This week we'll be learning more about Mark and Suzanne from Turnadaisy, our new featured shop!
Turnadaisy was created by Mark & Suzanne Vainner. We have been together 21 years and are always elbow deep in multiple projects, usually with recycled or upcycled items. We love finding creative ways to make life easier and more fun. Turnadaisy is a rotating table company. We provide a dizzying array of sizes and styles of rotating tables, all material is recycled or upcycled. Our largest tables are 42" which is 19 cubic feet ea. of attractive, durable, recycled material no longer going into our landfills! "Lazy Susan" has never worked so hard or been so Green. Turnadaisy is also a member of the Design Style Guide an amazing group of artists specializing in supplying professional interior designers, home stagers and more with quality handmade art.
Large scale, user-friendly, touchable garden sculpture is another passion for us. We were thrilled to be chosen by The B.O.B. during the inaugural year of ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, Mi. to display our Turnadaisy Flowering Garden bench. Suzanne is also a balloon artist. We were fortunate enough to work with Larry Moss, Kelly Cheatle and Cathy Adams on their ArtPrize entry "Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus" made entirely out of balloons. See Suzanne's balloon portfolio here.
What are you currently working on?
We are working on a number of things. We are busy finalizing the new member of the Turnadaisy family, the Turnadaisy Juiced. The Juiced is a 42" Original Turnadiasy with 3 electrical outlets spaced around the edge. These outlets give you the power to plug-in just about anything you want and still spin the table freely. We are very excited about this new item, the uses are endless. People with disabilities can have a lamp, laptop computer, a phone, ipod charger - whatever they need plugged in. Horticultural types can plug-in lights or hydroponic pumps. Crafters can plug-in glue guns, work lights, dremel tools etc. Entertainment types can plug-in lights, food warmers, crockpots and more.
The website is in the middle of an exciting "reboot" by Andrea & Jason Rigler at webmanna.com. Our logo has just received a makeover by Jennifer McDonald and we are re-shooting product stills and video for the new website with Elizabeth (stills)and Jamie(video)Klueck at ElizabethKphotographic.com.
What do you like to do in your free time outside of your business?
Suzanne loves to garden and take pictures of the various flowers in the garden. Mark has spent years using upcycled and recycled material to transform our home into a cool place to work and live. We also have an indoor pond with Koi, Butterfly Koi, a Rayukin, a Goldfish and a cool little fish with unknown parentage, named Mutt.
Art, vintage and antique hunting are a big part of our lives as well. We also have a beautiful American Pit Bull Terrier, Emma. Emma was abandoned in our yard in early March of 09 and has added a lot of fun & excitement to our once quiet house. Emma goes to school with Ron Watson & Apryl Lea at Pawsitive Vybe, an amazing world-class dog training studio, located in Rockford, Mi. Apryl is also a staff trainer at Paws with a Cause. We have learned so much about positive dog training, met the best trainers out there and had a lot of fun. We are grateful to live close enough to train there multiple times a week.
Where would you like to see your shop and business in a year?
We would really like to see Turnadaisy contribute even more to this great community by adding a couple of people to the payroll. We also look forward to folks being able to see a Turnadaisy in action for themselves at more retail locations.
How was your experience participating in Art Prize last year & do you plan on entering again this year?
ArtPrize was amazing. We learned so much and proved to ourselves we could in the matter of a few short months design, build, attract a venue with our portfolio, successfully install a large-scale sculpture and have people, media & photographers alike, really enjoy it. The chance to discuss our work with the public and other artists and see their reactions was just priceless. The first time someone said it belonged at Meijer Gardens was more than we could have dreamed of and then we heard it enough times I lost track, making all the work worth every minute.
ArtPrize was amazing. We learned so much and proved to ourselves we could in the matter of a few short months design, build, attract a venue with our portfolio, successfully install a large-scale sculpture and have people, media & photographers alike, really enjoy it. The chance to discuss our work with the public and other artists and see their reactions was just priceless. The first time someone said it belonged at Meijer Gardens was more than we could have dreamed of and then we heard it enough times I lost track, making all the work worth every minute.
We were planning to enter the sculpture again this year. We wanted to try to secure a more open and green space. It was difficult to appreciate the shadows this sculpture throws where it was. Unfortunately, ArtPrize has chosen to not allow a piece previously entered. It is disappointing, but it's their event. We loved it and will always be grateful for the chance to participate. We have decided to focus on the Turnadaisy tables (new website & logo, video etc. soon) and looking for a place the Turnadaisy Flowering Garden Bench can call home. 2011 might be a different story - we will participate whenever we can.
Where can we find you online and/or locally?
Locally Turnadaisy is currently found at Growco at 1042 Michigan St. N.E in Grand Rapids. Growco has a beautiful selection of Bonsai as well as a knowledgable staff who will help you with just about anything you could ever want to know about growing plants, under lights, in hydroponic environments and more.
Turnadaisy can also be found in several places online.
- Turnadaisy Web Site
- Twitter @Turnadaisy
- Design Style Guide Portfolio
- Turnadaisy on Etsy
- Turnadaisy Facebook Page
3 comments:
Amazing! What a neat interview. Good luck with your future endeavors...
Well done. Very impressive and creative. Congratulations on haveing this chance that is awesome.
Really cool products, environmentally responsible, simple and totally useable. Who would ever have imagined that what started as a solution for plants in tight spaces has grown into the Turnadaisy of today! Congratulations Mark and Suzanne!
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