Talent Archives – Page 184 of 326

Launch Werks prototypes help inventors attract funding

By Newsroom

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November 20, 2012

With big names in branding hovering in an around Cincinnati, it can start to seem like the brand is everything, and intangible products are the only thing that can really sell – and scale. However, two industrial designers pairing up in Over-the-Rhine are challenging that assumption, combining their skills in design, engineering, and budding knowledge of manufacturing and sourcing materials at a start-up they call “The Launch Werks.” As the name implies, The Launch Werks not only offers its own, tangible products, but helps small businesses and innovators create prototypes from their ideas. That means doing everything from helping to design prototypes that consumers will rush to engage with to planning the look of the final object, imagining how people might interact with it, and even specifying the materials it should be manufactured from and where to purchase them. Co-founders Noel Gauthier and Matt Anthony met as industrial design students at the University of Cincinnati’s School of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP) and quickly realized a shared interested in what happens after the design phase of a new product. “The leap it takes to to go from an idea to a real product fascinates us," Gauthier explains. "So much happens when an idea is translated into a made thing. … Having worked in various product design firms around the country, we never had a close connection with where and how the products we designed were being made.” So he and Anthony began to connect Cincinnati-area product development with high-quality manufacturing, filling a niche for companies that weren’t ready for large-scale production, but needed something to show potential investors. Anthony says he sees an opening right now for foodie-friendly items. “I think we’re going to see more local stores and products follow developments in the food movement: making unique products and doing it well. But we want to see some of them scale the way that Jeni’s Ice Cream or Taste of Belgium has.” For a city already big on branding, it might just be a tasty step in the right direction. By Robin Donovan

Kilgour School awarded $24K innovation grant to boost tech access, entrepreneurial skills

By Newsroom

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Education + Learning

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November 20, 2012

A new financial literacy enrichment course at Kilgour School is expanding, spurred by a $24,000 innovation grant awarded by tech communications company MiCTA. The grant builds on a class that Cincinnati's Partnership for Innovation in Education (or PIE) piloted at the school, called Student MBA: Bringing Business to the Classroom. Mary Welsh Schlueter, PIE's founder and chief executive, developed and taught the five-week class at Kilgour as part of a student enrichment period. Schlueter, a Kilgour parent, modeled the class after a Harvard Business School course. "I taught basic concepts, including the SWOT analysis, the five Ps of marketing and the product life cycle," says Schlueter. Students' tech, financial and entrepreneurial skills were tapped when they were asked to find ways to increase lemon sales. "They developed many new ideas and used lemons in different ways, not just as a food source or cleaning agent," says Schlueter. The project led to the creation of an Android app, a game called Lemon Smash. "The goal of the game is to smash lemons to make lemonade so you can make some moo-lah," its description reads. Proceeds from the 99-cent app go back to the school. The class and app creation brought on some big partners. Sprint donated the technology, UC's Economics Center wrote and compiled all the achievement assessments and NKU’s Center for Applied Informatics helped students design and develop the app. There are plans to make it available for the iPhone as well. "This was a $100,000 project, and all of the work was done pro-bono," Schlueter says. The MiCTA grant will allow the class to continue. It will also fund 20 new handheld tablets for the school's gifted program. NKU will partner with the school to offer an app development class, which will also be available to any Cincinnati Public Schools student who has access to take the class virtually. PIE is looking to expand funding opportunities for the STEM-aligned program using app development and technology to "incubate" students' entrepreneurial efforts and promote across the globe, says Schlueter. It's a way to help students learn valuable skills, provide a new revenue stream for schools, and allow deeper tech uililzation for K-8 students and teachers across all subject areas. By Feoshia H. Davis Follow Feoshia on Twitter

