Hello, makers! Super excited to bring you this episode with our pal, Catherine. Just a heads up, there are parts of this episode that are a little more visual as we give a shop tour. Click to watch instead!
Brooklyn General Store has been the go-to place for crafty supplies of all kinds for NYC makers since 2002. We sat down with the Queen of Union Street, BGS owner, designer, maker, event planner extraordinaire–Catherine Clark. Get to know her maker journey, the story of how Brooklyn General moved from the waiting room of Catherine’s midwifery office to the current location, how her and Aimée of La Bien Aimée became besties and more!
Brooklyn General Store
https://brooklyngeneral.com
128 Union St, Brooklyn, NY 11231
Brooklyn General Store is tucked away on a sweet block West of the Carroll Gardens and Cobble Hill neighborhoods and North of Red Hook. This commercial block on Union Street used to be a thriving shopping block for all types of foods and goods. Brooklyn General’s home within the Old Frank’s Department Store is a throw back to that era, with its preserved floor to ceiling shelves, rolling ladders and classic old wooden floors. The vintage interior is not reproduced, just uncovered, cleaned and painted.
Brooklyn General Store was created in an effort to provide the highest quality materials to a community of devoted artists and craftspeople and to promote making things by hand through inspiration and education. Not only is it a place to feast your eyes and hands on glorious colors and patterns and textures but it is a place that respects and honors a time when a trip to the country store was a way of life. It is a place where a quick trip for a yard of fabric or a skein of yarn turns into an hour of sharing, teaching, inspiring and encouraging all the amazing and creative makers that are also out for that quick trip to the General Store...
Following its mission to promote all things handmade, Brooklyn General offers a wide variety of classes in knitting, sewing, quilting, felting, spinning, rug hooking and embroidery. Classes are limited in size in order for students to have ample individual attention. Studio time with our fantastic BERNINA classroom machines is also available. BrooklynGeneral.com was created to share our carefully picked goods with all the creative souls outside of Brooklyn, NY.
Music by Despatches. 💖
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ps- We talk about our values a lot. Just in case you're curious, take a peek.
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Episode 74: Shannon Hayes – Professorship, Genetic Legacy, Multigenerational farming, and the Radical Homemaker
Episode 73: Erika Barratt – Grandmothers, Cirque du Soleil, West Elm and Heirloom dolls
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Episode 71: Deborah Robson – Weaving, Editing, Heritage Conservation and the Fleece and Fiber Sourcebook
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Episode 64: Takako Ueki – Japanese childhood, Catholic boarding school, discovering in America, fiber fascination, and Habu
Episode 63: Marta Bahillo – A grandmothers legacy, Spanish linen and artisans, entrepreneurism alongside motherhood and babaà
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