Moving Sale!

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UNIQUE LA is moving... We need to get rid of everything! Join us tomorrow morning from 10am - Noon as we clear out our old office. Great deals on furniture, props, knick-knacks and more! Plus, we have filled one section of the room with freebies for you to take (craft supplies, books, decor items).

Interested in buying the custom-made Mitchell Gold+Bob Williams 4-seater sofa, with special order gray velvet upholstery? My puppy tore open the left arm upholstery. :( So what was once a $3800 sofa is now $1000 - that is IKEA pricing y'all! Other then the torn arm, it's in great condition. If you are interested and want a few pics emailed of the torn arm fabric, email me at sonja@uniqueusa.com.

LA's Spring Show a Blast!

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Thank You LA!

Our 5th Annual Spring Show was another great success, thanks to the amazing and talented vendors and to the 14,000+ shoppers that came to buy local and enjoy community! Spending Mother's Day weekend with such a great group of people never gets old, and we all feel blessed to be part of such a positive and energetic community. We'd love to hear from y'all - make a comment below and tell us what you're favorite finds were or which vendors you are now obsessed with! :) Did you get snapped? We've posted our pictures of the weekend on our Flickr page for you to enjoy, including many of the fabulous Richard Simmons who came to buy local! If you posed for a wacky picture with Oh Snap Studios, you'll find your unique photos on their website here. If you want to find a vendor that you loved, you can browse our online listing of Participants by category - shop from them online and continue to buy local. :)

Because of your support we were able to donate $3000 to our great non-profit partner the Downtown Women's Center who have been a vital part of the community for over 35 years. In 2011 they opened MADE by DWC, an amazing cafe and boutique in downtown LA that sells products created locally by homeless and low-income women at the Downtown Women’s Center, and they just opened a new re-sale store nearby! I hope you'll visit their website to learn more about the organization and how you can get involved and help.

UNIQUE LA shows could not be possible without the great support, enthusiasm and energy from our Sponsors! Like us, they believe in community and 'quality over quantity'. If you enjoyed a free drink or discovered a tasty new treat, please show them love by visiting their websites. You'll find them all here. :)

Thank you again for an amazing show, we hope to see you at our Summer Show held in Santa Monica’s Barker Hangar on July 13 & 14!

Early Bird Rate for CAMP

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Calling all campers! Take advantage of our Early Bird Rate and get $205 off of the standard rate to attend CAMP this June!

CAMP is a 4-day creative conference that strategically curates workshops and experiences in three areas to give entrepreneurs and creatives the tools to succeed. Join us in sunny Big Bear, California, for this game-changing experience. There are small business workshops, creative art classes and outdoor challenges - all designed to help you thrive by stimulating both sides of the brain.

CAMP is all-inclusive! It includes all accommodation, meals and snacks, drinks (including booze and artisan elixirs), workshops and materials, keynote speakers, all activities such as archery and horseback riding, evening programming, arts and crafts, transportation from Los Angeles, and more!

Once registered, Campers will hear from CAMP Headquarters over email quite often on everything from "What to Pack" to "Choose Your Workshops". You might also want to keep an eye on your mailbox for care packages... Score!

We're Baaaaack

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It's been a while but we're definitely back! 2013 is an exciting year for State of Unique

, so bookmark us and check back every now and then for amazing content such as Designer DIYs, Studio Tours, Small Business Advice, and lots and lots of exclusive video content documenting the maker movement around the country! Here's to 2013!

PS here's a few more reminders that WE'RE BACK!

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UNIQUE LA Tomorrow!

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In just 12 hours we'll open doors to the biggest made-in-America shopping event of the year - UNIQUE LA. Not only that, its also our 5th Anniversary so prepare to see a heftier directory, an exclusive totebag by Brian Rea, UPPERCASE magazine giveaways, an amazing open bar, and tons more! We'll have the event recap photos up sometime next week but if you want live coverage of the event, follow us on Instagram at @UniqueUSA.

 

 

UNIQUE NYC Map

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Who's psyched for UNIQUE NYC this weekend? We thought you might be interested in a sneak preview of what's happening this weekend at UNIQUE NYC. Here's the map of all of the vendors and activities at the show! Plan your trip ahead.

