Startups and Serendipity (Pt. 2): Igloo Letterpress

Igloo Letterpress' special "Blogger Night" highlighted the creative
capabilities of this Worthington-based printing business to attendees.

For Part 1 of this post, please click on this link.

Part 1 of my post briefly touched on our dabblings in Columbus-area crowdfunding, and our experience with The Commissary, a food-focused incubator that we happily supported during their efforts to get off the ground.

Part 2 touches on another previously blogged-about businesss with an ongoing crowdfunding campaign to help it move to a bigger location, with just a little hint of serendipity thrown in to boot.

My previous post on Worthington's Igloo Letterpress, a true favorite of both myself and my spouse, came by happenstance on the day before their announcement that they were taking over a larger space just a half-block up from their current location. Since that day, Igloo has also decided to utilize the crowdfunding option to help fund the move, launching a Kickstarter campaign to not only assist in the actual moving process, but also to optimize their increased operating space.

My spouse and I have taken advantage of some of Igloo's open-to-the-public events in the past, so were understandably thrilled when Igloo Invited us to attend last week's Bloggers Night at their current work space on West New England Avenue to help get the word out to folks.

You don't have to be a blogger to appreciate the Igloo's tools of
its trade, nor realize how their limited work space presents
unique challenges to both employees and customers during
an evening of numerous interactive experiences.

I had written in my previous blog post that Igloo's current work space as having a "certain chaotic organization that you better appreciate as you watch the employees perform their duties." This came out in more stark relief during this night of numerous letterpress-related activities and demonstrations. Viewing the dozen-or-so invited guests and gathered staff in combination with Igloo's equipment and other tools of the trade from afar, I got a picture of the machinations that might have to take place trying to combine production work and a scheduled class at the same time.

This vision was elaborated upon in a delightful conversation I had with Igloo's Studio Director Beth Dekker. She explained that their letterpress' business, community interaction and education goals come into conflict more frequently than desired due to this lack of space. She added that that utilizing certain pieces of equipment for one purpose by default shuts down use of that machine for other uses; there had been times when Igloo's capacity is maxed out to the point where potential production jobs and/or chances for community interaction events simply have to be refused.

This event highlighted one of Igloo's most engaging aspects: giving the public an opportunity to exercise their creative side in a truly hands-on manner. For the invited this night, these activities ranged from the very simple (picking out the font type to print our note cards) to the kinesthetic (operating the actual machine to print said cards), and was not restricted to a single activity (along with the note cards, we walked away with a mini hand-bound notebook and a set of printed cardboard coasters.)

The long hand note is always preferable, especially if you're
using Igloo's whimsical printed creations.

Simply viewing Igloo's finished products allows you to appreciate the creativity and quality of work coming from this business, from the uniquely witty and whimsical designs of their greeting cards, to the unique poster-sized materials (a Worthington street map produced from a restored wood print block dating back between 1950 to 1960) and everything in-between. The Snow House, their current gift shop, is a favorite place of my spouse and I to drop by, especially when the Worthington Farmers Market is in their outdoor season.

Overall, this night was incredibly enjoyable, from all the various activities to the interactions with Igloo staff and the opportunity to meet many fellow bloggers who I have discovered during my Internet travels in person for the first time ever (I most certainly hope this is not the last time either.)

Moreover, I would like to re-emphasize the little gem that the Columbus area has in Igloo Letterpress. As you grow up, you get to learn that life isn't terribly fair at times: a combination of unfortunate circumstances and/or just sheer dumb luck has derailed numerous high-quality and truly worthy endeavors throughout the years. Often times, little can be done by the customers or beneficiaries of those endeavors when they cease their operations.

Igloo Letterpress owner Allison Chapman demonstrates the
capabilities of a Heidelberg printing press machine. Special movers
will have to be hired to transport the equipment to its new digs.

Sometimes, the opposite happens: a little serendipity allows a quality venture to grow. Dekker related to me a story that night about how Igloo Letterpress' owner Allison Chapman was struggling to balance the business and production aspects of her fledgling business. Meanwhile, Dekker's employment had just ended, and she was simply trying to land somewhere where her skills could prove useful. Despite having no real letterpress experience, Dekker sent an inquiry e-mail to Chapman touting her skills.

During a particularly rough stretch, and in realization that she truly needed help to handle the business side of her venture, Chapman decided to scope her e-mail (a task which she increasingly had less and less time for) for a possible solution.

Guess whose e-mail was listed first?

