Secret Richmond Business Builds Futuristic Antique Bikes
John Ryland has held in his possession, at one time or another, an oddball collection of various modes of transport – each with a different story. There was a classic Land Rover, a collection of old BMW motorcycles, a VW Scirocco, and a crazy French car that looked like a grasshopper. One in particular, a […]
Happy Tails
Good ol’ fashioned nature is a beautiful thing, bearing no boundaries and offering experiences that no man-made object could ever top. Being outside brings about a sense of freedom and excitement. Nobody or no being understands this more than our friend “the dog.” Some dogs are inside all day while their owners are working or […]
Hammer and Anvil
The art and tradition of good blacksmithing – shaping, pointing, bending, splitting, and joining. These are some of the topics you might hear discussed at the Central Virginia Blacksmith Guild. Forging metal to create everything from furniture and sculpture to light fixtures and tools, blacksmiths in our area represent the self-sufficiency and do-it-yourself nature of […]
An Instrument Built to Last
By Davy Jones Many would consider metal to be Richmond’s main musical export, but an instrument with a slightly more dulcet tone is bringing our city’s creativity and ingenuity to households all over the globe—the ukulele. From the Richmond office of Hohner, the storied German instrument manufacturing company, Leon Lewis heads up Lanikai, which has […]
A Town that Prints Together
Climbing into the driver’s seat of a bright-green steamroller, Ashley Hawkins starts the engine and engages the clutch. With a singlewide roll at the front, Hawkins moves the heavy equipment forward with a cheer from onlookers. This was the scene on September 13, 2013 as Hawkins hauled her first steamroller off the lot of Sunbelt […]
Art Happens Here
Change is constant at 2016 Staples Mill Road. It was once Colonial Grocery. Then it was a beauty school. And from there, a mixed-use building that peddled everything from mattresses to flooring. For the past 13 years, the property, however, has served one purpose: the home base for Crossroads Art Center, a growing clearinghouse for […]
Knife-Making in RVA
It was during his time living in an inner city Chicago mission seven years ago that now-Richmonder Brent Stubblefield began making knives. “I lived with all these old hippies and they all did stuff like leatherworking, making things with their hands, and a couple guys showed me how to make knives,” recalls Stubblefield, who-if you […]
Businessweek Reporter Brings Radio Show to RVA
RVA has a new radio show thanks to Roben Farzad, previously a senior writer at Bloomberg Businessweek for nine years. Farzad moved from Manhattan to Richmond a few years ago and fell in love with the region. It didn’t take him long to begin making connections. From an active social media presence on Twitter to […]
Growing the Startup Ecosystem
Over the past few years, Greater Richmond’s startup community has grown by leaps and bounds. We are becoming a city driven by the ingenuity of its people. The very pages of this magazine are a testimony to the innovative and creative forces shaping our city. We are creating new products, building new technology, offering new […]
Palto Alto on the James
Gesticulating clusters of people gathered and dispersed, gathered and dispersed, moving from one group to another in the back room of Balliceaux on a Wednesday evening during the ruthless winter that never seemed to end. “Let me tell you why that won’t work,” said a woman buried deep in a coding conversation, her explanation interrupted […]