Since moving from Brooklyn to Davenport a little more than a year, David Balluff and Lopeti Etu have searched long and hard to find the perfect space for their eclectic hand-made clothing and hat (and other stuff) store.
A brief residency in cramped quarters at Bucktown came to an end awhile ago, and the pair have been busy fulfilling mail order requests in their apartment since. But they finally found what they were looking for in The Market building on W. 2nd Street.
"It's a great location for us, with gigantic windows and close to the Farmers' Market, the Figge, the bike trail and other things going on down here," said Balluff, who manufactures organic cotton and bamboo silkscreen shirts, dresses, sarongs, onsies, tank tops and other fine products under the name General Assembly.
His partner, Lopeti Etu, creates hand-blocked hats of all sorts, under the brand Lopeti Etu Millinery.
Both of their complete lines of products, as well as those of other local and far-flung original designers, will be housed at the new L&D 15 limited edition clothing, accessories and housewares shop.
Balluff said the fact the building was known as the New York Hat Company in the 1910s, made it seem like the perfect home for he and Lopeti's vision.
"We're bringing back not only hat manufacturing, but we were recently in New York ourselves," he said.
Etu and Balluff plan to reach out to artists and designers both locally and internationally, including open calls for artists/makers and other creatives to present new products. That will happen closer to the studio's opening.
"We're trying to build something that gives back to the community," Balluff said. "Our target market isn't young or old, rich or poor. It's people who appreciate things made by hand."
He calls this "retail 2.0" - meaning L&D 15 won't be just a place to shop, but a living workshop and community gathering space.
Part of their interior work that includes renovating floors and painting. They are using lumber from Davenport Public Works' urban wood utilization program. They plan to open sometime in November.
