Pepper Place Digital Magazine May 2015

Fashion Week Turns Five Runway Open at Pepper Place

Know THy Farmer

What’s in Season This Spring

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Photo by Stacy Richardson

The 5th Annual Birmingham Fashion Week Birmingham Fashion Week (BFW), Birmingham’s largest fashion event of the year, will once again call the Pepper Place Market District its home when it opens on Thursday, May 7th. For three nights, local and national designers, retail boutiques and sponsors will gather to promote and inspire rising talent in the fashion industry.

This year, there are 16 Emerging Designers and 40 Rising Designers participating, and more than 200 models in the model pool. With local and national designers hosting runway shows, community advocates promoting and attending, local businesses getting involved and more gathering together to promote and inspire the creative talents of Birmingham, guests can expect to experience an event unlike years before as Birmingham Fashion Week turns 5. This excitement and energy of the event will be felt throughout Pepper Place all week as the Pepper Place Pop-Up Shop hosts a week of special fashion events. During fashion week only, special designers will be in the pop-up with their designs on the racks and daytime trunk show events before the runway opens in the big tent! Visiting designers include Birmingham born, Austin TX based Jean Jones, handbag designer

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NIGHT 1 THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2015 Opener: Gunnar Deatherage (Project Runway Alum) Emerging Designers Rising Design Stars Runway Retailer: Monkee’s of Mountain Brook, Pepper Place Pop-Up Featured Designer: Marie Oliver Headliner: Michelle Lesniak (Project Runway Alum) NIGHT 2 FRIDAY, MAY 8TH, 2015: Opener: Joshua McKinley (Project Runway Alum) Emerging Designers Rising Design Stars Runway Retailer: Mia Moda Boutique Up & Coming Designer: Bradford Billingsley (Project Runway Threads Alum) Featured Designer: Charles Ellis Sartorial Headliner: AntHill by Anthony Ryan Auld (Project Runway Alum) NIGHT 3 SATURDAY, MAY 9TH, 2015: Opener: Heidi Elnora Emerging Designer Finalist Rising Design Star Finalist Featured Designer: Tribe Kelley Headliner: Laura Kathleen (Project Runway Alum) BFW Official After Party: Cantina Tortilla Grill

2015 Featured Designers • Anthony Ryan

Photo by Juan Rodriguez

Noha Nadler and Atlanta based Factory Girls who will be presenting Hannah Cross LTD., Abbey Glass, Star Miller and Meaghan Torbert.

BFW marks the 2nd fashion event to occur at Pepper Place this year. Heidi Elnora, one of the co-founders of BFW and Dr. Pepper building tenant, launched the premiere season of her TLC show Bride By Design in March. The show was filmed in her atelier in Pepper Place, bringing a true hyperlocal feel to the show. Bride

By Design gives viewers a look at the wedding dress design process from the eyes of the designer as she helps brides design their dream wedding dress through all stages of creation. The series highlights Birmingham by giving viewers a glimpse at the growing arts culture in our city and state. Heidi was proud to support Pepper Place and film the show right here in our neighborhood!

• Bradford Billingsley • Charles Ellis Sartorial • Gunnar Deatherage • Heidi Elnora • Joshua McKinley • Laura Kathleen • Marie Oliver • Michelle Lesniak • Tribe Kelley

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Shop & Dine Guide

Aero Joe Aero Joe is a fully-equipped, Classical Pilates studio led by a team of instructors with over 25 year of combined experience. Services offered include group training, private and semi-private lessons. Aero Joe also offers unique cross training opportunities in Ashtanga and Aerial Yoga, community wellness workshops, as well as licensed massage therapy.” www.aerojoepilates.com

Richard Tubb Interiors Richard Tubb is most pleased when customers walk into his Pepper Place showroom and say they want to capture its feeling. We are anxious to listen to your needs and make your dreams a reality. With a decorating team with more than seventy five years of total experience, we continue to search for home furnishings that are timeless, exciting and beautiful. www.richardtubbinteriors.com

Charlie Thigpen’s Garden Gallery Charlie Thigpen’s Garden Gallery provides an oasis for those looking to stroll through the courtyard and listen to the birds on a lunch break, or a vital resource for those planning their next gardening or landscaping design project. It’s also a place to find the perfect gift for gardeners and art lovers.

