| The Boulder community has reached out and taken interest in ABSTRACTmall. Today the Boulder Daily Camera Newspaper featured a story about aM in their business section. Caption: Court Rye, 22, left, and Blake Kimmel, 19, are two University of Colorado students who launched a Web site called Abstractmall.com, which they hope will serve as an online community for clothing artists. The company already has teamed up with four clothing companies that will sell on the site. Title: Creating an abstract community – CU duo launch apparel Web site – by Alicia Wallace, Camera Business Writer Article: Blake Kimmel is an artist, but his work probably won’t be found in a typical gallery – that is, unless someone’s wearing it. The 19-year-old graphic designer also is a proprietor who sells T-shirts that display his work. “A lot of kids just want to make a statement through artistic clothing,” said Kimmel, who is a freshman at the University of Colorado. To help get those statements out, Kimmel and fellow CU student Court Rye launched Abstractmall.com, an online apparel marketplace to showcase designers and abstract art. The two first got to know each other through living in the residence halls. Kimmel kicked around the idea of creating an art and apparel Web site, but he needed some help on the technical side. That’s where Rye, Kimmel’s 22-year-old residential adviser and senior business marketing major, came in. Rye, who interned for Hewlett-Packard Co. during high school, recently designed Web sites for some CU professors. The two students started developing the site in February, building relationships with fellow artists over Web communities such as MySpace.com, and hammering out all of the legal and licensing issues. On Friday, Abstractmall.com debuted with four partner companies: Boulder-based Shibby & Colus, Southern California outfits Your Mannequin and Junk Apparel, and Interactive Apparel, Kimmel’s company. |
 “It’s kind of a symbiotic relationship,” said Greg Colussy, a freshman business student at CU who co-founded Shibby & Colus. “We can market for them and they can market for us at the same time.” Working with people who have similar ages helps a lot, Colussy said, noting that Kimmel and Rye are more “understanding of our designs.” Plus, Colussy said, the partnership saves him and business partner and fellow freshman Dean Catlett the time of creating a Web site of their own. Although Rye has plans to graduate and move to California, the two plan to continue running Abstractmall.com, expanding it to incorporate digital art, Web logging and eventually music. The site is more than simply a means to sell goods, it’s a “living, breathing thing,” Rye said. “A lot of the point of the product is just the community itself,” Rye said. |
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PROPS!
Posted by steven neptune | May 5, 2006 2:48 PM