About this project
Founded in September 2009 by a group of fashion students and friends, Absolute Beginners is an experiment in a new kind of boutique. We are cooperatively run by designer-members, who sell their work in house.
We have been miraculously able to renovate a space (ourselves) and open our doors in the East Village, NYC with a budget of less than $2,000. We are determined to make our business work for our members, and make our space as nice as it can possibly be. Right now, what we really need are:
- A new light system to replace our current broken-down fluorescent fixtures
- and equipment for our workshop space, including sewing machines, dress forms, and silkscreen tools.
Your donations towards these items will help to keep this emerging hub of up-and-coming designers growing and thriving! Check out our website for more information at www.absolutebeginnersinc.com.
Our Mission
The Store: We create a space in which creative producers can sustain themselves while exploring new economic, production, and social paradigms. It is alive, constantly changing, and kept active with design workshops and events.
The Vision: We understand the success of individual producers will depend on a community exchanging ideas, resources, pulicity and techniques. We believe in a win-win relationship of mutual artsitic growth, respect, and benefit. Building the Absolute Beginners community is primary.
What We Do: We sustain a business that is founded in values of creative growth and community sharing. The most important part of our vision is the idea of supporting an artistic community that makes amazing work and currently has no outlet to showcase the work they create. Giving
artistic individuals the capability to sustain themselves supports the values that we share.
Absolute Beginners is
Michael DiPietro // Pascale Gatzen // Rebecca Lesesne // Alex Parkin
Isabella Amstrup // Julia Bohan // Daniel Herskowitz // Galen Wang
FAQ
Have a question? If the info above doesn't help, you can ask the project creator directly.
10
Backers
$650
pledged of $2,000 goal
0
seconds to go
Funding Unsuccessful
This project reached the deadline without achieving its funding goal on January 10, 2010.
Pledge $25 or more
Pledge $25 or more and receive an Absolute Beginners mix cd, curated with artwork designed by our founding members Alex Parkin, Michael DiPietro and Rebecca Lesesne.
Pledge $25 or more
For a donation of $25 you can opt to try our Absolute Beginners tea instead, custom blended by designer Alex Parkin. We'll send you 6 cups worth.
Pledge $50 or more
For $50 we'll schedule a two hour, one-on-one sewing workshop with you, right in our shop.
Pledge $50 or more
OR for $50 you can receive an Absolute Beginners T-shirt (you tell us your size, we surprise you with the design on a repurposed shirt) and an Absolute Beginners Friend Card, good for 10% off any purchases at our store for 1 year.
Pledge $100 or more
For $100 or more, you get a T-shirt from the store, the Absolute Beginners mix cd, AND the Absolute Beginners tea blend. These are going fast!
Pledge $250 or more
For a pledge of $250 or more, send us an old item of clothing and we'll revive it into a custom made piece just for you, based on what you'd like it to be. You'll ALSO receive an Absolute Beginners Super Friend Card, good for 10% off any purchases and free admission to all workshops and events for 1 year. Yay!
Project By
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Michael DiPietro Brooklyn, NY-based artist and performer. His craft expertise runs the gamut from sewing and patternmaking, soft sculpture, needlepoint, screenprinting and dyeing, to woodworking, welding, and carpentry. He dislikes the term 'dilletante' and prefers 'interdisciplinary' - and especially loves projects that combine disciplines to create new hybrids of making and experience.
