So, on a totally different note than the last academic one, I went down to my little soon-to-be-storefront in Berwyn today to scope out the Sprout business incubator space and make plans.
I took measurements, photographed every single other booth in the incubator to garner ideas, brainstormed what I’d want for the look of the place, drew sketches, and then came back and talked it all over with Kevin and Kavi.
I spent a while waffling over the aesthetics (blue! orange! cream!), but have settled, I think, on a sort of autumnal / South Asian woodland. Which sounds kind of wacky, but trust me, I think it’s going to work, even though it’s not as if Sri Lanka has autumn color-changing leaves the way New England does. Think of it as different parts of my heritage coming together, perhaps!
I decided to try a dark green ombré backdrop — we’re allowed to paint or wallpaper those slats, so Kavi took the photo of my space (which previously had all pink slats), and mocked up an ombré to see if I’d like it (using a color palette I picked out on Pinterest as a starting point).
I like it! I think the green will work well with all of my book covers, and I can add autumn decor to give it an autumn feel, then switch it to red and white decor for Christmas (assuming I have the energy at that point).
And then I’m going to stencil, I think, using some S. Asian stencils I already have on hand, in the white spaces.
First few photos are my space and sketches, then, in case you’re curious, are all the other spaces currently occupied.
There’s going to be a lot of this in the next few days, because I’m on a slightly tight deadline — I’m leaving town next Thursday for four days to help my dad with some eldercare finance stuff, so I’m hoping to get all this set up and ready to go by Wednesday, since my rent ($225 / month, + three 5-hr shifts / month staffing the place)) kicks in October 1st. So expect a lot more, very quickly.
I think I need a new hashtag.
