13 Spade

13 Spade: the Grand Opening!

Jun 11, 2011

by Simon H. in Announcement, Backscene stuff

Tagged with: back stage, Grand opening, Summer 2011 collection

Well, this is it. As soon as I press the publish button, the adventure will officially start.

This is not just another online store.

Dear readers, today I would like to introduce you to Studio Ace of Spade’s online store : 13 Spade.

So, really, what is 13 Spade and what makes it so special?

It is a unique project created by us, the co-owners of Studio Ace of Spade. 13 Spade is not only an online store where you can buy awesome art, it’s a community online store. What we mean by this is that sure, it’s a space for our “stuff“, but it’s also a space for the extra talented people in the Studio’s community (both local and online) to have their products available. More to be announced on that really soon.

The uniqueness and wide variety of art provided through 13 Spade is what makes it special and far different from any other online stores. We didn’t necessarily think about it that way at first, but we created something between a curated art collection, an online art gallery, an artist collective, a label and a shop.

What are we offering right now?

I’m glad you’re asking, because if not I’d have to bring it up.

At launch, we are offering a poster collection, all of them but one that were done prior to launching the store. When we saw the interest of people in what we did, we were humbled and then tried to make our “stuff” available. After being charged an arm and leg in markup by some of the major players in the “upload-your-art-we’ll-print-it-for-you” industry, we scrapped the idea all together. Then, the Studio got an entrepreneurship grant from the alma matter of its partners, and this happened. We decided to invest a hefty part of the said grant in printing and dev time to create the store.

So, the poster collection (I got distracted for a second).

We currently have 2 sizes of posters: 18″ wide by 24″ high, printed on canvas, and 9″ wide by 12″ high, printed on a thick poster stock. The size depends of the poster. Here’s a detail of the collection:

Whale & Pine

Whale and Pine was an online art gallery and art collection curated by Camilo Bajanaro of Ph7labs. Sadly, it is no longer. Anyway. Last year, Whale and Pine organized a poster contest to bring more artists in. The contest theme was pretty loose. This poster was our second submission. Our goal was to embody the Whale and Pine brand as much as possible, while still putting our stamp on it.

— From the Whale and Pine poster page on the shop

God is Awake

The God is Awake print is an homage. God is Awake is a musical project from Goshen, IN whose members are friends. Ben, the singer/composer/guitar player of Wilson’s Reservoir and Grant, the engineer/producer behind Electric Angel Studios, teamed up to create this post rock and experimental band. When they completed their Voire Dire EP, they granted us the privilege to listen to it before anyone else (you can listen to the track An Adder is Hatched, extracted from the said EP, on their facebook page).

— From the God is Awake shop page

The surprise print!

Well, this one will be unveiled first to the lucky people that make it to Weapons of Mass Creation Fest this week-end. I’ll give you a hint: if you go on the 13 Spade facebook page (click like), you can see some sneak peeks on it.

Get shit done

Oh boy, this is a delicate one, because some people might get offended (like we care in the first place). I mean, we all remember these (lame?) motivational from the 80s and 90s that were done with bad stock photography and/or bad illustration and messages, right? When we moved into the Bricolage in Goshen, IN, we new the people in this shared workspace were mostly entrepreneurs and small business owners. Think about it as a concentration of like minded people. We also discovered these people to be highly motivated and not afraid by the numbers of hours you need to put in in order to get or keep their businesses going. Hence the (un)official motto of the place: get shit done.

— From the Get Shit Done poster page

Air traveling

Air Traveling is an poster done for Signalnoise’s Retro Poster Competition. We chose to go back in time and advertise for what must have been the cutting edge mean of air transportation at that point.

— From the Air traveling poster page

Broadcasting

Broadcasting is an poster done for Signalnoise’s Retro Poster Competition. We chose to go back in time and advertise for what must have been the cutting edge radio station at that point.

— From the Broadcasting poster page

Photography!

If you had a chance to follow our facebook page’s news stream in the last days, you might have seen the prints (#1, #2 and #3) our friend photographer Abi Tsigie will have available through 13 Spade. The people at Weapons of Mass Creation will once again have the exclusivity, but they will be added to the shop as soon as we are back.

Jewelry!

We are also really happy to announce that Jess is also on board. Jess hand-crafts earrings out of beer caps. Typically from small breweries. She spends the time to make them right, with hypoallergenic, surgical steel ear clasps and all. More info to come after WMC Fest.

Other designers and artists!

We are at the moment talking with other designers and artists to make them join the adventure. Some exciting news to happen in that area very soon, but shhht. It’s a secret.

Also, if you are a designer/artist and would like to see your work featured here, give us a shout.

Last word

Well, this is it, right? I hit the publish button and, off we go!