liza kindred

"2006 Year in Review"

Whew! 2006 was an astonishing year!

Here are some highlights we'd like to share:

Liza damns the man, and starts working for the woman - herself!
After many years of hating the man and trying to find the energy for a freelance career on the side, Liza finally had the nerve (smarts?) to set off completely on her own. Good things happened.

Grey Markets 1 & 2
A dream for a long time, The Grey Market finally became reality. Between installments one and two, TGM championed over 50 Iowa designers and businesses, and gave literally thousands of Iowans a place to buy cool Iowa stuff. A highlight was when Juice included TGM in it's annual year-end round up: + GREY MARKET. A novel idea in the East Village: Fashion-forward clothing from Iowa designers, entertainment, booze. Two times in, it's looking like something that hopefully continues for a while. Props to Liza Kindred. (Thumbs up) Yay!

Lullabot!
Working to help Lullabot achieve blow their goals out of the friggin' water was an awesome part of 2007! This company, just finishing up it's first year, has achieved international acclaim in it's field. Liza helped this awesome company work with such well-known (and nice!) clients as Yale University, MTV US, MTV UK, Sony BMG, Participant Productions, and many, many others. Liza also plans their workshops from them, from coast to coast.

1st Juice fashion cover
We could be wrong (that happens a lot), but we believe this was Juice's first ever cover devoted purely to fashion. And Liza styled it! A fun shoot with Olivia and Arturo from Juice, model Lucy Shay, and uber-hairstylist/make-up artist Amber Jasa took place at the Iowa State Fair. Many heads were turned that day!

Notting Hill
What a fabulous boutique run by an equally awesome gal! Natalie Morrow opened Notting Hill in West Glen in 2007. She hired Liza to help with trend research, market prep, and styling. A great shoot again with Amber and Lucy and also with Garrett Cornelison of One Eye Open Photography culminated in some really beautiful photos for Natalie to use in Notting Hill's promotions.

Formation of Art Noir
Art Noir, a board whose aim is to increase awareness and membership of The Des Moines Art Center among the 20-30-ers, was formed. Based on her production expertise and passion for the Art Center (Liza is a former docent). Liza was asked to be a founding member, and subsequently voted as the Events Chair. And the work began...

Warhol Ball
Art Noir's first event, co-produced by Liza and Nathan Hewitt. A resounding success, by all accounts. 350 people attended, many became members of the museum, and the costume party was insane. Props to the museum for allowing 16,000 square feet of Mylar! (Picture courtesy of Haute Foto)

Here's what's on the table for 2007:

Official formation of Liza Kindred Creative Group
Yes, it had to happen sometime. With so many great projects on the table, and so many cool people to partner with, it's gotta become more formal. Responsibility, baby. Look for more details in the next few months.

Office space - yee-hah!
Along with responsibility will come space. Beautiful, lofted, sunny, space. We are moving in to a great location in the East Village. We'll have an open house in early March, so be on the look out for that, too!

Grey Market 3, badder than ever
Dates will be released by the end of January. We are adding some shiny new things, dropping some played-out old tricks, and whipping out the polish for this sassy girl!

Iowa Design Week
The next huge Art Noir event, Design Week will highlight Iowa designers, old and new. November, 2007. This will be a massive event! (Above table designed by Flatform.)

Des Moines Driver
This great local company will launch Spring '07. We are excited to be working with the company that will be offering this cool new service. You car, their driver. Des Moines needs this one!

Who knows?!
Who knows what else the future holds? If our luck stays so fabulously awesome (and we think it will!), we will get to keep working with cool people and awesome companies on kick-ass projects.

Hope your 2006 was just as magnificent. Here's to another great year!