Landesberg Design

A little warped but it’s finally in - only took a year! #ldconferencetable #landesbergdesign

Welcome to the Common Good Profiles. Periodically over the next few months, and possibly years, we’d like to feature individuals, businesses, organizations, and initiatives that are working towards helping foster opportunity, curiosity, engagement, and occasionally weirdness - in the idiosyncratic, eclectic nature of that word - for our region here in Western PA. Our inaugural profile is the organization Strong Women Strong Girls of Pgh. Originating out of Boston in 2000 as ...a student group creating mentorship opportunities for women and girls, the SWSG PGH chapter was started in 2006 and employs a multi-generational model for elementary, college, and professional women and girls to promote and engage within environments that help to champion gender equity issues across the spectrums of the business, social, political, and cultural landscapes. Led by co-President and Executive Director Dr. Jocelyn Horner and her passionate team along with the committed board chaired by Laura Freedman, the Pgh chapter has built an impressive, diverse, and yes, strong, community of schools and businesses that provide unparalleled mentorship opportunities for girls and women. Each year in August this network is celebrated at The Strong Awards breakfast which honors a recipient in each of the generations along with a corporation that has truly embraced the mission of the SWSG. We’ve attended the last two and in the sea of breakfasts, luncheons, benefits, and galas that many of us attend - this one stands out for the incredible stories that are conveyed. To learn more about this inspiring and effective group, please visit their site at SWSG.org. #landesbergdesign #commongoodprofiles @ Landesberg Design

The fall 2019 issue of Valpo Magazine, the alumni publication of Valparaiso University, highlights the growth and success of the institution during the decade-long tenure of departing president, Mark Heckler.

We've been fortunate on the Corps340 podcast to talk with some remarkable folks in the past two years but none has had a story of perseverance like that of today's guest, Hanifa Nakiryowa. The native of Uganda was the victim of a horrific acid attack in December of 2011. But to characterize Hanifa solely as a victim would be a mistake. As would be to say she is just a survivor. She is a woman who has determined to thrive, to advocate, to champion others, and most importantly,... she is a strong parent to her two daughters so that they will do the same. The founder of the The Center for Rehabilitation of Survivors of Acid and Burns Violence (CERESAV) takes us through her remarkable journey from that day in Kampala to her work here in Pittsburgh. Please visit https://ceresav.org/ to learn more about Hanifa's mission. Listen on itunes and soundcloud. See more

Carnegie Mellon University began with Andrew Carnegie’s letter to the city of Pittsburgh pledging a million dollars for the creation of a technical instituteCarnegie signed his letter, My heart is in the work. This phrase continues as the credo for everyone associated with CMU, be they student, faculty, or administration. Tasked with creating a video expression that would celebrate the complexity of the modern University’s offerings, we worked across the full spectrum of CMU’s colleges and schools to paint an energetic, diverse, and innovative environment. Created with our partners Animal and writer Ilona Segedy.

The first ever virtual holiday dinner for the Landesberg crew went better than we all probably expected great food from Cafe Du Jour, games where the points were meaningless, and a brutal white elephant gift exchange. All in all a very merry.

Stonemason Charles Pajeau and partner Robert Petit dreamed up the Thousand Wonder Toy in the early 1910s after watching children create endless abstract shapes with sticks, pencils, and old spools of thread. Adding holes on all sides of a round wooden wheel sized for sticks included in the set, they named their creation Tinkertoy. After 1919 Tinkertoys attracted budding engineers through the addition of an electric motor. The toys even came with instruction for creating el...aborate mechanical tool, such as printing presses, lathes, airplanes, and power saws. The postwar boom years of the 1950s finally brought color to the classic wooden toy. Playskool acquired Tinkertoy in 1985 and redesigned the toy in 1992 in honor of its 80th anniversary. No longer the wooden rods and spools of old, the new version featured brightly colored plastic parts, with each set designed to create particular objects. See more

Tattoo Witness, designed for our client and longtime neighbor, photographer Mark Perrott, has been recognized with an Honorable Mention in the 2021 Graphis Design Annual. The book weaves together a selection of arresting portraits and highly personal stories gathered by Mark, showcasing decades of work. Congratulations to designer Joe Petrina for his great work on the book, and many thanks to Mark for trusting us with his remarkable collection.

Through my friend Joe Lewis, I had the good fortune to meet Jasiri X, the CEO and Co-Founder (along with Celeste Smith) of 1 Hood Media about 5 or 6 years ago and he’s the type of person who leaves a profound impression. He does so because he speaks with a voice that is clear, uncompromising, honest, and laser focused on the issues of social justice. 1 Hood Media uses the diverse talents of socially conscious artists and activists (of which he is a member as an accomplished h...ip-hop musician) to peaceably connect our communities and raise awareness on a variety of community issues writ both large and small. The group has also started the 1 Hood Media Academy to teach young people how to create and implement their own expressions through the media. He, and the other artists of 1 Hood Media, provide the city and region with the kinds of voices that will keep driving the conversations that need to happen into positive outcomes. Learn more at 1hood.org. #commongoodprofiles #landesbergdesign See more

