Local Love: Content at the Ace Portland

During our visit to Portland one thing was very clear: they love buying local. Whether it was food, clothing, accessories, books, etc, buying local was the way to go. I loved it because they supported the designers that are part of their community, and put their money back into their community. We shopped at a lot of the local boutiques and eateries, and were fortunate enough to have stayed at the Ace Hotel Portland during their pop-up shop, Content. A one night showcase of local independent designers, Content designers took over every room on the 2nd floor of the Ace. The rooms were styled into mini boutiques by the designers, with guests able to visit, party, and purchase.

I loved the super hip and chic vibe of Content, being exposed to such talented designers, and having a few drinks in the champagne room. Below are a few favorites from the night.

Carly Mick and Susanna Hohmann was cool and blue. I need one of these dresses.


Idom. Love their style. Love/must recreate their background wall installation.


Tanner Goods had so much masculine leather goodness. I really wanted some of their stamped leather coasters.


Better Late Than Never jewelry had one of my favorite rooms. I really liked how the gold and silver jewelry was displayed on canvas boards and laid out to look like art on the canvas.


Their random shaped bracelets and rings were another favorite.


Bridge and Burn shirts and jackets. So Portland.


Content Draught leather goods range from wallets and key holders to ipad cases and knife covers.


Portland Garment Factory takes military ponchos and re-purposes them into totes, accessories, tissue box covers. There were tissue box covers in every room of the Ace.


Project Runway winner, Gretchen Jones, also had her own room where she hosted a meet and greet. She had a few garments available, including cool ombre chevron pants.


Moonwoods creates custom frames by hand from sustainably harvested hard woods. The remnants of the frames are then crafted into jewelry. I was trying on some of the rings and they were such statement makers and so light weight.

It was so wonderful experiencing a whole new scene and meeting great designers. Hooray for community, creativity, and commerce.

More photos of the event can be seen here.