Erica Lang says she's been checking her
Kickstarter campaign religiously since it went up earlier this month, knowing that in order to meet her $15,000 fundraising goal by April 4 and keep the nearly $8,000 currently in the campaign's bank , she'll have to raise the remainder over the next 15 days.
"It's a lot of pressure," she says, but worth a shot for the Grand Rapids artist and Kendall College of Art & Design graduate, who will use the money to build out her new work-retail space at 131 S. Division Avenue, the future home of
Woosah Outfitters & Printshop.
"I've just kind of been outgrowing my current situation and just felt it in my gut that now is the time to take this next step," says Lang, who has done freelance work for Harmony Brewing Co., Patagonia and Finistene to name a few. "I'm really excited to bring printmaking to the everyday person. You don't have to go to college and take all of the classes and get a degree in printing to do it."
Lang says since graduating last May, she's accumulated almost everything she needs for a print shop on her own, but still needs a little help raising the funds to build retail fixtures like clothing racks, tables and the check-out counter, as well as a separate room for inventory and shipping and a few materials for printmaking workshops she plans to hold there once the space is officially open.
She's currently operating out of the community printshop Dinderbeck, but says she's already signed the lease for the 1,875-square-foot space on S. Division's Avenue for the Arts and is excited to be a part of a community that champions creativity as a lifestyle.
"I think it's really cool to be within that community of people because we all have a similar passion in doing what we love for a living and educating others about the arts," she says. "It's really cool because that community is so active and is constantly hosting events to get more people to come downtown, which is also really good for that area of town because it's just now starting to become an area people feel comfortable walking around in and visiting the different stores."
Pledges for Lang's
Kickstarter campaign for Woosah Outfitters & Printshop range anywhere from $5 to $1,800 and can earn contributors a whole array of different combinations of Lang's product line, which are simple, nostalgic designs she says are inspired by Michigan's natural beauty, long hikes in Saugatuck and the "things in nature that make you realize how small you are, that kind of humble you; the overall feeling you get from those experiences and that excitement you get with a new adventure."
To help Lang bring Woosah Outfitters & Printshop to Grand Rapids' Avenue for the Arts,
donate to her Kickstarter campaign here before April 4. To learn more about Woosah Outfitters and see some of Lang's designs, visit www.spreadingthewoosah.com or find
Woosah Outfitters here on Facebook.
Written by Anya Zentmeyer, Development News Editor
Images courtesy of Erica Lang/Woosah Outtifters & Printshop
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