Local company’s yoga bags on display

LITCHFIELD >> Locally based JoBirds yoga bags released a limited edition line of bags adorned with designs based on original art by “four of Litchfield County’s better fine artists,” according to Jake Nadler, co-founder of JoBirds.

Though all six Brushworks bags are available online and two have been introduced, the official launch of the second set of four will be at a champagne reception on Saturday, July 27, from 5 to 7 p.m., at the Behnke Doherty Gallery in Washington Depot. The event is free and open to the public.

The artwork of four local artists has been digitally imprinted onto the bags, making the compact carryalls walking art.

Nadler and his partner, Pam McCann, released their first bags online in early 2012, but the concept predated that by a year.

Nadler said he and McCann are both “escapees” from New York City who chose Litchfield as their town to retire.

McCann, who, Nadler said, has been a yoga enthusiast for the past few years, wanted to create a bag that could carry the mat, gym gear and other accessories that she’d seen yoga participants carry separately.

“I had this idea, and I had this shape in my mind,” she said.

She and Nadler began cutting and pasting a shopping bag to create the first prototype at home.

The couple hunted around for fabrics before teaming up with Mariotti Enterprises in Torrington. With the aid of this company, they were able to refine the physical side of the bag into something “you could hope to manufacture in quantity without totally losing your shirt,” Nadler said.

“A lot of what happens in terms of whether you can make something is won and lost by the cutting table,” he said.

Once the first batch of bags was made in 2012, McCann and Nadler took them to Bickram Studios in Manhattan, where they were sold on consignment.

“They sold out, like right away,” Nadler said.

The duo soon realized that they could not sell the bags at wholesale because the cost would be too high and decided instead to sell them online.

It is a challenge making, manufacturing and delivering a product to the street “at a price that your target consumer can relate to,” Nadler said.

The ideas and execution had been well thought out thus far; however, the inspiration for the unique Brushworks line came completely by chance.

While meeting with Web site designer Evan Dobos, Nadler and McCann noticed a piece of artwork in his office that they thought would look great as a design for a bag.

The art was one of Jennifer Sabella’s drips.

Sabella, a Litchfield resident whose art has been displayed at Five Points Gallery in Torrington, also hired Dobos to design her website.

Dobos introduced the JoBirds co-founders to Sabella and Joan Morosani, an artist who also lives in Litchfield. Morosani started off as a textline designer in New York City before moving to Litchfield. The paintings that she now creates, she said, are also a textile.

“[Joan] didn’t even think about it,” McCann said. “She just absolutely loved the idea.”

Digitally printing the designs on the bags gave them flexibility to do the artwork, Nadler said, allowing them to print limited edition art on the bags. The inner fabric is made of recycled plastic bottles, he said. The outer fabric and the digital printing process are also eco-friendly, according to Nadler.

“It’s really unique, and it’s very exciting,” Sabella said. “The unique bag, the unique company with a really nice, really great vision.”

Sabella and Morosani each had their Brushworks bags, called Drips and Grand Canyon, respectively, showcased at a champagne reception on June 15 at Charym Yoga & Fitness Studio in Litchfield.

Nadler and McCann next visited the studio of Souby Boski, an artist from New Milford, who is also the director of Behnke Doherty Gallery in Washington Depot.

Boski said she responded positively because she’d been doing yoga herself for a long time.

“It just made sense to me that they would approach me because of my yoga connection and that was kind of cool,” she said.

Her Dune Series was inspired by the dunes in Provincetown, she said, which she visited several years ago.

Boski currently teaches oil painting at the Wash- ington Art Association and teaches art history at Naugatuck Valley Community College.

Boski recommended that the JoBirds co-founders visit with Elizabeth MacDonald of Bridgewater, the 1999 received the Governor’s Arts Award in visual arts. MacDonald agreed as well to have her Autumn Mosaic and Blue Mosaic displayed on the bags.

“I think it’s great fun. First of all, I like the images on both of them,” MacDonald said. “I like that they chose a warm and a cool one for the bags. And I think that the bags are so beautifully made. It was just a treat to have the images of my work on that.”

McCann said that MacDonald was “totally blown away” the first time she was shown the final product.

MacDonald’s and Boski’s bags will be introduced at the July 27 champagne reception on at the Behnke Doherty Gallery.

“I’m thrilled to be presenting the bags with Elizabeth MacDonald,” Boski said. “She’s a very, very wellknown artist in the area so it will be really helpful to have her name associated with the product.”

Though they aren’t exactly common, several other companies, such as Avon, also sell these all-in- one type yoga bags. None are quite like the Brushworks line, however.

“They’re really unique in many ways,” Nadler said.

The JoBirds yoga bags are available online at www. jobirds.com.

The Behnke Doherty Gallery is located at11 Titus Road in Washington Depot.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Joan Morosani, who moved from Manhattan to Litchfield to run a cattle farm with her husband, has had her work exhibited at The White Gallery in Lakeville and the White Space Gallery in New Haven, among others.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Jennifer Sabella currently lives in Litchfield. The inspiration for her drips series, she said, came when her then 9-yearold daughter found her canvas and began dripping her paints and making a mess.