The Opening Celebration of The American Made Awards
Last week was simply amazing! It started off on Monday with our fall Bridal Market Party at our offices at the Starrett Lehigh building in Manhattan. That was followed on Tuesday night with a star-studded evening launching the inaugural Martha Stewart American Made Awards in Vanderbilt Hall in the landmark Grand Central Station. Mayor Michael Bloomberg was there to greet the crowd and NBC’s Willie Geist helped me introduce the winners. That evening, we saluted and highlighted ten up-and-coming entrepreneurs, who have shown innovation and creativity in their respective fields. In addition to those chosen honorees, one nominated Audience-Choice Award Winner received $10,000 to further his business, as well as a feature in Martha Stewart Living. As part of the celebration, there were festive cocktails and food, all American made. And there was also shopping of handcrafted goods from around the country, including products manufactured by the American Made honorees.
1 It was so exciting celebrating the very first Martha Stewart American Made Awards!
2 Here I am with our distinguished Mayor Bloomberg and Willie Geist of MSNBC's Morning Joe.
3 I was at the podium getting ready to introduce our special guests and the winners of this event.
4 Mayor Bloomberg graciously spoke about me and my business and how many aspiring entrepreneurs have been motivated by our good works.
5 Willie Geist was there to assist me in honoring the American Made winners.
6 Knowing how early Willie wakes up to appear on Morning Joe, I offered him a pick-me-up of a fresh-brewed cappuccino.
7 After honoring all of the winners, I invited them to join me on stage for a photo opportunity.
8 And directly after the photos, everyone joined in for a buffet celebration.
9 With my daughter, Alexis and Kevin Sharkey
10 There were many different American-based vendors offering their specialties. http://www.farmfresh.org/food/farm.php?farm=775
11 Delicious sauteed apples
12 The Cellars at Jasper Hill Farm, served amazing cheeses. http://www.cellarsatjasperhill.com/
13 Beautiful autumnal displays, created by Peter Callahan, Callahan Catering - http://www.petercallahan.com/
14 Artisinal smoked ham
15 This is honey from my very own honey bees.
16 The honey was served with crusty bread and herb butter.
17 Van Leeuwen was serving an assortment of ice cream. This is their amazing ginger flavor. http://www.vanleeuwenicecream.com/
18 High West Distillery and Saloon served their Double Rye Whiskey. http://www.highwest.com/
19 Hella Bitter pairs well with Brooklyn Gin, a locally produced craft gin that is made with a lot of botanicals, giving it a citrusy, floral bouquet.
20 Eduardo Simeon, co-founder of Hella Bitter, also works for MSLO as a Senior Project Manager/Digital.
21 Jason Rowan of Brooklyn Hemispherical Bitters served Fig Sours - a combination of Bulleit bourbon, lemon juice, maple syrup, candied sour cherry syrup, Black Mission Fig, and his own fig bitters. http://www.brooklynbitters.com/
22 Mystic Knotwork offered a variety of knotted wares, like this Nautical Ocean Plait Rope Mat. http://www.mysticknotwork.com/
23 MSLO's Stephen Johnson had his stationary on display.
24 Acorn pendants by MSLO's Hosanna Houser - http://www.hosannahouser.bigcartel.com/
25 Jean and Oliver Pelle of Pelle Designs displayed their hand cut glycerine soaps. http://pelledesigns.com/
26 Erin Ozer of Knot & Bow, showed her carefully curated collection of modern, nostalgic stationery goods including gift wrap and packaging, craft, office, and event supplies. http://www.knotandbow.com/
27 Cynthia Treen, of Cythia Treen Studio, home of Threadfollower Kits and Patterns, is another former MSLO employee, who is now pursuing her entrepreneurial dream. http://threadfollower.com/
28 Cynthia's kits are adorable.
29 Former MSLO employee Asya Palatova, of Gleena Ceramics, has gone on to create a collection of beautiful porcelain. http://gleena.com/
30 Crystal Sloane of Vintage by Crystal, handcrafts one of a kind whimsical figures and decorations. http://www.vintagebycrystal.com
31 Many of her materials are antique, vintage, and new, giving each piece a unique quality.
32 Kimberly Scola, designer and owner of Chez Sucre Chez, finds inspiration from traditional needlework and cross-stitch patterns.
