Tag: artist

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Partner Spotlight: ScreenCraft Tileworks

“Any factory can make stuff, we make gifts that celebrate your town or favorite place.” –Tanya Bernard

ScreenCraft EmployeesShopping local has played a big role in the partnerships WaterFire has fostered, ScreenCraft Tileworks being one of them.  As a community-based organization, supporting other local businesses is at the core of who we are, and we’re proud to work with these partners to create WaterFire souvenirs for our many national and international visitors.  The WaterFire-ScreenCraft partnership began at the end of 2014 with the launch of the marble magnets, and since then, ScreenCraft has supplied WaterFire with 620 magnets, 461 bracelets, and various other products like the new Wine Charms!

What makes ScreenCraft especially unique is the fact that each item gets made one at a time from real, authentic marble as opposed to resin molds which many other companies opt for.  The tile is all unique, with each piece different from the last.  “Everything is created and assembled here,” says Tanya, starting with the marble prep process in which each tile is hand-cleaned and quality-checked.  Even picking the perfect marble has become a crucial part of the process.  In fact, ScreenCraft has created relationships with the families in Italy and Turkey who run the marble quarries.  For ScreenCraft, a company with many long term employees, these personal relationships with other family-run companies are so important.  

ScreenCraft Tileworks didn’t always go by that name, and it wasn’t always focused on tiles!  The Champagne family-run, third generation business actually found its initial success in custom signage and photography, which influenced the customizable nature of its current tile business. Nowadays, Tanya explains that the company is “very much about place and making finer souvenirs people keep,” and even people’s pride in place, which is at the heart of what WaterFire does.  

Making CharmsScreenCraft equally enjoys its partnership with WaterFire, explaining: “I love that you’re a Rhode Island event and organization, and I love that our product is Rhode Island made, and I think that’s the epitome of shopping local…it’s a very arts-oriented state.”  Both ScreenCraft and WaterFire agree that it’s great to support other local businesses as well as the Rhode Island community through events like WaterFire, where every ounce of the proceeds is going back to support the event itself.  Being able to bring pride to the state of Rhode Island and the city of Providence is such a special experience.

“When I think of WaterFire, I think of how it celebrates Providence…there’s nothing like it, it’s very, very special” -Tanya Bernard

Click here to shop the entire WaterFire line of ScreenCraft products.

All Marble Magnets

Thank you to the ScreenCraft team for giving us a behind the scenes look at how these fantastic products are made.

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Partner Spotlight: Gather Glass

“Similar to WaterFire, at the root of Gather Glass there is a passion for art, community, and of course fire.” – Benjamin Giguere, artist at Gather Glass

At WaterFire we proudly collaborate with local artists to create unique pieces for our store and spread our passion for art and culture. One of our partners is Providence glassblowing business Gather Glass, who became one of our vendors shortly after forming in 2010. There have been countless hours spent conceptualizing, designing, creating, packaging, and producing a variety of products from jewelry to glassware all inspired by the water and flames of WaterFire.

The artists at Gather Glass are very passionate about community, and WaterFire is an ideal setting for sharing their work on-site during the fires and connecting the audience with their process. They joined us by the river over six years ago to show the city the art of glassblowing and have been working alongside our store every lighting since.

Merch 019 

“From the very first lighting we attended, we felt something very special was happening.  Between the crackling of the river fires, the sound of the flame from our torch and the meditative music in the air, we began to seamlessly melt into the backdrop of a city transformed into an art scape. We immediately felt at home.”

 

“Each time you look into your glass pendant or earring, we hope you remember the smell of wood burning or feel the heat of the fires against your skin. It is these sensations that inspired our work; we hope they inspire you in the same way. We feel honored and inspired to be part of this evolving art event and look forward to all the creative possibilities that lie ahead.”

Gather Glass WaterFire tumblers

Click here to see all of the Gather Glass WaterFire products

Thank you Matt Stone and Benjamin Giguere for your dedication in creatively transforming the city.

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Partner Spotlight: Photon Fabrications

For several years, Joseph “JJ” Strong of Photon Fabrications has designed some of our most beautiful WaterFire gifts found in the WaterFire Merchandise Store. Photon Fabrications combines art, engineering, and modern technology with a laser cutting machine. Our relationship with JJ Strong began after being introduced through Gather Glass (another fabulous merchandise partner!) who had just collaborated with JJ on another project. Our first product collaboration with JJ was the creation of the WaterFire Wooden Magnet which continues to be a WaterFire Fan favorite! Over the past few years we’ve created many different designs and products. Including: Ornaments, “Matchbox Memories”, and the new Brazier and City Skyline Bamboo Key Chains!  We hope every challenge we give him will allow him to feed his passion and talent as a laser cut designer. (Check out all the WaterFire Photon Fabrications products here!)

Photon Fabrications Wooden Magnets (Photo by Jen Bonin)

“At WaterFire Providence I’ve found a group of fellow artisans that concern themselves with quality of design as much as I do. The folks at WaterFire work hard to maintain a high standard.  As a young artist – just starting college when I created those first magnets – my experience with WaterFire has taught me a lot.  I’ve been lucky to be a part of a great Rhode Island tradition and I look forward to many more WaterFire projects down the road!”
-JJ Strong of Photon Fabrications

We are excited to share our support and admiration of JJ’s wonderful laser cut designs. Today, JJ is creating laser cut designs for every occasion available on his website and at local art fairs in Rhode Island.

Want to know more about the process? Here’s a clip from photonfabrications.com:

A piece usually begins life as a model in Solid Works, a 3D engineering program, where the basic form is created. The model is then translated into a 2D art program, Corel Draw, Adobe Illustrator, or both where I add all of the detail that the laser will engrave. This software allows for a huge range of detail to be added and manipulated. Finally to take the art from a digital image to a physical object a Versa Laser CNC machine, which cuts out the components to make the final pieces, which are then assembled into the finished product.

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