Archive for Art

The World of Digital Highway Robbery, and its Solution

Artificial Intelligence. Will it lead to dramatic improvements for future generations, will it destroy the world? The jury’s still out on that one, but one thing we do know is that AI has some serious potential as a creative tool. Especially if you like stealing other people’s artwork.

What’s that? You don’t like that? Well, neither do digital artists, whose work is often fed into AI generators to create new pieces in their “style”, who don’t get any pay or credit for the new images, and whose business and reputation can decline due to low-quality copies of their work floating around on the web. Needless to say, with the rise of AI, there has been a proportionate rise of issues and concerns in the digital art world.

Well, modern problems require modern solutions, and a team of faculty and students at the university of Chicago has realized that. To combat theft a la AI, they have elected to fight fire with fire and use… more AI. Composed of computer science faculty and graduate students, and taking feedback from multiple digital artists, the group from Chicago U has created Glaze. As they put it on their website, “Glaze is a system designed to protect human artists by disrupting style mimicry. At a high level, Glaze works by understanding the AI models that are training on human art, and using machine learning algorithms, computing a set of minimal changes to artworks, such that it appears unchanged to human eyes, but appears to AI models like a dramatically different art style.”

Pretty cool, huh? Now because AI is… well, AI, it learns, and will probably get around Glaze at some point. But the creators’ hope is that Glaze will provide protection for at least the amount of time it takes for new regulations concerning AI to be created. Which goes to show that even a temporary solution is, in fact, still a solution if you think ahead.

Ultimately, I think Glaze is an entrepreneurial endeavor at its finest. The team saw a problem growing with AI, and used any tools necessary to find a solution (also AI!) until a more permanent fix could be created. Furthermore, Glaze is supported by grants, and free for any artist to use, making it much more effective at solving the problem. If you are interested in further reading, and also can understand computer-y language, I highly recommend you check the team out here.

And as always, thank you for reading!

Piecing Ideas Together: Collage Coffee and Art House

Many Grove City College students may be familiar with Collage Coffee on Grove City’s Broad Street. They may know Collage’s delicious variety of food and beverages, including coffee, tea, sandwiches, and pastries. Customers may not know the popular coffee shop was founded by Grove City graduates Joe and Emily Funte.

Neither Joe nor Emily graduated from Grove City with a business degree. After graduating with English and Music majors, the couple decided to stay in Grove City. They thought about opening a coffee shop and a storefront became available. Their church’s need for a space to meet and knowing some artists who wanted to display their artwork gave the couple the final push to open Collage Coffee and Art House.

In 2017, Joe and Emily opened Collage Coffee and Art House. To help local artists, the couple rents wall space to sell their art which builds community connection. As for the college students, the location and wonderful drinks attract them. Each season, the owners create new drink recipes to attract customers. The small shop provides a space to be surrounded by artwork as the customer enjoys his or her hand-crafted beverage.

In August 2023, Collage opened a second location, where they will receive foot traffic from the outlet malls. The second store has a kitchen where they can cook food and make drinks. While the new location does not display art on the walls, the original location still supports local artists.

Despite their lack of knowledge and experience, Joe and Emily Funte created a successful business while helping their community. They continue to appeal to customers because of their quality food and excellent locations. Collage Coffee and Art House shows how people can combine the needs they see and create a unique and thriving business.

Visit their website at: Collage Coffee

Read more at: Collage offers coffee, art, classes, more | News | alliednews.com

Collage Coffee and Art House | Grove City College Center for Entrepreneurship + Innovation (gccentrepreneurship.com)

Sarah and Cody & “Blackbird & Violet”

Sarah and Cody, two young women from Australia, started their company “Blackbird & Violet” in 2019 (full names and exact ages not available). Fueled by a passion for sculpting things out of polymer clay, Sarah and Cody wanted to start a business that would provide the necessary tools and materials for this hobby. According to their website, they love “creating colourful & cheerful things” out of polymer clay and want to “help others create those things too.” At first, the focus of the company was on clay shape cutters. One big issue that Sarah and Cody recognized was that clay shape cutters were primarily sold in large sets of sizes. They thought it would be much more convenient if the cutters were sold individually.

