Courtesy of CurrentProjectsMKE.com
During the pandemic, it’s hard to find new ways to get creative with small gifts. With all the extra time at home, retail therapy has probably exhausted all personal needs and wants inside the living space. Current Projects MKE is a local design studio run by Milwaukee artists and designers, Brent Budsberg and Shana McCaw, who released a collection of kitchen goods for Valentine’s Day.
“Shana and I are a husband-and-wife team and have been collaborating for 20 years as artists, curators, educators and designers,” says Brent Budsberg. “Much of this work has tapered off with the pandemic, so we have pivoted towards custom furniture and product design.”
Courtesy of CurrentProjectsMKE.com
Some of those products include cutting boards, benches, stools, vases and a surprising best-seller, a gnocchi board, which comes with hand-bound illustrated guide booklet. Budsberg believes the gnocchi boards have been so popular because they are not only a beautiful kitchen tool, but they offer an opportunity to experiment with new recipes.
Over the course of the pandemic, Budsberg and McCaw made nearly all meals in their kitchen. They felt like it was a great opportunity to collaborate.
“I think that so many of us have found ourselves with more time on our hands, which has allowed us to nurture hobbies and interests that may have been somewhat dormant,” says Budsberg. “For me, the pandemic has been a referendum on the rat-race and has reminded me how important it is to spend time doing the things that truly make me happy.”
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Budsberg and McCaw have been collaborating since 2001, after they met at an art opening in Riverwest. McCaw had an opening coming up at (now defunct) Flux Gallery on Center Street and Budsberg offered to play music at it. The two hit it off and formed a guerrilla performance art group called the WhiteBoxPainters. They got married in 2005, they’ve had art commissioned by the Chipstone Foundation and Sculpture Milwaukee, they won the Mary Nohl Fellowship in 2008 and 2014 and were part of the inaugural cohort of Gener8tor’s Fellowship Art accelerator program in 2019.
If you’re looking for an interesting gift that can be used to spend more quality time together for Valentine’s Day, consider some of the useful pieces Current Projects has to offer.
