A Business Trip to Detroit
I always try to include as much as I can during my business trips, so they are productive, informative and fun.
Last week, I traveled to Detroit, Michigan, to be one of the keynote speakers at this year's National Women's Business Owners Corporation "Access" Conference. More than 150-business owners attended the event. The conference focuses on business development strategies and creating a network for entrepreneurs. Whenever my schedule allows, I also try to visit various eateries, shops, and other establishments that could provide more knowledge and inspiration for our businesses. During this trip, I stopped at Pewabic Pottery, Astro Cafe, and the Detroit Institute of Bagels - it was a full and successful day.
Enjoy these photos.
-
- My busy day in Detroit started with an early morning stop at Astro Coffee, where I enjoyed this delicious cappuccino. http://www.astrodetroit.com
-
- Astro Coffee is a small café located in the historic Corktown neighborhood of Detroit. It offers a variety of roasters and producers that change frequently depending on seasonality and availability.
-
- Astro also offers these sweet and savory buttermilk scones – I just had to try one. It was so tasty.
-
- The staff at Astro is incredibly friendly and efficient. It was a good start to the busy day ahead.
-
- Then it was off to the National Women’s Business Owners “ACCESS” Conference. The NWBOC – a powerful network of resources for business development and access to new opportunities. NWBOC was the first organization to create a national certification program for women-owned businesses more than 20-years ago. http://www.nwboc.org
-
- Linda Clemons, a Forbes 500 consultant and CEO of Sisterpreneur Inc., welcomed all the guests and thanked them for attending.
-
- Here I am with Phyllis Hill Slater, President of Hill Slater Group and Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the National Women Business Owners Corporation. She was the conference moderator, and the one who conducted my interview.
-
- A slide presentation played during my interview. The photos showed the many people who influenced the development of my company.
-
- It was nice to see such an enthusiastic audience.
-
- One of the other keynote speakers was George Herrera, Founder and CEO of Herrera-Cristina Group, Ltd. We stopped for a quick photo.
-
- Here I am with Ward Headley, President of Direct Sportslink.
-
- After my appearance at the conference, we stopped by the Pewabic Pottery store – one of my favorite shops. This is the front of the pottery building – designed and built for Pewabic Pottery in 1907. The architect was William Buck Stratton. And, today this building is a historic landmark maintained by Pewabic. http://www.pewabicstore.org/ (Photo courtesy of Pewabic)
-
- Pewabic Pottery is a ceramic studio and school. Founded in 1903, the studio is known for its iridescent glazes, some of which grace notable buildings. I’ve used many tiles for Skylands, my home in Maine.
-
- This is the Woodward palette from Pewabic’s Revelation Blend collection.
-
- And this is the Iroquois palette from Pewabic’s Revelation Blends collection.
-
- The tiles were displayed at Pewabic’s 27th Annual House & Garden Show. More than 80-artists featured their works at the event.
-
- These were interesting – new scarab paperweights in a variety of iridescent glazes, including Pewabic Blue, Matte Green Iridescent, Cobalt, Lime, and Gunmetal.
-
- These paperweights recall the popular scarab, a beetle-like faience often used to represent immortality or rebirth. Pewabic in-house artisans, Technical Designer, Mario Lopez, and Fabrication Supervisor, Chris Mayse, collaborated on these for the Egyptian-inspired collection. (Photo by EE Berger)
-
- There were many other ceramic creations displayed – tiles, vessels, cups and plates. These are by artist Nicole Pepper, ModHome Ceramics in Seattle, Washington and Sarah & Thomas of Gelsenliter in Milan, Michigan.
-
- This one in particular caught my eye – it looks so natural – like a piece of faux bois.
-
- These works are by Elizabeth DeLyria, of Katy, Texas, who started as a painter with a B.A. in Painting from the University of New Orleans; but when she went to the University of Houston to get her Masters in Art Education, she discovered clay and functional art.
-
- This series of tiles are also so beautiful – these are also made by Elizabeth DeLyria.
-
- The birch tree vases and decorated mugs are great recreations of natural elements.
-
- This is a collection from Corbe, a ceramic design studio in Detroit, handcrafting porcelain wares that are simple, useful, and made for the modern home and table.
-
- Laurie Sharkus of Newport, Michigan, created these creatures. Laurie captures the animals’ spirit in clay – making them without the use of molds. Many subjects are endangered species, some of which are perched on bases depicting their shrinking environments.
-
- These are by Pamela Timmons, a visiting artist from Bath, Michigan. She is a well-established potter and sculptor, who started as a horticulturalist, ran out of vases and turned to clay to make more.
-
- This room at Pewabic is used for the glazing and tile pressing stages of the production process.
-
- This shows an artisan pressing clay into a mold by hand. (Photo by Cybelle)
-
- This artisan is glazing tiles in the spray booth. (Photo by Cybelle)
-
- And this artist is wheel throwing a classic vase. (Photo by Cybelle)
-
- Here is one of three Pewabic production kilns in the kiln room.
-
- This historic filter press from the early 1900s still produces the clay body that Pewabic uses to create its architectural and giftware tiles.
-
- On our way to the airport, we stopped at another favorite shop – the Detroit institute of Bagels. This shop has been featured on my web site. http://www.marthastewart.com/1079163/detroit-bagels
-
- These bagels are boiled and then baked – a method that allows for a chewy, delicious bagel.
-
- The bagels are made every morning by hand.
-
- This machine helps to shape the bagels.
-
- Here is the sit down bar, where customers can enjoy one of many bagel creations. Brothers Ben and Dan Newman opened The Detroit Institute of Bagels in 2013.
-
- They offer many bagel flavors, including classic plain, cinnamon raisin, sesame and poppy, as well as more unique bagels such as rosemary olive oil and jalepeno cheddar. I encourage you to stop the next time you’re in the area. https://www.detroitinstituteofbagels.com/
-
- A whimsical cartoon shows their bagel making process.
-
- As we continued to the airport, we passed the Anna Scripps Whitcomb Conservatory at the Belle Isle Park. This is the oldest continually-running conservatory in the United States built in 1902 – I hope to stop here on my next visit to Detroit.
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