33 She showed me her very thoughtful container covers, which serve as a environmentally sound alternative to plastic wrap.
34 Kimberly also sells reusable, environmentally-friendly produce bags.
35 Jason Wong and Jordan Provost, the owner of Enormous Champion - a design studio based in Brooklyn, New York. http://enormouschampion.com/
36 They specialize in greeting and note cards and other great crafts.
37 Chelsea Glankler, of Red Bird Ink - Design and Letterpress, designs and produce limited edition art prints, stationery, and home goods. http://redbirdink.com/
38 Chelsea loves using an old-fashioned letterpress to attain an old-fashioned embossed look, seldom found with modern printing.
39 More examples of letterpress
Martha Pins
Martha Tweets
What a great show, Martha, but...who won? Is that another Blog?
It seems a lot of your former employees are now in a successful business, and I wondered if you help them get started, since you're good to your employees in other ways.
That is a very good picture of you, Alexis and Kevin.
Gloria G!!
Posted by: Gloria | October 22nd, 2012 at 12:42 am
The Best blog as you and all look wonderful., Is HIGH WEST better than Makers Mark? Had a few too many manhattans and danced making a fool of myself at party this week end but Monday is here once again/ ! !!
Posted by: ann | October 22nd, 2012 at 6:10 am
Wow, what a wonderful group, so easy these days to
"shop locally" .We're familiar with the great cheeses of Jasper Hill. (specifically their Blue, amazing....)
Glad to see Vermont represented so well.
Hope this is an annual event
Thanks
Dale
Posted by: Dale Coykendall | October 22nd, 2012 at 7:06 am
Beautiful and exciting event and photos from the American made awards. I love the photo with your daughter, Alexis and Kevin Sharkey, Love their amazing blogs very inspiring. Wish you a successful and great week Martha xo
Posted by: Rowaida Flayhan | October 22nd, 2012 at 7:13 am
It looks like the inaugural Martha Stewart American Made awards was a success! What fun it must have been to peruse the wonderful handcrafted items. How clever is the container covers by Kimberly Scola and the acorn pendants by Hosanna Houser are adorable. I've always admired the support you give entrepreneurs Martha, it looks like you have a few working for you! Nice picture of you, Alexis and Kevin, very chic group!
Posted by: Cindy F | October 22nd, 2012 at 7:50 am
Hi Martha, What a fantastic, outstanding time you had last week with the Bridal Market Party on Monday, being on the Today Show twice on Tuesday morning, having the awesome American Made Awards event Tuesday and Wednesday, and then going to Atlanta on Saturday to present great ideas to people at the Home Depot! Every bit of that week was amazing and how fun to learn so much again, thanks a million! This latest blog is so much fun to see and read about the American Made Awards! How thoughtful of you to have such a fabulous event for all of those brilliant people who produced such terrific things! Your photos are fantastic and everyone look so happy to be there! I have so enjoyed seeing the videos and information on your website and on twitter, outstanding!! My favorite photo is #2 with you, Mayor Boolmberg, and Willie Geist looking so happy at the event!!! Photo #9 with you, Alexis, and Kevin is wonderful, also!!! The buffet celebration was awesome, the foods looked delicious and loved seeing your fabulous honey!! Love all of the other items, too! Thanks so much for sharing again! Hope you have another great day! Off to see The Daily Wag about "Playing in Autumn Leaves!" Jan
Posted by: Jan Erickson | October 22nd, 2012 at 10:02 am
Good morning Martha and Laura. You and your company should be very proud of this exciting initiative which I'm sure will only get bigger each year. The winner and ten runners-up must have been so excited to get such enormous recognition for their creations. I look forward to seeing the Audience-Choice Award winner featured in Martha Stewart Living magazine and I wish him even more success. I read a little about him online too. Have a great day! Trish
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P.S. Boca Raton is really buzzing with the final debate preparations being made at Lynn University. I live about a mile and a half from the campus and have been over there taking pictures of all the improvements they've made such as widening the entrance to six lanes and putting up a traffic light. Romney is staying at a Marriott on the beach and Obama will arrive today. Several roads to the campus have been blocked off since 6 A.M. to the public and Tuesday there will be a Grassroots event in quaint Delray Beach. It was already swarming with crowds on Saturday. We always get a lot of people down here in the winter but there are even more now which will of course be good for business. Be sure to watch the debate everyone - only 15 more days before we vote.
