The End of an Era

Things happen for a reason, and my job at Kremer Pigments is a good example. I had been looking for work in New York a couple of months before moving here. I sent a total of one hundred resumes and only one place called back, El Museo del Barrio. I went for an interview but after three weeks they sent a letter letting me know that they had hired some one else. I was down to the wire, my move was about a week away and no one had given me the time of day.
I had scheduled to move to New York on Wednesday June 30, 2004. On Sunday June 27, late at night, I found an ad in the New York Times for a sales position at an art store. I looked at it and thought it was too good to be true, a good paying full time job for a sales person at an art store is unheard of. What did I have to loose right? On Monday night, after I got out of school I drove to the nearest Kinko's to fax my resume. That night I found out from a Kinko's employee that I had been faxing my resumes the wrong way, reason why no one called me for an interview. This time around I made sure to fax the damn thing right!
On Tuesday afternoon I get a call from my partner in New York letting me know that the manager from the art store had called and left a message in the answering machine. I called right away and told them that I could see them the next day, Wednesday June 30. I told them that I would be moving that day but that I would be there for the 5 pm interview. The next day I got up early, by 8 am I was on the road from Connecticut to New York with all my belongings and made it to my Queens apartment by 10 am. I started unpacking right away and made it to the interview forty five minutes early. I interviewed and two weeks later I get a call saying that I had the job.
I have been working for Kremer Pigments for two and a half years, learning a lot about materials and their use. Things that unfortunately art schools today don't care much about. I have grown as an artist and professional thanks to this job, and to top it all it paid my high rent, and it still does. I wanted to share with you this place. We recently moved to a new location in Chelsea, a store that's about three times bigger than the original store in SOHO.
Many changes have happened. This week Kremer Pigments Inc. NYC was sold to another company in California, Sinopia Inc. The new owner used to be a former employee of Kremer in the 90's, and now he's back to run the place. We are all excited since good changes are coming our way, but before the physical aspect of the store changes, I decided to bring you some images of the good old days of Kremer.
This is how the store looks at the moment, and in a few months everything will be revamped. By the way, that is Miss Paris Breakfasts herself sitting at the front counter in the top picture.
Please enjoy the images and if you can make it to the store in the next few months do so. Even if you don't work with raw materials you will like to see all the colors available, more than 500! Or you can look at my set of pictures.

Kremer Pigments Inc. a Sinopia Company, 247 W 29th Street, New York, NY 10001 (212) 219-2394