CharlieThigpensGardenGallery.com

Ferguson Enterprises Step into a Ferguson Showroom and you’ll be surrounded by the latest styles in kitchen, bath and lighting design from the industry’s leading manufacturers. From appliances, to cabinets, the showroom experience is inspiring and intimate - the opposite of warehouse shopping. www.shop.ferguson.com

Illuminations Illuminations Lighting, at Pepper Place since 1998, provides homeowners and the interior design community in Alabama with the best European and domestic contemporary lighting available. We attribute our success to both the quality of the lighting that we offer, and to our commitment to providing our clients with the most outstanding service possible. www.illumco.com

heidi elnora heidi elnora atelier is a full service bridal boutique with more than 100 gorgeous gowns, veils and bridal accessories in stock. Designed by former Project Runway contestant and star of TLC’s Bride By Design, Heidi Elnora, brides can choose a dress from one of Heidi’s three collections, heidi elnora, Hello Darling, or design their own dress through Heidi’s innovative Build-A-Bride approach. Appointments are required and can be made by calling 205-977-7307 or making an appointment at www.heidielnora.com

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eisys, Inc. eisys, inc. offers premium furniture and unique solutions that complement the relationship between people, technology and their work environments. We deliver improved productivity, comfort and well-being to the individual workspace through emerging technological applications in education, healthcare and office environments. Offerings include Sit-Stand Desking, Visual Presentation Products for just about any environment and ergonomic seating. eisys-inc.com

King’s House Antiques King’s House Antiques is your go to shop for great accessories, lighting, vintage finds and beautiful antique furniture for your home or business. For over 41 years this family business continues to offer excellent, hand selected quality items for you to enjoy for generations to come. Come browse our ever changing inventory or visit us online at kingshouseantiques.com.

Southern Accents Architectural Antiques, Inc. Southern Accents Architectural Antiques, Inc. is Alabama’s oldest familyowned architectural antique company.

Since 1969, the Gudger family has been rescuing, restoring and preserving architectural salvage from structures throughout the nation. Their American historical pieces include carved entrydoors, decorative fireplace mantels, terra cotta facade’s, antique hardware, wrought iron fencing and gates and more. Coming soon. sa1969.com

Cantley & Company Custom cabinetry from Cantley & Company is more than just storage space; it’s a home’s character and ambiance.

Offering an extensive selection of wood types and finishes, as well as the ability to complement existing cabinetry, furniture, and décor, our designers and craftsmen have just the right options to transform your space. Whether capturing attention with bold statements or blending in perfectly with timeless style, Cantley & Company customizes an affordable design to fits needs and fulfills your tastes. cantleyandcompany.com

Red Cat Coffeehouse The Red Cat Coffeehouse invites you to stop by and soak up the urban ambiance as you relax with a specialty drink and good food. Here you’ll find coffee that is meticulously sourced and roasted in-house, prepared by friendly baristas who know their craft, and breakfast and lunch menus that will surprise. We put thought into everything that we do so you can let go and lose yourself in the coffee experience. theredcatcoffeehouse.com

Ovenbird OvenBird is Chris and Idie Hastings’ live fire, casual restaurant that does not require reservations. The menu will focus on seasonal southern ingredients that we know and love in a small plate format that takes inspiration from the live fire traditions of Spain, Portugal, Uruguay and Argentina. Coming soon.

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Shop & Dine Guide

Interiors at Pepper Place Interiors at Pepper Place is a collection of some of the area’s finest Antique and home furnishings dealers. Established in 1997, Interiors continues to serve both the Retail and Design trade throughout the southeast.

Cantina Tortilla Grill Cantina Tortilla Grill has been serving up made-fresh-daily Mexican food in a laid back, fun atmosphere for over 10 years. Our uniquely crafted menu items follow the recipes created by our founder Guillermo Castro, whose love for travel and a passion for fresh Mexican food came together to influence every aspect of the restaurant. www. cantinatortillagrill.com

Atmosphere Home Essentials Located at Pepper Place, in the heart of Birmingham’s design district, Atmosphere has become the go to source for award winning modern and contemporary home furnishings and accessories.

Never satisfied with maintaining the status quo, Atmosphere is continually evolving, driven by the desire to provide Birmingham with the newest, most innovative designs available today. www.atmospherehomeessentials.com

Dekalb Office DeKalb Office is a world-class provider of innovative workplace solutions. Our customers rely on us to create spaces that help them work, learn, and heal better. Our Pepper Place Customer Experience Center is a unique working showroom, designed to give visitors insights into fresh thinking about new ways of working. www.dekalboffice.com

Terrific New Theatre Founded in 1986 by Carl Stewart and Steve Stella, Terrific New Theatre, Birmingham’s live theatre treasure, is celebrating its 30th year bringing the unexpected to audeinces. TNT’s intimate and creative space in Pepper Place offers the city a unique theatre experience including hot from Broadway area premiers, classics from America’s best playwrights, original works by local authors, raucous comedies, and provocative dramas. www.terrificnewtheatre.org

Bettola Bettola is a casual upscale restaurant located in Birmingham’s Lakeview district. Founded by award-winning chef James Lewis, Bettola offers a wonderful array of foods from the Campania region of Italy in a warm and modern setting.