Posted by: Trish | October 22nd, 2012 at 10:19 am
I love seeing all the creative ideas. I've taken a look at the Mystic Knotwork housewares and will have to purchase some items as Christmas gifts. Can't wait to look more closely at all the participants websites.
Posted by: Andrea | October 22nd, 2012 at 12:05 pm
Martha looked like a great event! Both you and Alexis looked beautiful.
Posted by: Steve | October 22nd, 2012 at 2:06 pm
Kudos to you for encouraging American Made goods. They are lovely.
Oh how I remember those Watch Hill Oysters. Always picked some up when we went to the beach there. Carol - North Carolina
Posted by: Carol | October 22nd, 2012 at 2:11 pm
You look glorious!
Posted by: Jason | October 22nd, 2012 at 2:59 pm
Martha, how I wished I could have been there! Glad it was a success! Thanks for sharing this blog.
Posted by: KLBrown | October 22nd, 2012 at 11:02 pm
I find this encouragement of American small business people and their creativity deeply moving. Thank you for spearheading this.
Posted by: Karen | October 23rd, 2012 at 3:41 am
Dear Martha, I tuned into the Hallmark Channel and you were not on. What happened? Are you coming back on TV? I love your show and I watched everyday. I also liked Lucindas' show and the Pet Show. I am so upset. Please let me know. Thanks
Posted by: suzanne howard | October 23rd, 2012 at 8:28 am
This is wonderful Martha. Very inspiring. It was very nice to see on your blog today.
Posted by: Jody Olson | October 23rd, 2012 at 12:07 pm
Martha,
I just wanted to extend our gratitude for including us in the American Made Awards event. We had a fantastic time and really enjoyed working with your staff and meeting fellow artisans. There are a lot of times when we feel alone trying to build an American Made business, but events like yours make us feel part of a movement more than just Don Quixote tilting at windmills.
Thank you,
matt
Posted by: Matt Beaudoin | October 23rd, 2012 at 5:24 pm
Hello Martha,
New to your blog...love it! You are such an innovator and an inspiration to creative Americans! Thank you for forming this Award to showcase truly deserving businesses. Hope you can stop by Chartreuse, a local art co-op, here in St. Joseph, Michigan, next week when you are in our fine community for your speaking engagement at the Economic Club of Southwest Michigan. We are 21 local artists, working together to bring our creative wares to the public at fair prices. Please stop in!
Thank you,
Margaret
p.s. Boy, are you pretty!
Posted by: margaret hogeboom | October 23rd, 2012 at 10:46 pm
American Made Award is a great idea considering the fact that an average American household has less that 5% of American made products. we need more Martha Stewards thinkers at our work environment
Posted by: FREDRICK MUTOONI | October 25th, 2012 at 11:25 am
hi martha i am from pachuca ,hgo. mexico , and i hope you will visit us , some day, i'll be happy to recive you . i admire you and all the things you do..
Posted by: martha gil | October 31st, 2012 at 3:44 pm
Great idea for an award, Martha. We can all help rebuild the economy by increasing our purchases of American Made products.
Posted by: Dawn Barron | November 15th, 2012 at 10:07 pm
Hi, what a wonderful idea! I love handcrafted in America! We would love to send you samples of our organic skin care products! We are the only skin care company in America that grows our own ingredients on our own USDA certified organic farm! Handcrafted fresh for over 27 years! Contact me at http://www.lilyfarmfreshskincare.com or lily@lilyfarmfreshskincare.com
Thank you,
Lily
Posted by: lily | February 7th, 2013 at 2:05 pm