Behind the Scenes

While we usually only get to share our projects in the form of “after pictures,” there is so much that goes into every detail along the way -- from specification, to artisan-crafting, to art curation, to onsite installation, and everything in between! This page is where we will share some of the behind-the-scenes stories, videos and photographs of the work that we do.

Making a Mural with artist Matt Miller

A behind-the-scenes short documentary of artist Matt Miller creating the latest tree mural, “Love Letter to West Hill”, on the east side of our building. Filmed and edited by our multi-talented employee, Kevin Richards, this short film captures the experience from concept to completion.

Interview with artist Matt Miller

Karen Starr sits down with Matt Miller to learn about the process of creating the new mural for Hazel Tree Design Studio.

10 Years Later and the Next New Mural

In this section of our “Behind the Scenes” look at life inside Hazel Tree, we’ll share photos, videos and interviews from the making of “Love Letter to West Hill”, the newest Hazel Tree mural, by Akron artist, Matt Miller.

This new mural, completed in 2020 with the help of a matching grant from the Great Streets Akron facade program, marks Hazel Tree’s 10th anniversary in business and starts a tradition: Every 10 years a new artist will paint a new tree mural on the east side of the building.

Click below to watch the video of the mural progression - from Day 1 to Day 18.

And check back here for more footage to be updated soon!

Behind the Scenes of our project at Bounce Innovation Hub

Our biggest and baddest project to date was creating the interior design, art curation and custom furnishings for The Generator Co-Working Space at Bounce Innovation Hub. Early on in the project, as it was becoming apparent just how many locally-made things would be a part of the end result, Bounce CEO Doug Weintraub said to Karen one day, “You have to tell this story. What you are doing with the local artists here is an unprecedented thing. You should consider making a video of how it all came together.”

We loved that idea and decided to enlist local videographer Ilenia Pezzaniti to create it with us.

For months, we gathered photos and video clips from our team’s phones, asked the artists who were a part of it to send us whatever they had, gathered photos and videos from the Bounce staff...anyone who had captured moments of the Bounce project along the way sent us things to include.

This is the end result. “The Making of The Generator Project,” as it were. We had the opportunity to show it to the attendees of the grand opening celebration in May of 2019, and now it lives here, for anyone who would like to see it or share the story of how 79 different Northeast Ohio artists and furniture makers created this space for our city’s innovators and entrepreneurs. 

We hope you enjoy it!

Video by Ilenia Pezzaniti

For more details on all of the artists and artisans that filled this 27,000-square-foot space with their work, check out our Art Directory pdf linked below.