KSHB 41 reporter Lily O’Shea Becker covers Franklin and Douglas counties in Kansas. Share your story idea with Lily.
—
After five years of operating out of their home, Dell Johnston and Nate Gu opened their first storefront in downtown Lawrence on Friday through nonprofit OpenStudios.
Their dog Willow joined them for the opening day at 745 New Hampshire St. The dachshund inspired the soy-based, handmade candle artistry, Andante Home, after she experienced allergic reactions to store-bought candles and sprays, Johnston said.
"We are a crafter that uses fragrance as our art," Johnston said.
The couple are the first artists to open a studio storefront through the OpenStudios program in Lawrence, which is working to fill vacant storefronts in downtown Lawrence ahead of the FIFA World Cup 26.
It's a win-win-win situation: Artists get a free space to sell their products, landlords get more foot traffic through their rentable spaces, and the city has less vacancies.
OpenStudios vets and matches local artists with a participating landlord, and the nonprofit funds the liability insurance and utilities.
“We’re very much committed to both sides — the artists and the landlords — having seen artist success and landlord success with it," said John Harrison, director of OpenStudios Lawrence.
Harrison said he participated in the program in Wichita in 2022. He extended the program to Lawrence.
“I participated as an artist, so I saw the benefits just participating as an artist," Harrison said. "That opened all sorts of doors for us."
Harrison said the program allowed him to network, and he's since been commissioned for several projects.
He said 30 artists have applied for the project in Lawrence, and he hopes to help connect each one of them with a vacant storefront. He asks landlords to commit their space to an artist for three to four months.
“If the landlord happens to rent it before that time, give us 30 days," he said. "We’ll be out within 30 days.”
Harrison said he hopes the program will run beyond the World Cup, but he said right now is a good time to focus on filling vacancies in downtown Lawrence.
Johnston and Gu will create candles, sell their products and support other artists at their short-term space downtown through the end of June.
"We’re really excited to see what the World Cup brings to Lawrence," Johnston said. "But also, we’ve been kind of planning, I think for nine months, welcoming fragrances for the World Cup people.”
Monique Mercurio is an indigenous artist in Lawrence. She helps OpenStudios select the artists to fill the vacancies and was at Andante Home's grand opening on Friday.
“When OpenStudios came in with the intentions that they did to actively build reciprocal relationships with artists and local storefronts, it just felt really wholesome," she said.
—
