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- What is Made in Philly?
- Made in Philly is a marketplace, a place for people to buy functional products, a place for designers, makers, crafters, and producers to connect to consumers. It is a place for people to showcase their abilities. The Made in Philly marketplace is more then a retail outlet, it is a community hub where productive creative people share their innovations with the community; it is a network of independent people sharing resources, time, and ideas. Our marketplace sells well-designed, well-made, functional products for life, work, and play - produced locally by independent producers working throughout Philadelphia.
- When did Made in Philly open?
- Made in Philly officially “opened our doors” at the early of June 2009. The concept was in development intensively for five months but the idea has been in discussion for several years. The decision and motivation to make Made in Philly at this moment in time comes from a larger movement to live a contextual (aka sustainable) life. In a time of confused cultural identity, global economic troubles, environmental and social concerns, we at Made in Philly began to look locally and to our community for answers, and to our wonderful surprise solutions abound.
- Why create Made in Philly?
- Made in Philly is a response to “gaps in the system”. The creators of Made in Philly are designers and makers; we kept reaching a point in the process of making things that required us to market, sell, and distribute our items in order to make a living. Turns out a lot of people have the same problem. We took this as an opportunity to do something that would help ourselves as well as the larger creative productive community. By creating Made in Philly we are providing services to designers, makers, and crafters, reducing the stress and redundancies of people marketing and selling their own creations, while making it easier for consumers to buy locally produced culturally appropriate products.
- Where is Made in Philly?
- We call Philadelphia home. Our office and warehouse is located just north of Center City, but the producers of our products live through out the city. Starting in October 2009 we will be hosting events and temporary stores to give people the opportunity to see and purchase products. These events will happen a few times a year and in a variety of locations, hopefully in a different neighborhood each time. As events are planned they will be posted to this site and announcements will be sent out through our newsletter.
- Who keeps Made in Philly going?
- Made in Philly is owned and operated by Andrew Dahlgren with the help of a large supportive “family” of designers, makers, sustainable business owners, and teachers. The seed of the idea was planted a few years ago while in studio talking to Leah Grubb, who is still part of the team helping find just the right products to sell and keeping balance to Andrew’s overly utilitarian outlook. The realization that Made in Philly was needed and a good idea came from many many conversations with designers both professionals and students and locally minded citizens. The support to actually make it real came from this same network with the addition of small business help from the Empowerment Group , Solid Foundations LLC, and Green Village Philadelphia Business Incubator. The website guru that created our website was built and is maintained by Kent Hinebaugh of JRHdesign. Lastly, the participating creative productive community whom without them we wouldn’t have any products to sell. Thanks to all who have contributed!
