ART TO WARE
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Art to Ware is a small fashion pop-up shop curated and owned by author and teacher Lesley Ware (also know as The Creative Cookie). Located at the Port Authority in New York and previously the West Village of NYC, the shop is dedicated to providing a platform to local artists, brands, and designers to showcase their work in a retail setting. At a time when small businesses were struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was really great to help out a locally owned shop.
The brand and, by extension logo itself, has under gone an evolution of change over the course of it’s first year (Spring 21’- Spring 22’). What started off as a quick “weekend” job for a quick an simple “logo” has blossomed into a full blown business. Locally loved by the neighborhoods the shop has moved too, Art to Ware has continued to support local artists and thrift store enthusiasts with it’s wide variety of upcycled clothing.
I’m very grateful to have worked with Lesley in designing her logo, and can’t wait to hear of further success.
[Brands featured; Lesley Ware, Yellow Cakeshop by Valerie Mayen, Elements by Land, Christine Jiwon Ra, Googly Eye Cru, Ooh Baby, Dana Robinson, Alexa Stark, and Victor Varnado.]
LOGO #1 (MAR 21’ — AUG 21’)
The “tag logo” was inspired by the brown “bargain” tag common in thrift stores. With a limited run starting from April 28th until July 22nd 2021, I wanted the branding to reflect the changing nature of the products featured. As each artist, designer, and brand featured in the store had their own unique characteristics. The logo broke the traditional color rules and opted for a very robust 6 color pallet, with a more pastel variant being the optimal choice. The tag shape was altered to match that of the same exact tag used on the items in the store. After the success of the logo, some small collateral followed, including; store hours stationary, a tote bag, and stickers. While the Greenwich Village spot closed its doors on July 22nd it was great to hear the store was successful enough to open another set of doors a “few” blocks north to a much larger location, with plans of expanding the brand even more.
LOGO #2 (AUG 21’ — DEC 21’)
The “block logo” was created off the new prompt of trying emulate more modern fashion and beauty brands. The store was moving to a more upscale location and wanted to attract the new customers from the surrounding neighborhood. We were also able to revisit the idea of a “patchwork look” for the logo and brand that we weren’t able to implement properly for the first iteration. Color palette was chosen of a focus group the client had, retaining some of the pastel colors and experimenting with a more “earthy tones”. The new location in the West Village also doubled as an event space with the back room housing a small art gallery. Art to Ware was able to partner with local artists to feature work covering the BLM movement, women’s rights, city photography and a variety of other shows. Their first show “Cartooning While Black” opened along side the opening of the new store and ran from July - Aug 21’.
LOGO #3 (DEC 21’ — PRESENT)
The current iteration of Art to Ware’s brand and identity was in process soon after Logo #2. With it’s largest space yet opening at Port Authority, the team wanted to take everything done with the modernizing and sleekness of the second logo and bring back and combine it with the character the first one had. Leaning into “De Stijl” and “Bauhaus” to bring back some of the playful nature of the brand, the logo really came together with the implementation of it’s version of the “patchwork idea”. Having the needle and thread “stich” the logo together, it came together seamlessly!
Art to Ware:
A Curated Fashion Pop Up by The Creative Cookie
About: The Creative Cookie is a WOC-owned business founded in 2008 by Lesley Ware. It started as a fashion blog and sewing studio and has evolved into a fashion pop-up in the West Village of Manhattan!
Lesley Ware is a New York City-based creator who is a believer of fashion-as-self-care and uses her platform to encourage others to use fashion in that way. She is the author of three books: Sew Fab: Style for Young Fashionistas, My Fab Fashion Style File, and How to be a Fashion Designer. She is working on her fourth and fifth books, which are soon to be released. Lesley has also led and developed educational programs for Parsons School of Design, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Times Student Journeys, and New Visions for Public Schools. Lesley is currently designing a bridal collection, inspired by her recent nuptials. She hopes to continue to spread joy and creative vibes through this blog and her ever-evolving projects for young fashionistas and fashionistos.
ChaShaMa: For twenty-six years, ChaShaMa has transformed unused spaces for 30,000 artists, hosted 4,000 public art events, provided 1,500 free art classes in underserved communities, and reached audiences of nearly a million.
Art to Ware Logo Variations
Art to Ware Tote Bag
CARTOONING
WHILE BLACK
Following the success of the pop-up shop, Art to Ware soon became a host/sponsor in conjuncture with ChaShaMa for an art show from July 15th - August 5th. I helped design the poster for the opening event, which greeted visitors at the entrance of the show. The show featured political cartoons and satirical works related to racism, all by cartoonists from “The New Yorker”.
Excerpt from Chashama:
“Cartooning While Black: The Anti Racism Activity Book Preview and Other Works is a preview of the social satire book The Anti-Racism Activity Book, written and illustrated by comedian and New Yorker cartoonist Victor Varnado, and published by One Idea Press. The book features coloring pages, crossword puzzles, word finds, and other staples of the activity book genre used with humor to illustrate how dumb racism is.
Varnado’s pieces will be shown alongside work from fellow New Yorker cartoonists Jerald Lewis II, Yasin Osman, and Akeem S. Roberts.”
Holiday Stand
After opening their third location in Port Authority, Art to Ware was green-lit to participate as one of Chashama’s Holiday stands in the winter village of “Shops at the Oculus”.