So, Sarah and Cody set out to start a business called “Blackbird & Voilet,” where they could sell clay cutters individually in a variety of shapes and colors. All of their cutters are designed and made in-house. Since then, Sarah and Cody have been expanding their company further and further. A year after its founding in 2019, B&V expanded to sell all sorts of supplies related to polymer clay sculpting. Today, Blackbird & Violet sells shape cutters, silicone molds, texture tools, extruders, cutting tools, texture tools, clay packs, earring backs, earring displays, and more–all aimed toward the polymer clay hobby. The company even offers holiday themed products and takes custom orders for shape cutters.

Because Blackbird & Violet is an online business, Sarah and Cody have spent a lot of time optimizing the website. It is colorful, robust, and easy to navigate–even for new users. The product pictures are fun, colorful, and pleasing, which encourages customers to explore the website even further. The B&V website utilizes design in its entrepreneurial efforts to appeal to its audience (people passionate about polymer clay as a hobby) and increase traffic.

Sarah and Cody’s business not only displays how design can be used in entrepreneurship, but also how an idea for a company can be found within our own passions. They noticed something missing in the polymer clay market and figured out how to meet the need effectively.

Jungmin Kang & “Snoopslimes”

Jungmin Kang was just 13 years old when she started her slime business in 2017. She became familiar with ‘slime’ through social media, as she enjoyed watching ASMR slime videos. Soon, she started her own e-commerce slime business using her allowance money. She launched her own social media and website for ‘Snoopslimes,’ selling various different types of slimes.

Kang’s business started small, but it has now grown larger than she could have ever imagined. Her social media following has now reached over 6 million, and she has sold over 1 million slimes total. To grow her business, she consistently posted high-quality videos of her slime products on Instagram and TikTok. Many of these videos went viral, which helped to spread the word about her company. In just over a year of posting on her social media, Kang had gained over 1 million followers.

Kang explains on her website that her product is a “therapeutic sensory toy” that provides a “creative outlet” for customers. Snoopslimes serves a wide array of customers, from young children who use slime as a fun toy to adults who use slime for “stress relief.”

Kang has found interesting ways to innovate in the slime market. She uses a “drop-based” business model, meaning that she launches a new supply of slimes every week at the same time. Some of the slimes stay the same every week, and others are brand-new or seasonal. Many of her slimes are carefully curated to coincide with current trends, events, or media. This business model creates more interest and demand; she can be more creative in the slimes she launches each week and many of the slimes sell out quickly after the drop time.

Kang also offers ‘slime subscription box’ plans for dedicated customers. The Snoopslime website also has a ‘Slime 101’ page for slime information and care, as well as a ‘Slime Lookbook’ page where visitors can see slimes from previous drops.

Kang is an inspiring example of a young entrepreneur who found an extremely niche interest and used her creativity to satisfy a need in the market.

Raelynn Heath-Rae’s Materials

Raelynn Heath is a young girl who started her own business making and designing jewelry. she started making jewelry when she was just 4 years old.

Young Raelynn started making her first jewelry with plastic beads and acrylic. as she got older, she continued to create new things like jewelry out of clay and recycled pieces of soda cans and chip bags, and even her old clothes she grew out of. With her mother’s assistance, she would give donate to members of her community to those specifically lost loved ones. she plans to expand into clothing design as well.

From Raelynn’s amazing product and mission, she made it onto the 1 Million Cups to spread awareness of her product and to explain her story. 1 Million Cups is a Weekly education program that gives experiential learning opportunities to entrepreneurs of today’s world.

I find young Raelynn’s so unique with her recycled jewelry and I’m behind impressed that she made such a popular project at such a young age. I think her story is motivation to us all to commit to our ideas and make them come true.

Destiny Snow

Destiny Snow is a very successful young entrepreneur who owns the business called SnowGlam collection. This is an online company that sells beauty products to women. One thing that stood out to me was how she handled the COVID situation regarding her business. Constantly being stuck at home made her realize that she needed to focus on growing her company. She did this by the help of a social media influencer named Ari Fletcher. She tagged her on her Instagram story, and Destiny instantly saw how big of an impact that had on her business. She said her phone started blowing up with orders as soon as Ari posted on her story and that was the spark her business needed. I thought this was a very clever of way of getting exposure. It was pretty much genius as it immediately reached her target marker which are primarily teenage girls who love to shop. Another thing that I found really impressive was the number of sales she had for her online business. It was an astounding amount of over one million dollars over the course of two years. If Destiny keeps working the way she is and utilizing social media, I think she still has more room for growth and expansion. The most inspiring part of this story was how she used COVID to help strive her business to where she is at today. Instead of letting the pandemic hold her business back, she optimized this as an opportunity to really focus on social media as her main way of connecting to her customers.

