Craft Gossip

The largest independent craft review site since 2007

Glasswork in Nairobi

by

enviro19More glass from around the world. This stop is Kenya, where our President here in the US has family. The glass shop is in Nairobi, opposite the Nairobi National Park. It’s the Kitengela Glass Studio and they make some absolutely wonderful work. There are beads and jewelry and blown glass and mosaic work and stained glass. It’s more like, what don’t they have? the concept for the studio is inspiring. They use recycled materials, give back to their community, offer scholarships, help fund the local orphanage among other things. They are an example of all that is right in how a studio can be run.

panele

The founder of the glass facility is Nani Croze and her and her family have created a community of artists that make amazing art, are paid fair wages and give so much back to their community while being conscientious to their surroundings and environment. Check out they’re web site and see about a Nairobi glass vacation!

Read These Next

Have you read?

What’s Next for Joann?

Now that all the Joann stores have closed, a mysterious message has appeared on the company’s website:

For generations, Joann has been honored to be part of your creativity: your quilts, costumes, school projects, and handmade moments of love. It has been our joy to serve markers and dreamers across the country.

We’re stitching up something new behind the scenes and we can’t wait to share what’s next.

Stay tuned for exciting news about the future of Joann.

To quickly recap, Joann filed for bankruptcy in January for the second time in less than a year. In February, in the hope of making the company more attractive to potential buyers, it petitioned the court for permission to close about 500 of its 800 stores. The company was put up for auction, with Gordon Brothers set to buy the company, sell its assets and close all the stores if no other buyer materialized.

In the end the winning bidder was GA Group, but the result was the same: all stores were to be closed by the end of May if not sooner.

Once store closure sales started the company quickly stopped selling on its website, and now all that remains is this jpeg image hinting at new ventures.

I’m sure there will be a tone of speculation in the coming days and weeks (or as long as it takes for them to announce the meaning of the message) as to what sorts of plans Joann could be cooking up.

My theory based on nothing but my gut is that they will transition to an online only storefront, probably with much reduced inventory, sort of like Herrschners (which had previously announced that it will be carrying Big Twist yarn, the beloved private label yarn brand sold at Joann). I also think they will use whatever retail sales they do to support CreativeBug, the digital learning platform that Joann purchased in 2017. That could mean producing kits for projects that already have classes, or developing classes based on products they want to sell, or both.

As of this writing the CreativeBug website seems to still be functional and there’s a full slate of new classes planned for June. I’ve got my eye on both the Joann website and the Joann restructuring website and will let you know as soon as I see changes.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear your speculation as to what the next chapter might be for Joann.