Did you know that you can get a free American Apparel tshirt with exclusive UNIQUE NYC artwork from Toyota? Did you also know that Toyota will donate $2 to local non-profit World Up each time you mention #toyotagiving in your tweet? Come to UNIQUE NYC to celebrate and support the local designers and artists! Woop Woop!

Instagram Photo Contest!

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Hello Instagrammers! We want to see what you think makes LA and/or NYC unique. :) We're publishing a full-sized magazine to giveaway at the DEC 1 & 2 UNIQUE LA Holiday Show, and we're also printing a directory/booklet for our NOV 17 & 18 UNIQUE NYC Show - and we're going to feature the best pics that we get! So if you've always wanted 15 minutes of fame, or quite simply have really unique, beautiful photos of the City of Angels or the Big Apple that you'd love to share, send them our way.

To submit an Instagram photo for consideration, share it with us on Twitter using the hashtag #UniqueLA or #UniqueNYC by Wednesday, October 31st.

Thanks SF!

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Our 1st Annual UNIQUE SF Show was a blast! Wow, thank you to all who participated and shopped at our first-ever UNIQUE SF show! The UNIQUE team is so impressed with the Bay-area design community and still can't believe how happy all the shoppers were... A handful even tracked me down so they could express their enthusiasm for the show! The two-day show was most definitely The Jam.

We also wanted to thank our amazing partners, whose support made it possible to expand to the city. Toyota worked with us very closely to create an area filled with free interactive activities such as live screen-printing, hair braiding and massages (yes, free massages!), kick-butt DIY crafts and more.

A very special area that we offered at UNIQUE SF was an Analog Zone, which was created by my good friend Levi of The Digital Detox. In this 'device-free' area people could get their portraits taken, type letters, partake in yoga, play board games and more. It was really inspiring to see everyone interacting live, in real time, and not typing a play-by-play about the cool area on their phones!

Oh Snap Studios offered unique portraits at their live photo booth... You can download yours here.

Were you snapped? Make sure to take a peek at all the rad photos here.

Mama Mia! Spring Show Success

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THANK YOU CALI! Last weekend's 4th Annual UNIQUE LA Spring Show was a huge success with over 16,000 shoppers coming to support our great designers/artists. Some of our favorite moments include watching 9-year-old Caine (of Caine's Arcade) take pictures with fans and see kids shout with glee as they played his cardboard games; seeing all the families/kids treating Mom to gifts and sweet treats; being a tad starstruck while meeting amazing musicians Tegan and Sara, and Paramore; and getting to see all the great products and designs from first-time vendors while finally meeting ones from Portland and NYC face-to-face.

We're excited to share that we raised thousands of dollars for our non-profit partner CicLAvia, who you should check out and go to their next ride on October 14th. Here are a handful of pictures from the show, you can browse them all and look for yourself on our Flickr page! If you'd like to download your Oh Snap Studios photos from the weekend, click here for Saturday and/or Sunday. We loved having I Spy DIY, Swellmayde and the Craft and Folk Art Museum on-hand to teach free craft projects to y'all all weekend. Thank you to all the great sponsors who help to create such a cool environment and handout freebies - it wouldn't be the same without you!

Our next shows? We've got our very first UNIQUE SF June 30 & July 1, and then we head to the Barker Hangar for our UNIQUE LA Summer Show. We hope to see you soon!

 

Roy Denim

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Roy Slaper has one obsession - making jeans. Watching Roy passionately run Roy Denim all by himself out in the back streets of Oakland is really inspiring on so many levels. His obsessive attention to detail and his unique machine driven approach to creating jeans is what makes Roy Denim such a success.

Watch this great video produced by the good people over at Cool Hunting.

Spring 2012 Lookbook

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Our Spring Show 2012 Preview Lookbook is ready! In order to show y'all some of the great things you can buy from local designers at the Spring Show, we went to Disneyland with our friends Matt and Kandy to shoot it. Great excuse to spend a day at the park right?! Our Spring Show is right around the corner, Saturday and Sunday May 12 & 13 - which is Mother's Day weekend. Come shop, treat your mom to something fab and spend the weekend with us... See you there!