How Success Happened for Destiny Snow, CEO of SnowGlam Collection

How Any Hobby Can Become a Multi-Million Dollar Business

Now it’s fairly common for young people going into the world to be full of passions and interests, hobbies like art, music, and design, but what kids don’t realize is that these passions can become successful business ventures with the right tools and motivation. For young entrepreneur Bella Weems, her passion for design and jewelry became a multi-million dollar business. Weems founded Origami Owl. Origami Owls’ biggest hit product “Living Locket” features a locket with interchangeable charms which can be collected or given as gifts. Weems also started “Owlettes Initiative” which focuses on connecting with young kids who wish to become young entrepreneurs. She shares her success story along with tips to build a business and thus gives back to her community.

Tiktok Becomes an Entrepreneurs Free Advertising

Tiktok has taken over social media since 2020 when the Pandemic started, and while many young entrepreneurs were struggling to get their businesses out there, Tiktok came to the rescue by providing practically free advertising to the young businesses. For “All things Lilly Ann” Tiktok aided her in promoting her new business. Lilly Ann works to bring positivity to her community through her typography business where she designs sweatshirts, chalkboards, planners, and stickers all featuring hand-drawn quotes. All this young entrepreneur took was a new innovative idea and some social media exposure to build a beautiful small business.

Nicole Dutra: Dutraville

In Ellicott City, MD, Nicole Dutra found a passion for hand dying clothes and fabrics. After years of experimentation with different methods of tie dying, she found ice dying her favorite. A couple more years later, she decided to sell her work and create a business out of it. She named her business Dutraville, and creates all of her pieces from home. She sells her work both from Instagram and Etsy, but she also does custom orders. Nicole provides excellent customer service with both quick shipping and, if you’re in the area, she will even drive it to you. She even will give you a personal tour of her studio and explain the process behind ice dying, show you all of her dyes, and even let you help her get a project started! She sells everything from tote bags to hoodies to Turkish towels, and she provides a discount if you want her to dye an article of clothing (or other cotton piece) that you already have. Her business is still growing, but it is definitely already worth her time. Nicole has had stands at many small business fairs, most commonly being outside Su Casa on Main Street in Old Ellicott City one Saturday of every month. She has even had the opportunity to partner with other small business owners and combine their products and skills! Dutraville is one of my favorite small businesses to support.

Lirika Matoshi

Most people who have Tiktok or any form of social media remember “The Strawberry Dress” that took the internet by storm in 2020. It almost seems strange how such a fanciful dress became so sought after and coveted in a time where no one was going out and wearing beautiful clothes. Despite the hardships that quarantine brought, this fairly expensive dress became the best-selling item in Lirika Matoshi’s collection. Women who were software engineers, stay-at-home mothers, nurses, young teenage girls in high school all agreed that the dress was absolutely beautiful, bringing to mind the Tiktok concept “cottage-core,” more easily defined as rural bliss (which was how Vogue described it). “Most of my designs are inspired by my childhood. I feel like the things that make me feel better are the strawberries, the dress, the gowns, nature in general,” Matoshi said about the nostalgic feel the dress evoked. This dress was not practical by any means and there were very few places to which people could wear it in which the dress would make sense…but that didn’t stop the mass excitement over this gorgeous “princess” dress. 

Lirika Matoshi, originally from Kosova, is only 26 years old. A self-taught designer without any formal fashion school training, she learned to make everything she has from her sister, designer Teuta Matoshi. She began with making accessories when she was only 20 and made the courageous leap of moving to New York. Since then, she has only expanded her line of accessories and clothes. In 2020, her business took off with the Strawberry Dress. Now, she outfits numerous influencers and celebrities and her label has a following of almost one million. With her significant platform and accomplishments, she has been added to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. The emergence of social media has been able to push designers and artists to become huge names among influencers who have so much sway over young consumers. As a self-taught artist myself, I’m glad to see that the possibilities truly are endless and the algorithms of social media platforms may be the answer to success. Anyone can put themselves out there. All it takes is one post, one dress for something to take off. 

 

Vogue article: https://www.vogue.com/article/strawberry-dress-lirika-matoshi-popular

Lirika Matoshi’s Strawberry Dress: https://lirikamatoshi.com/products/strawberry-midi-dress

Lirika Matoshi’s website: https://lirikamatoshi.com/