat it so differently. I think my collections look a lot stronger now I’ve stripped the overlays out of it. It’s pure, clean and bold without confusing miss-matching colours on point of sale and items being left unsold when their matching items have gone. This creates a more confusing and distracting display and is less cohesive overall. Since stripping multiplate colour options from my ranges they have become a lot stronger and are selling through much better.”

Maureen Hooson, managing director, Mococo

“20 years ago the trend in the UK was still with 9ct yellow gold. Since the huge sterling silver fashion trend came into force around 10 years ago we have been using this now powerful metal in different forms. In the past couple of year, it has been towards rose gold vermeil. We are therefore still very much with sterling silver, but offering the revival of the gold trend in a much more affordable medium. In my opinion, sterling silver is as strong as ever, but we are just offering it in a choice of colours other than silver.

Lucy Quartermaine, founder and designer, LucyQ

“Personally, I love the full silver effect — and it works well for many of my designs. I haven’t seen a decline in demand for LucyQ sterling silver pieces. However, as fashions change, I have defi nitely seen a rise in the demand for pieces with gold or rose gold mixed with sterling silver designs. It’s all about layering and stacking at the moment and a stand-out way to do this is using multiple precious metal colours and tones all combined together.”

Phoebe Sherwoodmoore, founder and designer, Phoebe Jewellery

“Whilst silver jewellery is still very much in demand, the addition of another material adds interest to the jewellery. I use wood as an accent alongside silver or gold vermeil throughout my collections, which gives an extra dimension to the pieces. The customer is then given the choice of silver or gold vermeil or the combination of the two alongside the wood and increasingly I’ve noticed my customers opting for the mixture of materials.”

Adryan Cresswell, head of commerce, Emozioni – HD Group

“I don’t think there is much doubt that traditional silver jewellery demand has been affected by an increasing consumer appetite for jewellery to be more closely linked with fashion. We have been acutely aware of this and of course we have needed to act accordingly. As a silver jewellery brand, our job is to satiate the consumer demand for a more fashionable look, whilst not disengaging ourselves from our heritage. This is important as it would be wrong to assume that classic jewellery designs are now obsolete. These designs still sell very strongly within the Hot Diamonds portfolio. We have noticed, however, that consumers are increasingly insistent that the classic jewellery they do buy is beautiful across all of the consumer touch points. From design and in-store presentation to packaging and marketing creative; every touch point needs to be stunning and reinforce the brand’s identity. Perhaps it is more difficult to sell generic classic silver jewellery now than it was a few years ago because, by definition, not all of the consumer touch points can be beautifully considered. If it is true consumers’ expectations in relation to these touch points are higher now than previously was the case, this could help explain a shift away from this traditional revenue stream.”

This feature originally appeared in the May 2015 issue of Professional Jeweller. Read it here.

One Comment;

  1. Shaun said:

    Good read. With silver experiencing a lack of interest, it’s easy to why there is a price drop. Let’s hope this improves before the end of the year.

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