I recently had the fortune to participate in a project known in the Asheville area as The Handmade House. The HandMade House at the Ramble represents a unique partnership between HandMade in America, a non-profit coalition of Western North Carolina artists and craftspeople, and Biltmore Farms, one of the region's most respected real estate development firms. The idea behind this project is to create a showplace residence that demonstrates the value, measured in both commercial and aesthetic terms, of integrating the ideas of thoughtful builders and gifted artists. The House will be on display October 11 - November 9, 2008. To make the Showhouse a reality one hundred artists from the North Carolina mountains worked hand in hand with architects, landscapers, and construction crews to create a model of collaboration that can be replicated not only in the region but throughout North Carolina and the nation.
