Right Now Downtown

Cheryl of Crimson Design Group is awesome! Come check out her storefront at 51 N. Pearl & at the Market. Here’s what she had to say to us the other day:

Can you describe your art and process? Tell us a bit about yourself?

I founded Crimson Design Group 6 years ago after working for a firm here in Columbus. I have always known that I would have my own company at some point in my career. I enjoy the freedom that operating your own business brings. I started working in design in NYC managing a furniture boutique in Soho. I loved the city but life called me back to Columbus and here I am 10 years later. Crimson Design is a full service interior design firm. We work on a vast scale of projects and clients. We work on new construction projects, remodels, to furnishing interior spaces. (Custom window treatments, furniture placement, lighting, art and all other elements of design)
We are launching a new program called designer for a day. We go into a home recreate a room using their existing furnishings and make suggestions on things they can add as well as color consultations. Room redesigns start at $350.
My philosophy on design and working w/ someone is that we really work on finding out who our client is and translating that into design in their home or corporate space. Finding your style and inspiring your life!!!

So- what inspires you?

Traveling is what inspires me most. I am always changing my environment from day trips out of Columbus to traveling internationally.  I love culture and seeing how people live and how colorful everyday life is for people in other countries. Also the simple things in life give me alot of pleasure. Tasting beautifully created food, to fresh cut flowers out of my garden, seeing the array of color combinations in nature, and appreciating beauty in life everyday.

What do you love about Columbus?
I love that Columbus is an easy affordable city to live in. Seeing the growth and change downtown and in the Short North has been fun to see. We just moved into Pearl Alley this year and love the energy that the alley and Gay street brings. It is also a very easy city to fly in and out of. Columbus is my base home and love to see the world from here.

To be truly comfortable, rewarding and timeless, environments must speak to the heart of who you are– as an individual or organization.

Thanks so much! Please stop by Crimson Design and say hello! Tell them the Market Maven sent ya!

Fairytale Furniture is one of those companies that makes you stop and stare.

I watch people each Market day stop and marvel at the gorgeous wee beds for pets. They are handcrafted and absolutely beautiful!

The pet beds come in three sizes (baby bear, mama bear, and papa bear) and are designed for support and circulation for pets.

They are hand painted and adorable and I just had to talk to Don Fairytail Furniture. I asked him what he liked most about Pearl Market:

“I just love the variety of people that I meet and enjoy talking to them.” -Don Hustead

You need to check out these pet beds on Tuesdays and Fridays!

Tell Heidi and Don the Market Maven sent ya!

Learn a bit about Pearl Market’s Brittle Makers- Jimmie and Linda:

In the early 70’s a friend of ours gave us some brittle. We decided that this would be a good treat for our family at Christmas. Well, we did and it was a mess, but the family liked it so much they were asking for our brittle the next year.

Our family and many friends had been encouraging us to sell our brittle. So in 1999 answering the call, we started going to craft shows in the Columbus area and Jimmie’s Old Fashioned Brittle was born.
During one of our early shows we had competition and became a bit panicked as her display was great and we were new. As the people walked from her booth, and past our booth after trying one of her samples they were picking the brittle out of their teeth. Upon seeing these fine people in distress we stated that Jimmie’s Brittle did not stick to the teeth. And after trying ours, they realized we were right! Having a good product first, then working on your display/marketing was a lesson we learned that day.
And thus our slogan was born:
“Good Brittle won’t STHICK to your teeth”.

We are entering our 11th year and we have made a lot of friends along the way. These friends have made our brittle well known. This business has been a lot of work but we have had a very fun time.

We are presently offering eleven types of brittle including a sugar free brittle. My mother Opal bagged 4,500 bags of brittle last year (over a ton) and she is only 93 years young!

Who would you like to meet at the market this year?

Well we would like to meet all those “Brittle Lovers” out there. We know they have been searching for us and now we have been found at the Pearl. I would like to meet every lady working in the downtown offices so I could reveal to them the secret of eating our brittle and taking a bag home to share with their loving husbands. Linda just came over to confirm my spelling and said, I would like to meet some of those wonderful good looking men in those office buildings too.