Launch Werks prototypes help inventors attract funding

By Newsroom

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Architecture + Design

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November 20, 2012

With big names in branding hovering in an around Cincinnati, it can start to seem like the brand is everything, and intangible products are the only thing that can really sell – and scale. However, two industrial designers pairing up in Over-the-Rhine are challenging that assumption, combining their skills in design, engineering, and budding knowledge of manufacturing and sourcing materials at a start-up they call “The Launch Werks.” As the name implies, The Launch Werks not only offers its own, tangible products, but helps small businesses and innovators create prototypes from their ideas. That means doing everything from helping to design prototypes that consumers will rush to engage with to planning the look of the final object, imagining how people might interact with it, and even specifying the materials it should be manufactured from and where to purchase them. Co-founders Noel Gauthier and Matt Anthony met as industrial design students at the University of Cincinnati’s School of Design, Architecture, Art and Planning (DAAP) and quickly realized a shared interested in what happens after the design phase of a new product. “The leap it takes to to go from an idea to a real product fascinates us," Gauthier explains. "So much happens when an idea is translated into a made thing. … Having worked in various product design firms around the country, we never had a close connection with where and how the products we designed were being made.” So he and Anthony began to connect Cincinnati-area product development with high-quality manufacturing, filling a niche for companies that weren’t ready for large-scale production, but needed something to show potential investors. Anthony says he sees an opening right now for foodie-friendly items. “I think we’re going to see more local stores and products follow developments in the food movement: making unique products and doing it well. But we want to see some of them scale the way that Jeni’s Ice Cream or Taste of Belgium has.” For a city already big on branding, it might just be a tasty step in the right direction. By Robin Donovan

Cincinnati Game and Toy Industry Professionals publish Cincinnati Toymakers Holiday Gift Guide

By Newsroom

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Architecture + Design

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November 20, 2012

Once home to iconic companies like Kenner, Cincinnati has a long history of toy making. Though no longer here, much toy making talent remains in the Queen City. That talent joined together through a new group, called Cincinnati Game and Toy Industry Professionals. The group was started by Cincinnati entrepreneur Michelle Spelman, co-creator of the card game Jukem Football. "When we first started promoting the game, we did it all through social media," Spelman says. "A lot of people started contacting me saying, 'I heard about what you're doing. I used to work for Hasbro,' or 'I used to work for Kenner. I'd love to meet you for coffee and pick your brain." After a while, Spelman was getting too much caffeine, and not getting a lot of work done. That's when she decided to create a virtual meeting place on LinkedIn. "I wasn't in a position to help all these people in the way they needed, so I started a social media group," Spelman says. "I thought we'd get 40 or 50 people. We got that in a couple of months. We're now into this two-and-a-half years, and we have almost 300 members." Not all the LinkedIn members are currently in Cincinnati, but they've either lived here, worked here or have ties to the region. Some have founded startups like Spelman, while others head established regional companies or are high-level executives for major brands. "People thought when Hasbro left all the toy makers left Cincinnati, but that's not true," Spelman says. "We have a lot of great talent here. It's really a subculture. Our group provides networking that reconnects this fragmented group and uncovers opportunities. It also provides newcomers to the industry w a place to learn from the veterans and find resources and expertise to further their ventures." In addition to the online meeting spot, local toymakers also come together quarterly for breakfast. At their most recent breakfast, the second annual Cincinnati Toymakers Holiday Gift Guide was released on Slideshare. The toys include familiar favorites like Play-Doh, Sit 'N Spin, original Star Wars action figures and the Magic 8 Ball, in addition to newer toys and games. The catalog also includes a list of independent, locally owned Cincinnati toy stores. "If you want to fill the space under your tree with Cincinnati products this year, you could," Spelman says. By Feoshia Henderson Follow Feoshia on Twitter

CoSign brightens Northside streetscapes on Black Friday

By Newsroom

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Architecture + Design

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November 20, 2012

This year, Black Friday will be a “Bright Friday” for the community of Northside. Up and down Hamilton Avenue, businesses will unveil fun and funky new signs that bedazzle Northside’s main drag. In an unlikely collaboration of 11 businesses, local artists, several zoning officials and one museum, the CoSign project is now a proven success in creating attractive, cohesive street signage with hopes to shape future signage projects in city neighborhoods locally and across the nation. What started as a broader grant application to ArtPlace America for several city neighborhoods became a personal quest for Northsiders after the city-wide application went unfunded last spring. Stepping up with funding support, the Haile US Bank Foundation, Northside partners and the American Sign Museum created a pilot project that paired local businesses and visual artists with sign fabricators to design and install a critical mass of new signage along Hamilton Avenue. With an idealistic launch date of November 23, this year’s Black Friday, Eric Avner knew this would be a challenge. “We wanted to do multiple things at once,” says Avner, vice president and senior program manager of the Haile/US Bank Foundation. “Help the sign museum, help local business districts gain vitality and give the creative sector of Cincinnati more opportunities to make a living.” The American Sign Museum played a vital role in the project, serving as the primary grant recipient and providing staff as content specialists for the design process. The museum held two August training workshops for artists and businesses, put together a team of professional sign fabricators and installers, and participated in a judging panel to decide upon the best signage proposals from business/artist teams. “Part of our mission is to educate the public and special interest groups about signs,” says Tod Swormstedt, founder of the American Sign Museum. “The workshops helped to educate the business owners on why signage is so important for marketing, as well as to educate artists about what is a good sign. Artists may create an aesthetically-pleasing sign, but it may not identify the business well.” The week before their unveiling, the American Sign Museum displayed the signage in its brand-new facility near Camp Washington at 1330 Monmouth Street. CoSign documented the progress of the project from start to finish with help from The Queen City Project so other communities have the opportunity to replicate the project and broadcast their own creativity and collaborative spirit through signage. And the sign museum plans to go after that ArtPlace grant again - the one it lost just a few short months ago. Says Swormstedt, “The application is much stronger now, given the learning curve we experienced, the lessons learned and the project’s success.” By Becky Johnson

