Registration is now open for the first ever Ignite Bay Area | Women Innovators on December 8th, when some of the Bay Area’s most notable thinkers will come together in Berkeley to explore innovation across communications, entrepreneurship, programming, and development. I’m most excited as this will be the launch of Ignite Bay Area and the first such event to put an all women’s lineup on stage (to our knowledge). The speaker list is currently under wraps, but smart folks from some of the city’s best publications, organizations and coffee companies are planning to present. A description of the program is as follows–do attend.
Featuring 12 presentations from leaders, founders and activists, Ignite Bay Area Women Innovators will create an opportunity for local leaders and individuals to share their experiences, knowledge and the things that make them tick. The auditorium and gallery at Berkeley’s David Brower Center should be a beautiful space for networking and creative motivation. The charity partner for the night is Hannah’s Socks, a non-profit focused on providing clothing necessities to shelters for the homeless and survivors of domestic violence, for whom we’re asking attendees to bring new socks for local adults and children as the weather cools this winter.
Advance thanks are in order for media partners DivineCaroline, Women 2.0 and Social Media Club. I’m grateful to Jennifer Lindsay, Janetti Chon, and Carmel Hagen for their help in bringing both seasoned speakers and up-and-comers to the stage, and Jen Pahlka and Ignite co-founder Brady Forrest have been invaluable as advisers. Speaker spots are currently full but we’d love to turn the event into a regular series if there’s community interest.
The recent chilly weather makes me think that it’s not too soon to start thinking about holiday gift-giving, so I put Lisa Marie Grillos, half of Hambone Designs, in the hot seat. The SF-based duo of she and Hernan Barangan creates simple (and desirable) bike bags using cordura with nylon lining, heavyweight cotton with canvas duck lining, and leather.
SF: How did you come up with the idea for the bike bags?
LMG: My family has a handmade-only rule for holiday presents, and last year my older brother Hernan had started working with leather so he made the first version of this bag for our younger brother Alex. I loved it and thought it was something that should be brought to the masses. I tweaked the design a little bit and came up with the first fabric prototype, and then started working on the venture.
How do you and your brother split the company responsibilities? Now that we are working with small-scale manufacturers, our roles are shifting a bit from him only making leather bags and me only making fabric bags. Our manufacturer is in Los Angeles so Hernan is in charge of the liaison with them. I have been focusing on marketing, customer relations, and wholesale inquiries, as well as choosing the fabric which is my favorite thing to do. Alex helps out with business ideas and prototyping.
Where can we find them locally?
We will soon be carried at Mission Bicycle Company, and we’ll also have booths at Handmade Ho Down, the first Etsy-sponsored SF event on December 3rd, and at Renegade Craft Fair at Fort Mason on December 19th and 20th.
TED Prize winner Karen Armstrong’s wish for a Charter for Compassion is being realized this week with the launch of an international project to call for increased, well, compassion on the part of decision makers and individuals. The “summons to creative, practical and sustained action to meet the political, moral, religious, social and cultural problems of our time” has expanded beyond the Catholic nun-turned-academic Armstrong into a collaborative set of mores and global events. “Affirmers” include Jordan’s Queen Noor and Desmond Tutu (who appears to have been upgraded to Archibishop Emeritus) with partners like the Interfaith Youth Corps, an organization that I think models the impact that intergenerational and bipartisan efforts can have. The core idea of the seems to come down to the Golden Rule–how perfectly timely.
At a dinner party recently I couldn’t take my eyes off of a large painting by Pua Logan, a former local who now paints in Hawaii. Not to fear–her lifelike oil painting depicting individuals (and with collection names like “Abstract Renderings” and “Nomadic Daydreams”) have graced the walls of Valencia Street’s Culture Skate of late. Logan says she’s learned more from the birds outside her window than art school and tries to capture “magic within everything.” You can make it yours at the Old Crow Gallery on Oakland’s Grand Street, where the work will be showing through November 17.
The last time I was at the Cow Palace was the kickoff of the AIDS Life Cycle ride, and I’m looking forward to going for a bike-related cause that doesn’t start at 4 AM. The SF Bike Expo on November 21 includes a nice lineup of local companies (Pushbike, Roaring Mouse, B. Spoke Tailor, et al). If the shopping isn’t what you come for, not to worry: rideSFO’s mountain dirt bike challenge starts at 3 PM after a low rider bike competition.
Addendum, 10.12: Mission Bicycle Co. is hosting a late afternoon “track standoff” at the Expo for people with stronger calves than I. (I’ll be the one sipping Bicycle Coffee, but go nuts.)