I am so excited to meet these folks! Brittle is a guilty pleasure! Please go visit Jimmie and Linda and tell them the Market maven sent you!

I wanted to introduce you to The Bergefurd Family Farm this week. I asked them to talk to us a bit about their farm and their booth at Pearl Market:

We are a small family owned and operated farm in Wilmington, Ohio.  Marcia, Brad, daughter Ashley, and sons Brandon, Bryant and Brady and grandson Ethan all pitch in to seed, plant, tend, hoe, pull weeds, harvest, and care for our 40 acres of produce crops in the fields and greenhouses.
We believe that raising our children on the farm helps them to learn a good work ethic. Farming provides them the opportunity to work next to their parents; brothers and sister. We know it is helping them build good personal skills by working with customers at the Farmers Markets. Hopefully after all the work there is a little money left at the end of the season to go to the children’s college funds.
In the fall season we offer school and group tours to educate others the importance of farms, farmers and raising livestock and crops in everyone’s everyday lives.

What inspires you?

It is in our blood and we enjoy every minute of it, probably because we are fourth generation family farmers! If we counted the number of hours we all put in we would make much more $ per hour working at the local fast food shop flipping burgers- but then would our children learn a good work ethic or be able to make change in their heads or have the opportunity to WORK HARD side by side with their parents and siblings?  Would they learn the value of money and that one needs to work for what they desire?
We attend markets May - October and operate a stand at our home year-round. We begin harvesting and getting produce ready daily, including the night before the market. We harvest from 6 pm till midnight. Then again around 4 am we harvest sweet corn for the day. We want the freshest available for our customers! After we stock the home market stand and get trucks packed, we head to our markets in Cincinnati or Columbus.

What are the three top things you wish you would
have known before you started this journey?
1) How much money we would be still investing in our produce farm 25 years later, time and monetary investment is never ending.
2) How Mother Natures weather events can ruin $1000’s of dollars worth of crop in a matter of minutes.
3) How many hours each day our family would have to invest to attend Farmers Markets and to grow produce.

What is your favorite thing about Pearl Market?
The Managers (Adam and Kacey are GREAT!) the people, customers, and the great atmosphere!

Visit us on the web at www.Bergefurdsfarmmarket.com

“There’s no need to sustain the farm if there’s no family to be sustained upon it.” Charles O’Dell (June 2001)

Thanks so much to the Bergefurd farm family! We cannot wait to taste the wonderful produce you offer!

Stop by and tell them hello and tell then the Market maven sent ya!

This week we meet Asha Cain of Nellie’s Samosas. I asked her to tell us a bit about her delicious offerings. I cannot wait to hang out at her tent. The food sounds wonderful and so does her story:

I make an Indian delicacy called the Samosa. It is a savory handmade pastry that is laced with aromatic spices and filled with meat and/or vegetables.  It is then fried until golden and crispy. It’s a popular treat in India and Africa. My family is originally from East Africa and this recipe is my grandmother. It was always a dream of hers to have a little shop to sell her samosas. When she became ill, she taught me how to make them and encouraged me to live out her dream. Grandma’s Samosas were a success; we were so pleased to find that everyone enjoyed them as much as we do. I have since added other delicious items to the menu including grandpa’s special curry recipes. I have another stand at the Market this year that my sister will operate. We’ll offer Indian fashions, jewelry, handbags, music and more. We truly love our heritage and culture and are excited to bring the things we love to the market. 

What do you love about Pearl Market?

I love the Market because it allows me the opportunity to do what I love which is feed people. I love the look on someone’s face once they’ve tasted one of my creations. People are so willing to try new things at the Market, and they are very encouraging and appreciative of your hard work. I just love it there!

Thanks so much Asha! Make sure you go visit her fabulous stand at the market and check out her lovely Indian fashions and jewelry new this year!