This year we have been facing the probability of losing our home where in Andersen Design’s production space and retail gallery have been located since 1952. Last Sunday we were served notice to quit the premises in 31 days so it looks likely that we will lose this battle- but it is not over until its over so there is still an unlikely but still possible chance of staying here in our historic location.We are concerned about the future of this property if this old house is left unattended during the winter months. We would like to negotiate with the bank to let us stay for our mutual advantages,
But for now we have to also find another place to live. We have found a location which we believe is a best case scenario for this transition. It is a house with two apartments. The bottom apartment can be used as a gallery where we can display our vintage work, rather than having it put into storage. This will be a great advantage to all that we are trying to do. The space will also provide for much needed office space for the Museum.
We do not yet know if we will be offered this space but if not we will find another space where our vintage line can be on display. Both spaces are very reasonable for the current rental market.
We need to raise 2400.00 for three months rent for the vintage gallery and work space .
If we can raise that amount we will also at last be past the $1000.00 dollars required in personal donations required by our fiscal sponsor in order to apply for foundation grants.
We are offering a 20% discount on your next purchase, once we have a new production up and running, to all who make a donation to The Andersen Design American Phoenix Project . All contributions are tax deductible. Text block. Use a contrasting background to draw attention to this content.
The first function in forming the Andersen Design Museum of American Designer Craftsmen Before the Museum concept was born, Elise was already in discussion with Museum curators and arranging for Andersen Design’s work to be shown on the museum circuit. Andersen Design has a history spanning sixty five years which has produced an abundance of creativity and variety. There is a genuine need for a space to organize the artifacts of Andersen Design’s history, which can be curated in themes of endless variety.
It follows quite sensibly the the museum should be the Andersen Design Museum of American Designer Craftsmen, a bellwether for an era when mass marketing wants to homogenize and humanity wants to individualize. The Museum will be a focal point for celebrating unique human creativity and the value of the work process in and of itself, core values of hand crafted industry.
First Stage Museum funding will pay for the costs of archiving an original history of American designer craftsmen. This is an exciting project. Archiving the history of Andersen Design, alone, is a very ambitious project but we think it is important to also record a larger story of American designer-craftsmen, starting with local history, which is most accessible to us and not necessarily included in other histories.
We have in our possession a handwritten journal of a local crafts organization which existed in the 1950’s when our parents relocated to the Boothbay Peninsula, Our Dad, Weston Neil Andersen was the last president before the group dispersed, which is how the journal came to be in our procession. Weston was also instrumental in starting the Boothbay Arts Foundation which today is an important local cultural focus on the Peninsula and beyond.
Recently I came across a dusty old file containing my father’s hand written, or typed letters,composed in 1964, wherein Dad is appealing for capital to fund operations after expanding his production facility, mirroring our own contemporary situation.. The letter tells the story of the beginnings of Andersen Design. In the same file, also dated 1964, is a hand signed letter from Industrial Design magazine requesting samples of Andersen Design’s work. He makes a point, not often understood. The fact that Andersen Design was created with the intent to create a hand crafted product affordable to the middle classes determined that the business has to operate at a scale that makes an affordable hand crafted product viable.
An even earlier manuscript is dated 1956 and tells why Dad made a remarkable choice between an exciting job as Dean of the Akron Art Institute Art School, providing a comfortable secure income and making pottery, which inspired him the more.
“From the fall of’ 1948 to the summer of 1952 I was a member of the staff of the Akron Art Institute as Supervisor of Education of the Art School. This proved to be quite an undertaking and exciting too. In the school we had a well-equipped. ceramic laboratory and. I soon found myself fascinated with the material. In several years I decided I preferred” pottery making to teaching.”Statement byWeston Neil Andersen, 1956
In the initial stage we will also be seeking a space where the vintage work can be organized and on display in an initial preview gallery as well as space for the photography and graphic design studio, and office space.
The Large Sea Urchin Bowl
One of the first projects we would like to get going in our new production space is to bring back the Large Sea Urchin Bowl. It has been out of production for some time because it needed a new mold. The new mold is nearly complete.and we plan on getting production going on the Large Sea Urchin Bowl as soon as everything is hooked up and ready to go.
Our new production studio is coming along, shaping up and becoming the best production space we have ever had, even though it is financed on a shoe string.
Happy to help.
You can call us at 207 449 1449 or email Elise or Mackenzie if you have questions
