Category Archives: Pitt-Starter

Pitt-starter: Piebird – More Pie for Pittsburgh

pie-bird-logoPiebird has been baking up sweet treats for Pittsburgh restaurants since 2011.  They are planning to open a storefront on Butler Street in Lawrenceville in 2015 and needs your help to support the purchase of upgraded commercial pastry kitchen equipment including ovens, mixers, refrigerators, cookie sheets, and all of other essentials that are necessary to make sweet treats.

I have selected this Kickstarter to share for two reasons…

1. Who doesn’t like pie?

2. Super creative Kickstarter perks – I give Piebird extra points for creative thinking on the thank you gifts – I believe this is the first time we’ve seen underwear as a thank you gift.

  • $25 – Salted Caramel Sauce – Share your support and we’ll share annalee’s legendary salted caramel sauce! During the opening week of the kitchen, stop in, say hello, and we’ll reward you with a jar (share if you must).
  • $50 – Underwear… yep, exclusive, limited edition, screenprinted Piebird undies! (who needs another t-shirt) oh, and we’ll thank you in our video
  • $500 – Private Dessert Party for you and 15 friends Share your support and we’ll share annalee’s legendary salted caramel sauce! During the opening week of the kitchen, stop in, say hello, and we’ll reward you with a jar (share if you must).

Click here to contribute to the Piebird Kickstarter Campaign

You can follow Piebird on Twitter @PieBirdPGH

Pitt-starter: Less than 24hrs to Help DuoScreen Reach Goal

duo-screenPitt-starter is our series of blog posts on Pittsburgh related crowdfunding campaigns.  You can check out past Pitt-starter posts here.

It is down to the wire for this one, but Pittsburghers are good at lastminute comebacks.  DuoScreen is a Pittsburgh startup that is part of the ThrillMill incubator in East Liberty.  I have had the opportunity to get to know the founders of DuoScreen over the past 10 months and I really like these guys.  Not only will they sit around and let me talk about social media for hours, but they have a great ideas, they are super nice people.

Also, I think that DuoScreen is a great idea for a product.  Developers and social media geeks like me often work from a laptop and a second screen.  I am currently sitting at my desk at work writing this blog post using my laptop and extra monitor.  DuoScreen is a portable second screen that works with most laptop sizes and allows you to bring your second screen with you.

Check out the video for the DuoScreen Kickstarter below and you can support the DuoScreen Kickstarter project here.  Help these guys launch their business and pick up your own DuoScreen at a special Kickstarter price (and be sure to follow @DuoScreen on Twitter).

More Pittsburgh Kickstarter Campaigns

DuoScreen is just one of several Kickstarter campaigns for Pittsburgh startups that are in the process of raising funds.  Click here to check out a list of some other local Kickstarter projects.

house of gold before and afer

Pittstarter – A Gentle Demolition of The House of Gold

Update 9/24 – Just 24 hours left til the Kickstarter deadline and the artist needs to raise $12,000.  Click here to go directly to the Kickstarter page for the House of Gold.

I learned about the House of Gold project over the summer and I wanted to share this Kicstarter project that only has a few more days to reach the funding goal.   Artist Dee Briggs lives next door to this house on Swissvale avanue. Last year, Dee was able to purchase the house thanks to the Allegheny County Vacant Property Recovery program.  This Kickstart project will help Dee deconstruct the house and re-imagine this site as a space for the community.

I think it is an important project for Wilkinsburg and Pittsburgh in general as it sparks a conversation about abandoned buildings.  At one point in its history The House of Gold was a corner store – and hopefully will be replaced with a community space and coffee shop in the near future.  This Kickstarter is a great way to help a motivated community member help to transform an abandoned property.

house of gold before and afer

Here are a few of the reasons why I like this project and I think you should consider making a contribution to the House of Gold Kickstarter project…

  1. A Gold House? Which is the perfect color for a building in a city that loves the color scheme of black and gold.  I like the idea of using gold paint to show this abandoned house in a new light.
  2. Telling the history of the house – take a few moments to check out the House of Gold website.  The artist has put together an incredible history of the house and the people who used to live here.
  3. Wilkinsburg – I have been driving down Penn Avenue for my entire life and most recently found myself wondering what would become of the Penn Lincoln Hotel.  What once was a meeting place of people had been abandoned and in the past few weeks was torn down.  How did a historic building, that was a thriving hub become a forgotten neighborhood?  Check out some of these photos from AbadonedOnline.net of the Penn-Lincoln Hotel before it was demolished.
  4. Gently demolition – take a moment to watch the Kickstarter video – it is worth the two minutes of your time, and Dee does a much better job of telling the story than I could here in a blog post.  I really like the idea of gently and carefully dismantling this house.  As much as I would love to save every old building in Allegheny county, some really do have to come down and the idea of carefully taking apart the building and separating out the historic pieces for reuse elsewhere, while reducing what would need to go into a landfill makes sense to me.

And this project has event been shared by the Kickstarter staff Twitter account…

If you would like to support this project – click here to make a contribution to the House of Gold: A Gentle Demolition Kickstarter project.

Read more about the House of Gold in the news…

Pitt-starter – Meet Pittsburgh Artist Robert Qualters

Pitt-starter is our occasional series of posts about Kickstarer and other crowdfunding projects that are of interest to the Pittsburgh community. You can check out previous Pitt-starter posts here.

I am very excited to share this Kickstarter project with you.  First, because I think this is a great chance to learn about a Pittsburgh artist who has been painting this city for decades.  And second, because I had the opportunity to meet Robert Qualters earlier this year and I think he is one of the many Pittsburghers that should be on your radar.

Robert Qualters - Penn Station Rotunda, 2006, acrylic and collage on canvas, 42x48"

Robert Qualters – Penn Station Rotunda, 2006, acrylic and collage on canvas, 42×48″

Robert Qualters is one of those artists where you have probably seen his work around town but you might not have known much about the artist. His paintings are hanging in some of the offices and restaurants and he has painted several murals for Mercy Hospital and Pittsburgh public schools.

M_Perrott-Qualters_1994_no13-sRGB_for_web.largeI hope you will take a moment to visit the Kickstarter page for “Robert Qualters: A Life in Film” to check out the video and some of the paintings of Pittsburgh.  The Kickstarter trailer gives you a glimpse into his studio which is located in Homestead.  I’ve had the chance to visit another artist in this building and you would have never guessed this old school was home to a wealth of Pittsburgh talent.

Another fun fact about this project is that one of the filmmakers, Elizabeth Seamans, was Mrs. McFeely on Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.

This Kickstarter project is to fund a film about his work which will debut in 2014.  A retrospective of his paintings will be on display at Pittsburgh center for the arts starting February 7, 2014.

The Qualter’s Kickstarter project also offers some unique rewards and the chance to pick up a signed and numbered print from the artist or an original painting from Qualters.

Follow Robert Qualters on Facebook – facebook.com/qualtersart and Twitter @qualtersart

Some other posts about Pittsburgh art and film:

A Souper Pitt-Starter: Warhol’s Soup Cans in the Nude

While this project wasn’t created by a Pittsburgher, it is certainly a very Pittsburgh project.  I came across this project on the Kickstarter tumblr blog last week.

The artist Lindsey Wholman is from Boulder, Colorado but she has a thing for Andy Warhol’s soup cans.  She has already met her fundraising goal but the video is worth a watch.

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