Collection by Miyoko Ohtake
Yes Please More
While the United States is leaps and bounds behind Europe when it comes to publicly funding the arts and design, the city of Denver and Yes Please More are doing their best to encourage creative entrepreneurs. Working with the Denver Office of Cultural Affairs, Brian Corrigan and Samuel Schimek launched pop-up shop Yes Please More in 2010 to coincide with the annual Create Denver week. Since then, they've helped develop a creative grants program, are in the works on a co-working space, and are running the third iteration of the shop. Click through our slideshow to learn more.
The third, currently open Yes Please More shop features remnants of the first shop, which was open in April 2010. "We had $100 to design the shop so went dumpster diving for cardboard," Corrigan recalls. "Fortunately we had access to a laser cutter so we had the opportunity to fancy up the trash." Shown here are belt buckles made from old skateboards by MuKee set inside a cardboard display.
Seventy percent of profits from the store's sale are returned to the creator, while 20 percent are used for operations, and the remaining 10 percent go toward Yes Please More's creative grants program. "We've seen this as an economic generator for creative industry," Corrigan says. "We give money through grants, we're working on a coworking space, and then here's an outlet for selling the goods." Shown here, Horndribbles by Lucas Richards.