Serendipity is a good thing. In Igloo's case, it helped bring Chapman and her letterpress equipment to the Columbus area in the first place, helped in matching up Dekker and Chapman, and now has given them an opportunity to reach their optimal potential just a mere half-block away from their current location. Perhaps the serendipitous cherry on top of this fun evening was Chapman returning from a city of Worthington meeting with approval for Igloo's new storefront.

Igloo's current Kickstarter campaign not only helps out with the moving process, but would allow the addition of extra printing press and related studio that would allow Igloo to teach classes and host public projects. The space would also be available for private rental as well. This additional space would allow Igloo to host these services without adversely affecting their mainline production, as is the case currently. In addition, the gift shop would be centrally located with the business, with the current Snow House Gift Shop going back onto the residential market.

For me and my spouse, knowing that we can help out Igloo Letterpress reach their ultimate potential through their current Kickstarter campaign is a little serendipity for us in its own right.

If you would like to help out Igloo Letterpress with its move, please check out their Kickstarter Campaign page. Numerous unique rewards are available for those willing to contribute to the cause. The campaign runs until Friday, April 10, at 6 PM EDT.

Igloo Letterpress/Snow House Gift Shop
39 West New England Ave
Worthington, OH 43085
(614) 787-5528
Facebook     Twitter     Website

Caffeinated Kansas: Black Dog Coffeehouse (Lenexa); Ad Astra Coffee and Books (Salina)

Searching for promising local coffee purveyors in previously unvisited parts of the country has been one of my favorite pastimes since my spouse and I got together. Our Kansas visit list included a coffeehouse with a toast option as well as a place to hang out and find a book.

Black Dog Coffeehouse: Despite numerous owners over a decade-plus of existence, Black Dog has maintained both a culture and neighborhood focus that has earned it a loyal following in the region since its opening in 2003. On our visit, we were able to sample some of the changes that the Matsch Family, the business' latest owners, have brought to Black Dog much to our delight.

One such change the new owners put in was based on their research of so-called third-wave coffee shops around the country; as a result, Black Dog discontinued the self-service coffee dispensers in favor of coffee served by manual brewing and upgraded drip coffee equipment.

Other changes reveal how Black Dog has truly become a (Matsch) family affair: their coffee is sourced through area-roaster, Messenger Coffee, a company partly owned by John Matsch. Messenger focuses on sourcing the best coffees while paying farmers higher-than-Fair Trade pricing, according to their company website. As expected, our coffee drinks were quite good, matching some of the best we've had in the Columbus area.

Another change that is definitely a Matsch touch involves Black Dog's toast bar. John's brother Chris had returned to the area from a stint in California with the intent of opening up a bakery. Inspired by the growing toast movement on the west coast as well as the excellent products of bakeries like San Francisco's Mission-district based Tartine, the Matsch family created Ibis Bakery next door.

Black Dog features several loaves of Ibis' bread offerings every day in their toast bar. As opposed to Columbus' Dan The Baker's Toast Bar, this is more of a hearty breakfast (as toast goes, anyway) versus a sampling experience. Black Dog offers thick slices, with each variety of bread matched up with a particular spread. While the Rosemary Olive Oil toast slice, with a combo of butter, pesto and cream cheese was quite tasty, it paled in comparison to the Cranberry Walnut with butter, almond butter, honey and sea salt.

Black Dog Coffeehouse's main menu board and interior space.
Their thick-cut toast uses bread from Ibis Bakery next door. 

According to Ibis' baker Matt Matsch, the slow-rise process used in their breads allows those with celiac and gluten issues to consume their products, Related to this, Black Dog also offers a so-called "Gluten Free Tower" filled with various pastries. Special lunch-oriented items also are offered after 11 AM.

One thing that has not changed is the the coffeehouse's community focus, with live music, game nights and a weekly community farmer's market as regularly scheduled events. The fairly expansive interior space is well suited to handle a decently-sized crowd, and is nattily attired to allow for the now much-observed tradition of hanging out at the coffee shop for an hour or two. Based on our experience, you can definitely do a lot worse than end up at Black Dog for that time.

Black Dog Coffeehouse
12815 W 87th St Pkwy
Lenexa, KS 66215
(913) 495-5515
Facebook    Instagram    Twitter    Website

Ad Astra Coffee and Books: At a population of around 47,000, Salina ranks up there in size with Newark, Ohio in Licking County. But unlike Newark, which has sported local coffee shops from the folks at One Line/River Road since the early 2000s, it took Salina until November of 2011 to get a downtown shop to call its own in the form of Ad Astra.

