We have a couple of events to close out October! First up will be the Moonlight Market at Grove Roots Brewing Co on Wednesday, October 23 from 6pm-9pm.
You can also catch us at the Pioneer Days Festival in Lake Wales on Saturday and Sunday, October 26-27 from 9am-5pm.
Hope to see you there!
making our own old school messaging system (chalkboard). . . .
a few more CNAW brand embellishments. . .
some over the counter shelves for CNAW Merch. . .
move-in day! . . .
we liked the Poor Porker custom wall mount we built so much that we felt we needed a similar piece for our space – but they still hold the record for the largest piece built to date!
we’ve got a special plan for this space. . .
and that brings us to the evening before opening! Come on by this weekend and check it out for yourself! Thanks for following along with us on this amazing journey!
After months of planning, preparation, long hours, lots of work. . . and blood (yes, actual blood), sweat (fortunately way more sweat than blood) and tears (of frustration and joy) we will be meeting our target date and opening the doors of CNAW Studio / Gallery / Mercantile at 10am tomorrow (Saturday, 10/5) as planned!
Be sure to stop on by and check out our new space this weekend Saturday 10am-6pm and Sun 11am-4pm at 102 Burns Lane, Winter Haven 33884!
For those who came out to see us at Haus MRKT on 9/20/19, be sure to bring your flyer on Saturday 10/5 to receive your free / no purchase necessary CNAW campfire mug*!
For those who were not able to make it to the Haus MRKT you can still get a free CNAW campfire mug* with the purchase of any functional art Ware!
And don’t forget, any functional art Ware purchase made between now and 11/16/19 will get you automatically entered into our CNAW floor lamp raffle giveaway to be held at our Official Grand Opening celebration on Saturday, November 16, 2019.
Look for our final Build Progress Update post this evening and then come check it out for yourself tomorrow! Hope to see you then!
*free CNAW campfire mug offer while supplies last valid only on 10/5/19
Without a doubt, the most frequently asked question by people when they first encounter our functional-art Wares at a local market or event is “How did you get started doing this?”
Well, “getting started doing this” was never even a plan we had in mind – we did not set out to start and build a brand / business creating one of a kind, unique, handcrafted, rustic-industrial functional art Wares. . . it just happened.
As the story goes. . . I work a regular “day job” at a local State College (in Polk County) where I’ve been fortunate to be employed for the past 9 years. For almost the past 6 years I’ve held my current position and for the first 4 years in this position I floated splitting time between two different office spaces. As a result, I never really made either of those spaces my own – as many of my colleagues had done in their dedicate office spaces.
Our department was moving into a new building with a completely redesigned space and part of that space would contain a dedicated office space for me – finally, no more floating between offices!
When I found out, I decided that I was going to have the coolest (at least as far as I was concerned) office space on the campus (black dry erase board, nixie tube clock, mechanical retro typewriter style keyboard, etc). . . and I was going to have some really cool desk lamps because there was no way I was going to bake under these things for 8 hours a day:
6 fluorescent tubes bouncing off the freshly painted bright white walls may be great for lighting a photo shoot set, but it definitely wasn’t a place I wanted to spend 40 hrs a week in – so I knew I was going to need some desk lamps for a more ambient lighted atmosphere.
I knew exactly what I wanted but couldn’t really find anything that matched what I had in mind, so I went to the local home improvement store and started laying out black iron pipe and fittings for two desk lamps right in the middle of the aisle. Once I was pretty certain I had what I needed to bring the images in my mind to reality, I went home and began assembling the two lamps.
I’m a bit of purist when it comes to functionality – if there are sub dials on a watch, they need to work and not just be there for “aesthetics” only. . . if it has a gauge on it, the gauge should actually be measuring something . . . a retro style rotary phone with push buttons on the “rotor” – no thank you!
So, when I decided to integrate valve handles on the lamps there was no question that they had to function as the on / off switch. After some research, I came upon a method that would work as intended and now I had two functional desk lamps for my new office space.
This is before the nixie tube clock, mechanical retro typewriter style keyboard and other cool things were added. . .
I do have a window – so it’s not as dark as it appears here. . .
There we go! Mission accomplished – two cool functional desk lamps for my new office space. . . back to life as normal – honestly, as far as I was concerned, that was the end of it.
Well, since our department moved into a new building in a redesigned space, everyone was coming by to check it out. They would also pop in my office to say hello and check out my new space. They would see the lamps and say how cool they were (especially after seeing the functional valve handle turn it on and off) and ask where I got them. When I told them I made them they would say “Well, now you have to make me one.”
So, that’s how I “got started doing this”. It’s grown and evolved from there with me creating more functionality in my pieces (functional voltage meters, functional power outlets, multi valve functionality for different bulbs / gauges) and the ideas continue to come!
But it all started with these two “desk lamps” – which have now been retired from my “day job” office space and moved to a seat of honor – perched high, front and center in our Studio / Gallery / Mercantile overlooking all that they helped to create!
The original Gooseneck and the one and only Double – perched above our vintage 70s (functional!) shop phone
So – we couldn’t have the coolest rustic-industrial functional art, Studio, Gallery, Mercantile you’ve ever seen with just some regular, run of the mill, see it all the time shop phone! This vintage, retired and restored, Canadian origin (connected and working) pay phone is the perfect fit!
of course we need some shelves to display all of our Wares. . .
the rest of the counter. . .
a seat (shelf) of honor. . .
before there was a Crow’s Nest Artisanal Wares – in fact, before there were even Wares, there were these two “lamps”. . .
for those who know our story, these are “the two lamps” which started it all. . . for those who do not, we’ll catch you up in a separate post!
There’s only one more Build Progress Update post to come – and it will likely be posted Friday night as we wrap up the final details for our opening on Saturday, Oct 5!
Crow's Nest Artisanal Wares 
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