Sisson, Ohs tell of transformation in ‘I Send You This Place’

By Kyle Stone

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Arts + Culture

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November 20, 2012

A fashion design Fulbright scholar and a computer scientist met in Cincinnati, married, then traveled to Iceland on a journey to make a film. The result is as spiritual as it is cinematic. "I Send You This Place" premieres in Cincinnati Nov. 29 at the Emery Theatre.

InkTank re-emerges, launching reading series in OTR

By Newsroom

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Arts + Culture

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November 20, 2012

It turns out that tech startups aren’t the only people who know how to pivot. When InkTank, a nonprofit focused on literacy development and creative writing shut down in 2011, citing funding issues, its writer’s salon survived and continued to meet, but the occasional readings (and other services) it provided seemed lost. Now, the free, bimonthly InkTank Reading Series promises to change that. Despite losing its former Main Street location, “we kept talking about doing something, but we didn’t really have a direction or location,” says Seán Dwyer, one of six core members of the group. He helps organize the series and attract the talent: emerging authors from the Midwest. The InkTank salon paired with 1215 Wine Bar and Coffee Lab in Over-the-Rhine to host the readings, which will feature a published regional author preceded by two emerging, local voices. The first event, which will be held Nov. 27 at 8 p.m., will host Cincinnatian Ian Stelsel, a graduate of the prestigious Iowa Writers’ Workshop and husband of a former salon member. Stelsel plans to read from a collection of short stories set to publish in 2013. There’s been no trouble attracting authors to read at the gatherings, according to Dwyer. “We’ve got enough authors for about 10 months. We’ve actually stopped asking [for authors to read] because we want to see how [the series] goes and where it goes.” In the coming months, authors will include Phoebe Reeves, a poet and professor at the University of Cincinnati’s Clermont College; Don Peteroy, a Ph.D. candidate at UC; and Jacinda Townsend, who teaches at Indiana University. The 1215 venue is open to patrons of all ages. The InkTank Reading Series will feature prose, poetry, creative nonfiction and plays from published authors, as well as book signings and question-and-answer sessions, on the last Tuesday of every other month. Do Good: • Ask a question about the series by emailing InkTank. • Attend the first reading on Nov. 27 at 8 p.m. at 1215 Wine Bar and Coffee Lab. • Learn more about upcoming, featured authors from INKTank. By Robin Donovan

Strive Partnership integrates Brandery startup concept

By Newsroom

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Cincy In The News

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November 13, 2012

One of the Brandery startup tech concepts known as "Ontract" has recently become part of Strive Partnership’s plan to personalize the education each student receives at Cincinnati, Covington or Newport public schools. Read the full story here.

Peggy Shannon raises standards in cookie design, flavours

By Newsroom

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Architecture + Design

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November 13, 2012

Queen City Cookies is an artisan cookie whose founder, Peggy Shannon, is a life-long baker and artist who put up the cookie shop as a way to offer consumers beautiful and delicious baked goods. Read the full story here.

In Your Face: In Cincinnati, a Pie War Heats Up

By Newsroom

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Architecture + Design

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November 13, 2012

What began as a friendly rivalry between Busken and Frisch's pumpkin pies has been whipped up into an escalating tit for tat, playing out in billboards, social media stunts and live-action high jinks. Read the full story here.

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