PRESS RELEASE YazBerry Fashion opens store on Artists’ Row, sustainable fashion handmade in Salem, MA.

IMMEDIATE RELEASE Press Release

YazBerry Fashion opens store on Artists’ Row, sustainable fashion handmade in Salem, MA.
Saturday, May 15, 2010, Salem, MA

Designer Virginia E. Berry has been selected from a competitive applicant pool to open a retail and studio space on the City of Salem’s Artists’ Row marketplace at 24 New Derby St., Salem, MA, 01970. She designs under her label, YazBerry Fashion and will open from Memorial Day weekend through Halloween. YazBerry Fashion is sustainable fashion, handmade by Berry in her Salem, MA studio.

Sustainable fashion, like most sustainable concepts, has a variety of connotations. YazBerry’s flavor of sustainability is the recycling of previously worn garments and components into new, wearable art creations. Berry refers to this as repurposing; many of her purses were once shirts or tunics, now lined with gently used curtain panels. She combines these repurposed fabrics with new fabrics, unused vintage fabrics she inherited from her Grandmother and antique Japanese kimono obi fabric.

Berry also works in leather and has developed a technique she refers to as ‘leather lace’ which is a cut leather technique drawing inspiration from Japanese cut paper art and Mexican papel picado. Berry applies this technique to bracelets, necklaces and most recently purses.

GRAND OPENING Memorial Day weekend, open Thursdays – Sundays until 6 PM. Berry will also be offering free classes throughout the season; teaching participants various aspects of fashion design, basic sewing skills, costuming and even some musical activities as Berry is also a musician.

About YazBerry Fashion
Founded in 2006, YazBerry Fashion is vintage inspired purses, jewelry, clothing and more designed and handmade by Virginia E. Berry. Bold colors, striking combinations and intricate details drawn from her travels around the world, flavor YazBerry designs. Berry learned to sew from her Mother and her Grandmother, an avid quilter. She is self taught in jewelry making and leather working.

While attending Skidmore College, she worked in the costume shop under the direction of Patty Pawliczak where she learned to fine tune her pattern design and garment construction skills. She also participated in student fashion shows, which sparked her interest in fashion design. For more information on YazBerry Fashion and Designer Virginia E. Berry, visit http://www.yazberry.com. To shop online visit http://yazberryfashion.etsy.com YazBerry ships worldwide.

-For more information on the City of Salem’s Artists’ Row visit: http://www.salem.com/pages/artistrow
-To view Virginia E. Berry’s portfolio visit & view albums: http://www.facebook.com/yazberryfashion
-For further information and detailed stories on Berry, visit Berry’s blog: http://yazberry.blogspot.com

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GRAND OPENING Memorial Day Weekend!

Things I love include exclamation points. As very obviously expressed in almost all of my blog posts. Disclaimer: if you abhor exclamation points, then get ready to be annoyed.

You are cordially invited to the GRAND OPENING of my YazBerry Handmade Fashion store Memorial Day Weekend, Thursday May 27 - Sunday May 30!!! For the official invite and more details please visit my Facebook event page.

Don't worry if you can't make it Memorial Day weekend, I will be open Thursday - Sunday all tourist season, through Halloween. Stop in anytime.

Located in the heart of Salem, MA, on Artists' Row, 24 New Derby St., #5, Salem, MA 01970 This link will take you to Mapquest, and the star takes you to the metered parking lot directly behind my store. YazBerry Handmade Fashion is located on the corner directly across from Walgreens.

Store hours:
Thursday 11 AM - 7 PM (Farmer's Market, right next to me, is open too)
Friday 10 AM - 6 PM
Saturday 10 AM - 6 PM
Sunday 12 PM - 6 PM
And anytime the door is open!

I will have studio space within the store and will be working on new designs Monday - Wednesday and while the store is open so please, if you see me there, come on in, look around, buy some YazBerry and go home happy!

Also on the Artists' Row are Impart Art, a ceramicist with whom I am sharing the building, The Salem Arts Association, GAS Works - a collection of artists ranging from leather to reworked vintage furniture, Mamadou African Drummer and A Quest Actor's Studio. The ever tasty Lobster Shanty restaurant is also on Artist's Row (try the crab cakes...LOVE).

Artist's Row is nestled between The Tavern on the Square and Delande Lighting (who are awesome, they helped me find the right components to wire up some vintage candle holders I found).

There is metered parking (meters go off at 6 PM Mon-Sat & free Sun) right behind my store as well as the free municipal lot in front of the Post Office which is 1.5 blocks away.

Remember, YazBerry will leave people asking you where you got it!