Portland State Magazine Fall 2011

BUSINESS AS Integrity of craftsmanship is defining a new way of doing business in Portland. WRITTEN BY SU YIM M EET CHAR LES HEY ING on campus and the urban studies professor can quickly turn into an unofficial tour guide for "made in Portland." He may take you to Langlitz Leath– ers, where employees create jackets for Bruce Springsteen; to Hopworks Urban Brewery for an organic handcrafted beer; to Renovo Hardwood Bicycles for frames made out of Oregon wood. All locally owned, all dedicated to quality products, these businesses exemplify a growing economic and lifestyle trend in Portland toward an "artisan economy," a term coined in Brew to Bikes: Portland's Artisan Economy, written by Heying, his urban studies students, and local urban planners. Rather than striving to get bigger and to maximize profits in order to consume more products, the artisan economy is built on different values, says Heying. The book-published in 2010 by Ooligan Press, the University's own artisan press-is based on interviews with 118 artisans across Portland's four Professor Charles Heying signature sectors: brew, food, fashion, and bikes. Ir defines arcisanship as a movement that challenges "the tyranny of work and consumption," focusing 12 PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE FALL 2011 Hopworks Urban Brewery was established about 25 years after the first craft breweries opened in Portland, and there are enough thirsty customers for all. Photo by Tim LaBarge. instead on the integrity of craft, simplic– ity, people, and place. In this world, the mark of success doesn't rest solely on the bottom line, but on the quality of the product. For Ben Davis, co-founder and owner of Grand Central Baking Company, it was all about the perfect loaf of bread when he opened a small cafe on Southeast Hawthorne in 1993. Consumers, literally, ace it up and can now buy the perfect loaf at the bakery's six locations. Despite his success, Davis has no plans to expand outside the city limits where maintaining quality control would be more difficult. TH E ARTI SAN AESTHETIC draws innovators to Portland who are passion– ate about their interests, says Heying. "Work is a vocation for them." For David King of King Basses, build– ing electric bass guitars is more than just work. "It's like being a monk-you commit to it and you don't have any way out once you're in," he says. Ristretto Roasters founder Din Johnson, who turned his hobby into a business in