Idea Lab Recipients

Idea Laboratory is bubbling with excitement this time of year! Two of the selected projects, narrative and Old Oaks, took a little bit of time to let us know what they are up to!

narrative:

With the arrival of spring to Columbus, it seems that anything is possible. Our team at narrative is enjoying the sunshine, and using the renewed sense of energy and focus brought by the changing season to keep moving forward.

We have shifted the use of our Idea Lab funds from a display of the process of developing an emotional brand to a tangible event: a trunkshow with Pittsburgh designer Kelly Lane. We met Kelly this past winter at the showcases following NYC Fashion Week and instantly connected with her designs, personality, and mindfulness about her production process. Our team will be taking a trip to Pittsburgh to check out another of Kelly’s trunkshows before hosting her ourselves... and to catch a Pirates ballgame! Kelly will bring pieces from her past collections, as well as her current spring 2010 line, and preview and pre-order her fall 2010 collection. We’re especially excited to host Kelly in Columbus on May 22^nd at the Mahan Gallery in the Short North, a bright, contemporary space with a great location.

As graduation fast approaches for our team, we are busy putting into place the necessary network to make this concept a viable business. We continue to seek socially responsible design collaborators for product partnerships and have had promising conversations with fantastic brands in both the U.S. and Canada. We are perfecting our business plan pitch for the final round of the Fisher Business Plan competition. narrative is competing with five other finalists in this annual competition sponsored by Deloitte.

narrative will also make a pecha kucha style presentation of 20 slides, 20 seconds each at Innovation Fisher’s What IF Conference. We’re also exploring options for a permanent home for narrative in Columbus, and working through the more pragmatic details of incorporation, web presence, and funding. All this while enjoying the bittersweet conclusion of a great MBA experience, and, oh yeah, stopping to smell the roses! It’s spring in Columbus!

Old Oaks:

The Old Oaks Journal is online at http://www.oldoaksjournal.com! It's a very simple blog format at the moment, but the form will evolve as more content is added. A meeting with the Old Oaks Civic Association generated a great amount of interest, with a lot of positive feedback from attendees. An interview with Tom Glass, area resident since 1972, was held on April 19, and an excerpt is available on the Old Oaks Journal blog. An interview with another resident is scheduled for April 24, and verbal commitments have been given be several people to contribute to the project.

-Ray Smith
Barnett Fellow and Idea Lab Coordinator at the OSU Urban Arts Space