The Black Box Welcomes The C Word: A Contemporary Craft Pop-Up
The C Word is a three-month retail gallery that will be open October through early January.
The C Word is located in Unit 2 at The Black Box, 93 Washington Ave, in Portland, ME.
PORTLAND, Maine (October 13, 2023) - The Black Box on Washington Avenue, Portland’s first repurposed shipping container and retail incubator, is excited to announce the newest addition to its community retail space: The C Word: A Contemporary Craft Pop-Up. The C-Word is a colorful, curated retail gallery offering the work of over 25 Maine artists and makers.
The C Word carries handmade and locally-crafted items including paintings, functional and sculptural ceramics, small furniture and woodworkings, a variety of jewelry, body products, garments and textiles, prints, cards, holiday items, and miscellaneous home goods. The store is owned and operated by jewelry designer /maker Cat Quattrociocchi of CATQUAT, who is not new to the Maine makers and crafts scene. Cat has participated in local craft markets for several years and has been organizing small markets herself for the last two. Her motivation for organizing markets was to gather like-minded artists together whose work she knew she’d want to have in a shop of her own some day.
“I have held and enjoyed a variety of jobs for the last 10 years, always with the goal open a shop of my own. The Black Box gave me the opportunity to open for a three-month period which made The C Word possible financially and logistically. The space is an ideal size for a trial run of something that I hope will eventually transform from seasonal pop-up to permanent shop. Not to mention - the timing was right! After a couple years of organizing small maker's markets creating The C Word felt like a natural next step. It feels great to be surrounded by the work of artists who I connect with and I can’t wait to talk to anyone & everyone who pops in about the wonderful things that these artists + makers do!”
The C Word occupies Unit 2 of The Black Box and will be open from Wednesday - Sunday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Follow along and learn more via @c_word.shop.
The Black Box opened in November 2018 with leases designed to be flexible and to accommodate business owners who want space to test a concept or provide street-front retail space without a long-term commitment. Read more about The Black Box concept and mission here.
About The Black Box
The Black Box offers unique and flexible retail space in Portland, Maine's East End, in the heart of inner Washington Avenue. The single-story structure is built using repurposed shipping containers. Each of the five units is approximately 300 square feet, offering move-in ready space and 8’ wide double glass doors off the sidewalk. For more information, visit www.tbbwashington.com or follow the journey on Instagram or Facebook.