We honor the farm-to-table tradition by using locally sourced meats and produce to bring fresh flavors to each dish.

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Save the Date Be sure to check out these and other great Pepper Place Market District goings-on at pepperplace.com.

May 7-9 Birmingham Fashion Week

King’s House Oriental Rugs Find the profound beauty of an antique Oriental rug in its intricate detail, incomparable craftsmanship, and time-tested durability as well as the rich and vibrant history woven into each one.

Our search for these works of art and the stories that shape them takes us all over the world; from The Silk Road to North Africa and Nepal, where we handselect each rug for our Birmingham showroom. kingshouseorientalrugs.com

Pepper Place Pop-Up Shop Pepper Place Pop Up is an incubator for Southern designers that are not currently represented in Birmingham or for smaller makers that do not need a brick and mortar. Our goal is to help reach a bigger audience for these Southern artisans. www.pepperplacepopup.com

May 7 Pepper Place First Thursday featuring Chris Hastings with food from his new Pepper Place restaurant, Ovenbird, Art in the Garden

by Charlie Thigpen’s Garden Gallery, and many other retailers staying open late for the evening, 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

May 9

Market at Pepper Place. 7 a.m. to noon, rain or shine.

May 16 Market at Pepper Place. 7 a.m. to noon, rain or shine.

May 23

Market at Pepper Place. 7 a.m. to noon, rain or shine.

May 23 Aerial Hammock Tricks and Flips Workshop—Swing into Summer. Join Aero Joe Pilates Studio for a silks workshop focusing on acrobatic aerial fitness skills. this class will be especially helpful to current aerial yoga participants who wish to deepen their practice, however no experience is necessary. Beginners are welcome. (Please note contraindications for aerial fitness include easy onset motion sickness, vertigo, herniated discs or other vertebral disc issues, blood pressure problems, and eye issues such as cataracts.)

May 28

Terrific New Theatre new play begins

May 30

Market at Pepper Place. 7 a.m. to noon, rain or shine.

June 6

Market at Pepper Place. 7 a.m. to noon, rain or shine.

June 13

Market at Pepper Place. 7 a.m. to noon, rain or shine.

June 20

Market at Pepper Place. 7 a.m. to noon, rain or shine.

June 27

Market at Pepper Place. 7 a.m. to noon, rain or shine.

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On the Move We are pleased to welcome all of the following new tenants to Pepper Place: BW & Co- Dr. Pepper Showrooms Peritus Public Relations- Dr. Pepper Building Context A3- Dr. Pepper Showrooms Schilleci & Tortorici, PC- Dr. Pepper Showrooms EPIC-Edgewater Partners Insurance Company- Martin Biscuit Building Murphy Media- Dr. Pepper Showrooms We are also happy the following tenants have renewed their leases for an additional term: Charlie Thigpen’s Garden Gallery- Sensabaugh Building Cantley & Co Cabinets- Dr. Pepper Showrooms Black Benak Public Relations- Sensabaugh Building And Congratulations on your expansion to Haskins Jones, LLC in the Dr. Pepper Building.

A Look Back

Photo by Victoria Sherwood

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Heidi Elnora hosted a premiere watch party at Cantina in Pepper Place for her new TLC show Bride

By Design on March 27th. Surrounded by more than 150 friends, family members, her team and local supporters, Heidi and her guests watched the first two episodes of the season in real time, laughing and following along through the episodes as fans across the country tuned in as well. Being able to watch the episodes live in the same area that the show was filmed was particularly special and really helped bring the experience full circle.

Season 1 of Bride By Design included ten episodes and was filmed on site at Pepper Place.

In Bloom It’s that perfect time of the year—the trees are in bloom, the birds are out, and if it isn’t raining, the air is so crisp it can make you forget that we are living in the South. It’s the time of year that we all want to spend outdoors, playing lawn games with neighbors and having backyard picnics. It’s the time of year we get our hands dirty prepping the vegetable beds and digging in our gardens.

It’s the time of year to visit Charlie Thigpen’s Garden Gallery!

A visit into his shop inspires even the best garden experts with new ideas for plant arrangements, and container designs. Charlie and his staff are avid supporters of local products, and with 90% of his plants coming from local growers, he ensures that Birmingham gardens are local as well.