With the opening date so close to the winter months, and being in a town that was more or less unfamiliar with the coffeehouse concept, Ad Astra struggled in its first few months. A successful Kickstarter campaign launched in early 2012 gave the fledgling business the needed funds to upgrade various aspects of its business as well as getting the word out that they actually existed. The funds apparently were spent pretty wisely, as it allowed my spouse and I some extra caffeination to survive the relatively numbing stretch of I-70 through western Kansas to the Colorado border.

Along with coffee, Ad Astra offers an appealing mix of locally-made
products and artwork, kitschy decor, a mix of new and used
books for sale, and a place for locals to to gather for
various community events within its brick-lined interior.

The pairing of coffee shop and book store is pretty ubiquitous these days, especially with the proliferation of big box retailer Barnes and Noble and coffee giant Starbucks. However, there's just something truly appealing about this combo at the local level, as we have experienced at places like Malaprop's Bookstore and Cafe in Asheville, NC, Indeed, there's plenty of space to hangout within Ad Astra's appealing interior.

Ad Astra is operated as a worker cooperative, similar to Pattycake Bakery in Columbus and The Cheese Board in Berkeley, CA. My spouse asked the barista about what he would recommend on ice and came through with a rather delicious dirty chai with a shot of espresso. I went with a more conventional iced latte, which turned out to be a notch up from the big-chain versions like Starbucks and similar.

Other than the regular community events, Ad Astra's operations help out local businesses, using the roasted coffee beans of Blacksmith Coffee out of nearby Little Sweden-based town of Lindsborg.

While a Starbucks might be more conveniently located for I-70 travelers going through Salina, those looking for something a little more should take a little detour "to the stars" (the literal translation of Ad Astra from Latin) for a nicely rewarding experience.

Ad Astra Coffee and Books
141 N Santa Fe
Salina, KS 67401
(785) 833-2235
Facebook     Twitter     Website

The Commissary Block Party

Incubator kitchens are an increasingly utilized and effective tool for fostering food businesses in a number of communities across the country. In San Francisco, the Mission District-based La Cocina has been on the leading edge of assisting low-income entrepreneurs with establishing their own food business since 2005. Another notable member is ForageSF, who has branched off into this world after several years of helping small food businesses out with their fun and engaging Underground Markets in addition to their roving supper club and foraging events.

Columbus' Food Fort, established in July of 2011, has been a linchpin in helping the local mobile food industry reach the thriving status it holds today. The opportunities for more innovation by local culinary institutions only promises to increase with the arrival of The Commissary, the brainchild of Kate Djupe. Her own experiences of trying to produce her own baby food for sale showed her there was a need for such a kitchen space that would not only be able to handle this type of production, but also allow for existing businesses to expand and experiment with their own culinary aspirations. Due to a funding gap, a Kickstarter campaign was launched and proved ultimately successful, allowing The Commissary to develop its current space in the Marble Cliff area of the metro.

This successful campaign sparked a Block Party celebration, in which supporters of the venture like my spouse and I were allowed to experience and discover what had been developed from their funds. These were some pictures of what turned out to be quite a fun time seeing this promising venture come to life, with more to come, including a coffee lab from Stauf's Coffee Roasters as well as both a molecular gastronomy and brewery area.

Bright green brick and a balloon greeted us at the entrance

Simple to creative, and from community and business members of
all types, the Supporter Spoon Wall was gorgeously laid out

Artistic murals lined the walls of the drive-thru area for mobile food trucks

The kitchen and community bookshelf (which includes many
borrowable baking tins)

Local band Earwig, who has their own Kickstarter campaign in support of
their new album release, threw out some rocking tunes in a space that will
eventually contain more kitchen spaces for rent

My spouse and I really enjoyed the pierogis from Sophie's Gourmet Pierogis and the
chicken dish from the King-Lincoln-based Los Potosinos. The excellent Dos Hermanos
taco truck was also there serving food. We washed down our eats with beverages
from Mill St. Distillery in Utica, OH and Columbus-based Actual Brewing.

Another in the Columbus Knife Fight series took place tonight. In the end,
Chef Matt White from Columbus Brewing Company edged out
Chef Lara Yazvac Pipia of Two-Top Consulting

Friendly folks from Outfit/Good, a community-oriented T-shirt maker, and
Igloo Letterpress offered some fancy printed goodies for attendees. In addition,
Amy Turn Sharp was also there lending poems on demand to folks typed
out on an old-style typewriter.

The Commissary founder Lara Djupe took us on a tour of the facility. Before
this picture, she mentioned that she may still need to be pinched to believe
it's all actually happened. Based on this picture, I think she's realizing it has.

The Commissary
1400 Dublin Rd
Marble Cliff, OH 43215
Facebook    Twitter    Website