Mekanism syndication pal Brendan Gahan tweeted about the Save the Waves film fest opening on Friday, and I’m glad he did: the roundup of environmental and surf film includes the acclaimed All Points South and The Cove. The Victoria Theatre will play host of the event to feature art by Travis Weller, live music by The Elderados, and organic cocktails by Ocean Vodka (who else?). The Saves the Waves Coalition will be the beneficiary, and I’m hard pressed to think of a better way to end a work week than a screening/dance party that protects surf spots.
Local clothier Willo O’Brien tipped me off to a local promotion series for musicians starting tomorrow at JamBase. The first Musican & Promoter Workshop is an online tool overview presented by music industry pros, including musician Corey Denis, who has organized the workshops to expand technology usage by creative people.
“Without knowing how to use tools, artists, managers and promoters are led to believe that simply signing up for a service will lead to success,” said Denis. The five workshops which will cover mobile phone applications, setting up webstores, and offering music-tech education. They’ll be free thanks to SF Music Tech, SonicLiving and the like.
The SFBC’s annual Winterfest fundraiser is slated for December 6, and despite last weekend’s lovely weather I’m sure to be wearing wool cycling arm warmers. SOMARTS will play host to the member and cycling newbie party, and the 60 pieces of locally created bike art sound intriguing (and after a New Belgium or two they’re guaranteed to look better than whatever I create at the craft table–I’m concerned about bike and buy). The organization is looking to take on 200 volunteers–do join.
While contemplating whether to become an e-reader user this winter, I bought a softcover book that looks to be well worth the paper it’s printed on: Emily Pilloton’s “Design Revolution: 100 Products that Empower People.” The local American Institute of Architects chapter will be hosting a discussion on Wednesday with Pilloton, founder of Project H Design, whose tome they describe as a “compendium of and call-to-action for design for social impact.” I’m looking forward to hearing from the designer about the Design Revolution road show and the non-profit’s undertakings, which include the rugged Whirlwind Wheelchair, water transport device redesigns and local urban farming with Alemany Farm. It will be the first time I’ve been involved with the AIA since the early days of production for the documentary Archiculture, and I can’t think of a more educational reason.
The Barneys holiday catalog is an annual guilty pleasure, and it was good to hear from fashion director Julie Gilhart at Opportunity Green how the retailer has started printing on recycled paper (and when you’ve got 1 million copies to distribute, the impact is important). Gilhart seems to be an internal activist within the company in focusing on sustainable product sourcing, and the results have been an original Jil Sander recycled knit collection, Yves Saint Laurent’s reuse of fabrics from former collections, and wider distribution of Stella McCartney’s organic line (November-perfect sweater at right). A potion of the sales from these partnerships benefit 1% For The Planet, and even more than that, I appreciated Gilhart’s honesty about her efforts: “We’re the least likely company in the least likely industry to become more sustainable. We’re not a green company, but we can try to change perceptions. I don’t believe in shouting in customer’s faces, but I do think it’s important to know where what you buy comes from and give back as you can.”
Gilhart joined Ecofabulous-ist Zem Joaquin and fuseproject founder Yves Behar in a conversation about the business of style to bemoan the perception that sustainable design should cost less, not the same as its current counterparts. He talked about a partnership with Mission Motors that is to result in the world’s fastest electric motorbike next year, though he didn’t mention his development of a space age-style vibrator with local firm JimmyJane. (On the future project front, “Story of Stuff” creator Annie Leonard said that she’ll be releasing more videos about the cosmetics industry and other consumer topics soon.)
I’ve been sporting a personal planner folio from Rickshaw Bags since I arrived at the conference, and I love the color combination they developed (my only concern is that my magenta and chartreuse-loving mom may try to swipe it, especially knowing the organizational issues that run in our family). It’s a risk I’m willing to take, and thanks to Rickshaw for stitching one up for me as part of their environmentally-friendly efforts.
Registration is now open for the first ever Ignite Bay Area | Women Innovators on December 8th, when some of the Bay Area’s most notable thinkers will come together in Berkeley to explore innovation across communications, entrepreneurship, programming, and development. I’m most excited as this will be the launch of Ignite Bay Area and the first such event to put an all women’s lineup on stage (to our knowledge). The speaker list is currently under wraps, but smart folks from some of the city’s best publications, organizations and coffee companies are planning to present. A description of the program is as follows–do attend.
![TrackStandOff[1]](http://emilygoligoski.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/TrackStandOff1.jpg "TrackStandOff[1]")
The last time I was at the Cow Palace was the kickoff of the AIDS Life Cycle ride, and I’m looking forward to going for a bike-related cause that doesn’t start at 4 AM. The 
I’ve been sporting a 