Tag: Frankford Is Waiting

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Web Entrepreneur Calls Frankford Home

I’m always suprised but never amazed when I find interesting people living in Frankford.  So to hop on the internets this morning and finding a Technically Philly article of Kevin Kiene, a Frankford resident that is climbing the e commerce world was pretty cool but didn’t catch me off guard.  The article details the founder of ezLandlord Forms and his bid to provide a better way for landlords to keep track of their tenant interactions.  Super cool.

But on top of that, we can hop over to NEast Philly and catch up with his interview with a more northeast oriented perspective.  He talks about growing up in Fox Chase and then ending up at a home around the Smedley School.  But then it turns absolutely brilliant and talks about how he’s building real wealth by living below his means.  Splendid!  I always thought it was really interesting that Frankford has such die hard fiscal conservatives living here, but this is the first case I’ve found of a thoughtful effort to choose Frankford coming from the outside based on the idea of living below ones means.

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Mike and Jess Carter Of Carter Studios

Meet Mike and Jess Carter, founders of Carter Studios at Frankford’s own Globe Dye Works.  Married almost two years they’re current residents of Port Richmond, former residents of Fishtown and 2004 graduates of Philly’s own University of the Arts.  And while it’s easy to define what our Jason Roberts is up to during his stay in our part of town, it’s more of a challenge with the Carters.  They work with clay, with wood, and metal.  They paint.  They turn factory walls into tables.  In the corner sits industrial plastic dye rollers waiting to be turned into…. I don’t even know, the idea for what they’re gonna be probably doesn’t even exist yet.  I asked them what their motivation in coming to Frankford was, and Mike pointed out two things, “Space and Money”.  The Dye Works affords them the creative freedom to follow where their artistic visions wherever that may take them without being tied down to producing in order to afford exorbitant rent.  Mike followed up with saying  “for us to have this much space elsewhere, it just wouldn’t happen” and they “get to use the space for whatever they want, whatever we can do to make a living.”  They envision further growth into furniture making and interior design, kinda like a “do something with space” kinda crew.  Very nice.  Like those rollers and old factory walls, thank God someone is using Frankford for something useful again.  Below are some pics of my visit.

Mike and Jess Carter

Carter Studios

painting space export

below: this is a before and after pic of a wall from the Seal-Tite factory up on Tacawanna.

table before and after exported

closeup of table exported

below: these dye rollers will be??

dye rollers exported

horns exported

below: only peripherally related to this story is the Carter Studios ceiling, I just love rafters

i love rafters exported

below: Crosby man!

David Crosby and Mask

[link] http://claywoodsteelspace.com/

While it’s easy to define what our friend Jason Roberts does, it’s much more difficult with Mike and Jess Carter.  The name of their website(under construction) gives us a clue.  Clay, wood steel and space.
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John Moore, UPenn Professor of Fine Arts Has Taken Up Space At The Dye Works

John Moore is the outgoing chair for the University of Pennsylvania’s Departmenet of Fine Arts.  I got a view of his art space when I took my first tour of the Dye Works with Chris Wink.  And let me tell you, it’s impressive, so impressive that I was too intimidated to take any photos of it.  But there is a pic of his space on the brochure for the Dye Works, it’s page 4, the top left pic.  It’s an actual artist space filled with art and such too.  Charlie Abdo told me he came to view his spot like 10 times at different times of the day to make sure the lighting was right.

I thought it was interesting that a UPenn fine arts master would come to Frankford, but on taking a look at his pieces, there’s definitely an industrial past kinda vibe.  The blog Painting Perceptions, who has a bunch of his stuff up online,  calls him “one of the leading realist painters working today.”  I haven’t actually talked to this dude, but if I do, I’ll definitely throw out an update.

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Good News/Bad News: Some Non Profit Calls Us Inner City, But Their List Calls Out Frankford Company Amuneal For Excellence

amuneal

I’ve never heard of Amuneal, nor was I aware they were in East Frankford down on Darrah St between Margaret and Foulkrod.  But they made it to 51 on the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City‘s list of 100 fast-growing companies located in the “inner city” of a U.S. metropolis.

Taken from their website:

From building shielding components for space shuttle missions, to designing and manufacturing retail and architectural environments, amuneal has become a premier design collaborator and fabrication company with a fearless approach to business: THERE ARE NO LIMITS.

Kick ass guys, way to go.

Now, Neast Magazine wonders what our thoughts are on Competitive Inner City refering to Frankford as “inner-city”, well let see what they say is an inner city.

Inner cities have 20% poverty rate or higher, or two of the following three criteria:

  • poverty rate of 1.5 times or more that of their MSAs
  • median household income of 1/2 or less that of their MSAs
  • unemployment rate of 1.5 or more that of their MSAs

Now MSA stands for “Metropolitan Statistical Area“.  And Philadelphia’s is huge.  So it’s not just Frankford getting compared to other Philadelphia neighborhoods.  It’s matching up against Montgomery, Bucks, and all the other counties in the Deleware Valley.  So alright, I’ll agree with that.  You can call us inner city, just say it to our face.  And don’t no one forget, it’s not where you’ve been, it’s where you’re goin’.  And Frankford’s coming up.