Although many of us visit him for his plants, we frequently bring home other unique finds. The shop has built an extensive collection of furnishings and accessories, several handcrafted locally within Alabama. Charlie has recently introduced Alabama furniture designer Laurens Cotten of Wild At Heart Wood to the Pepper Place Market District. Laurens builds handcrafted solid wood tables, boxes and bread boards. New shipments arrive weekly – they don’t sit on the shelves for long!

Know Thy Farmer The Market at Pepper Place continues its 15 Year Anniversary Celebration this season!

Beginning Saturday, May 9, the Market expands into the Garden Parking Lot – adding about fifteen new vendors. That means customers will be able to shop in the big parking lot, on 29th Street South and in the garden area next to Charlie Thigpen’s Gardeners Gallery and Chris Hastings’ new restaurant Ovenbird. Music will also be provided on the Porch at Ona’s Music Room.

Make sure you stop by and browse in the garden area beginning May 9. It’s a more intimate setting and you’ll find homemade pies from Pie Lab, goodies from The Pantry, handmade crafts from Alabama Designer Craftsmen Guild, local honey, gourmet popcorn and bacon from The Fatback Pig Project. Vendor offerings will change weekly.

In May, our local farmers will have freshly grown Alabama strawberries for sale – along with beautiful green salad mixes, mushrooms, peas, broccoli and onions. Blueberries are expected by the end of the month, too!

The Market is open every Saturday morning from 7:00 a.m. till 12 noon, rain or shine!

Come shop!

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Once Upon A

Highnie The story began as a quest to create the perfect boxer short.

We viewed it as locating the perfect home for the family jewels.

It needed to be a custom home, handmade, including a spacious ballroom with full seating and a sturdy front entrance so that no one slips out unexpectedly. This home should be built with the finest 400 thread count Pima cotton with virtually no shrinkage (on our part).

Behind the

Scenes Each issue, we go behind the scenes with a Pepper Place Market District (PPMD) tenants to discover a bit more about who they are and why they chose to locate their business in the PPMD. Tell us a little bit about your business and how you got started.

I started Black Benak in 2013 with a mission to showcase all the charm that is the South.

We are a strategic PR firm that helps our clients navigate today’s competitive business environment and be sure their businesses are top of mind for their ideal consumers.

We work with all types of businesses from local restaurants to national retailers – and love every minute of it!

What was behind your decision to bring your business to Pepper Place?

Joe O’Donnell—a person I have always been in frequent contact with working in PR— was kind enough to clue me in on B-Metro magazine’s former space here in Pepper Place as soon as he heard I was starting Black Benak. He gave me a tour of the space and I met Cathy soon after and knew Pepper Place would be the perfect home for the business. I’m forever indebted to Joe. What goals do you have for your business in the coming year?

Certainly we’d like to continue our growth we’ve experienced at a steady pace, and I’m also working to ensure we continue to differentiate our client base and expand our offerings for clients as well.

What do you feel is Birmingham’s biggest hidden treasure?

So behold, we present to you the royal highness, the only place that deserves to house the family jewels. These boxers have been personally tried and tested for over 10 years on family, friends, acquaintances and a few rock stars. Enjoy your first Royal Highnies experience.

Come by the Pepper Place Pop-Up to get Your Royal Highnies and experience for yourself the meaning of luxury loungewear. From boxer shorts, sleep pants, robes, tiny highness and much more…There is a Royal Highnie for you. This will be the last month to find them at the pop-up.

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These days, I’d have to categorize Bham’s hidden treasure as music! I’m from the Shoals, so music has always been such a big part of my life and to see our music culture come alive here these past few years is just excellent… Birmingham Mtn Radio is great, I love our small music venues, Cask and Drum and now Sloss Fest! A few weeks ago, I was at one of the final concerts at Bottletree seeing Leon Bridges and the very next week he wins SXSW over then plays on The Late Late Show… that’s a big deal for Bham!

What is your perfect night out in Birmingham?

I like a Barons game on a week night, it’s a phenomenal way to spend an evening. Any of Birmingham’s exceptional restaurants for a weekend dinner and a cocktail at Collins Bar isn’t a bad night either.

What is one of your favorite things about Pepper Place?

The walkability. I really enjoy the feeling that we’re in the middle of the city but still able to walk to get coffee, have a meeting on Cantina’s awesome patio or grab a sandwich from Bettola. I bought the cutest t-shirt from the pop-up shop last week! Pepper Place has so much to take advantage of, my team couldn’t enjoy it more!

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District Directory

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