Established in 1996 and housed on Foreland Street on the North Side, Artists In Residence (AIR) is a treasured resource for printmaking artists alike to continue to hone their individual craft in a collaborative, friendly, and helpful, environment. The collective provides educational programs, exhibits, open studio hours, and archiving for the general public, beginning, and professional artists. Like all of the non-profit arts organizations in the region, they will need assistance to emerge from the pandemic through engagement when it is safe to do so and through donations anytime. #commongoodprofiles #landesbergdesign

Our first remote status worked pretty well. #landesbergdesign

The good doctor is in the vanguard of a growing revolution in routine healthcare and how it is delivered. Dr. Wong and others who are practicing direct primary care (DPC) are bypassing the insurance companies in favor of subscription models or flat fees for each office visit. In Dr. Wong’s practice, known as iHealth Clinic, each patient can walk into his small, neat, and spartan office on Centre Avenue in the East Liberty section of Pittsburgh, with no appointment necessary, ...and pay a flat copay like fee of $35 up front for most routine medical procedures that you would see a PCP for rashes, colds, minor scrapes and sprains, etc. The DPC model has been gaining traction from about 2014 on and there are now more than a 1000 such practices nationwide and roughly 3% of family practice physicians operate under this growing model that allows the doctor to spend less time with the red tape of insurance and more time focused on their patients. While insurance plans are still necessary for the big-ticket items, more patients are signing up for the DPC options because the prices are transparent, doctors are more available and paying cash for the visit and prescriptions can often save money. #commongoodprofiles #landesberdesign @ Landesberg Design

The first coffeehouses seem to have appeared in the Islamic world during the 15th century and were originally called qahveh khaneh in Farsi. Spreading across Europe in the 16th century, they became increasingly popular places to gather for discussions on local news and politics, listening to music, playing board games such as chess and backgammon, and of course, drinking coffee (and tea). It would appear then, that not much has changed about the basic construct of the coffee...house save for the advent of the internet and free wi-fi. Christina Parisi started her own Italian style qahveh khaneh in the eclectic community of Swissvale by leaving a note in the abandoned establishment’s mailbox outlining her interest in renovating the fairly dilapidated building into a neighborhood café. Once the real estate issues were solved the real work began of stripping down the grit and grime of decades of neglect and poor construction decisions (think drop ceilings and covered windows) not to mention the challenges all small businesses face when it comes to permitting, codes, and governmental bureaucracy. What has emerged is a beautifully simple, warm, and artistic café that emphasizes the word neighbor in neighborhood. A welcoming place for conversation and companionship, Christina makes it a point to remember names whether it’s you, your child, or your dog. This daughter of a first generation Italian-American has built a cozy haven for people to relax with your coffee, indulge in the wide variety of baked goods, or pick up some pasta or olive oil from her neatly stocked shelves of Italian products. We recommend bypassing the ubiquitous Starbucks (they’ll be fine) more often and find your way down Harrison Avenue to this enticing little enclave of coffee and community. #landesbergdesign #commongoodprofiles #parisicafe @ Parisi Cafe and Italian Market

The Common Good Profile: Sankofa Village Community Garden Ayanna Jones is a force of nature.... The CEO and Founder of the Sankofa Village Community Garden located in the neighborhood of Homewood is gifted with the energy, drive, and audacity of people half her age. Through a sheer positive will and a lifetime of experience she has employed one of the most original and natural facets of human existence gardening and is using it to teach multi-generational residents of Homewood the value of growing your own food for a healthier lifestyle, a stronger sense of place, and as a way to fight what is termed, food apartheid. Many people understand the term food desert where (mostly) low-income neighborhoods are geographically bereft of the simple amenities of grocery stores, food co-ops, or restaurants that provide access to healthier, more nutritious food options. But a desert is a natural state, food apartheid is a term to describe the systemic social construct that devalues people in these neighborhoods and assumes they are unworthy or unable to support stores that would supply these better food choices. They become marginalized from healthy food options. Enter Sankofa. Ayanna, and her team of dedicated volunteers, have grown literally a community garden that provides programming to train and empower young people to build relationships with the land, educational workshops designed to increase awareness across a whole host of issues from food sovereignty to entrepreneurial business development to helping end racial injustices, and provides fresh produce free-of-charge to the residents of Homewood. Ayanna is the first to admit that she is a lot to take as most forces of nature are but as Frederick Douglass said (when a young black man asked him for advice on how to live his life), you need to Agitate. Agitate. Agitate. Cultivate, cultivate, cultivate is how Ayanna has advanced Douglass’ sage advice as she is getting ready to move her original 27-bed garden located on North Braddock Avenue a half of a block up the street to new property three times the size of the original. There will be greenhouses, a children’s play area, and there are designs for a garden to help autistic children experience this alchemy of soil, seeds, and sweat. Anyone that has ever planted a garden knows how hard the day-to-day work of combatting weeds, wildlife, and of course, the weather but Ayanna remains undaunted by these challenges and indeed is looking for other ways her garden can challenge the social, cultural and political imbalances that need to be addressed. To learn more about Sankofa Village Community Garden, please visit their site https://www.svcgpgh.com/