Five years ago, Deby Cowdin was cleaning up after a party. As she picked up the empty wine and liquor bottles on her porch, her friend and partner, Mindy Bohannon, dared her to do something that would change her life. "She said, 'you're a glass artist, figure out something to do with them.'" So Cowdin did exactly that. She founded Blue Bag, a company that transforms bottles into serving plates, cheese boards and other works of art.

Cowdin started the business out of her h... Read more >

From the Warehouse District to Tremont, artists have been harbingers of neighborhood comebacks. Now a new program aims to use artist-based development as the centerpiece for one lucky neighborhood's turnaround.

The Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC) on Monday announced the launch of Artists in Residence, a new program that seeks to create improvements in one city neighborhood by offering incentives for artists who live and work there.

The program ... Read more >

If Walter Wirth has his way, every restaurant in Cleveland will soon offer wine on tap. Yes, you read that right -- wine served from a keg. In fact, there is no good reason not to. In addition to providing the freshest possible product at the lowest possible price, the wine-by-the keg approach is as eco-friendly as it gets. While the concept may be new to Ohio, it is by no means a new concept.

Although jewelry maker Heather Moore moved into her rehabbed Midtown studio earlier this year, she's still getting used to her spacious new digs.

Maybe that's because she's spent the last 11 years running her fast-growing business out of her house. Granted, it was no ordinary home office: the Cleveland Institute of Art grad bought her great-grandmother's estate, a rambling Heights mansion, after moving back from New York City in 1999.

"We just couldn't grow any... Read more >

American Greetings has made it possible to send a loved one a greeting card with birthday candles to blow out -- literally. The new line of cards called Ready, Set, Blow features six scenarios in which recipients are prompted to blow on the card. The puff of air prompts the card to come to life with LED lights, a song and sounds.

Users blow on the cards to extinguish birthday candles, toot a horn, or make a wish on a dandelion. The cards are designed to please recipients ... Read more >

A large map on the wall of Crafty Goodness, a new Lakewood store that sells goods from artisans that live in Northeast Ohio, provides a visual reminder of the store's mission. It pinpoints all of the different communities where the items are made, stressing the owners' commitment to the buy local movement.

"We wanted to create a store that would offer an alternative to big box retail for people that want to buy local," says Chris Sorenson, a potter who joined with artist... Read more >

Imagine this: A $10,000 solar-energy system powering an entire elementary school in Africa, providing enough juice for laptop computers and overhead lights. Christopher Clark, founder of Sunflower Solutions, has proved that this feat is not only possible, but also is an efficient, cost-effective way to bring power to the Third World.

Recently, Sunflower Solutions moved to Shaker LaunchHouse, a former auto dealership turned business incubator in Shaker Heights. Created wi... Read more >

The Rag Refinery, a new store that offers gently used, recycled fashions at affordable prices, just opened at 3904 Lorain Avenue in Ohio City. Owner Leigh Ring also manages Pink Eye Gallery in the same space, where she often rolls out the racks to host art openings.

"Our focus is on vintage shoes, clothing and accessories, and we invite customers to sell or trade-in their former favorites for cash or store credit," says Ring. "Our customers want to outfit themselves in c... Read more >

TEDxCLE is an annual forum that gathers the region's big thinkers to share ideas worth spreading. Organizers -- and recent "brain gains" -- Hallie Bram and Eric Kogelschatz seek to change the perceptions of people who live here as well as those outside the region by sharing stories of success, innovation and inspiration.

When the team at the Lighting Innovations Institute at John Carroll University gets an idea, it's not always the proverbial light bulb that goes on above their heads. More than likely, it's a state-of-the-art light that will make a difference in industry and everyday life.

The Lighting Innovations Institute accepts projects that, according to its website, "involve novel ideas and offer a challenge." Led by veterans in research and development in Northeast Ohio, the instit... Read more >

According to Gil Van Bokkelen, chairman and CEO of Athersys, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) continues to be a debilitating condition for many people. Could Athersys' MultiStem cell therapy product benefit the more than two million people worldwide who suffer from some form of  IBD, such as ulcerative colitis?

A new phase II clinical trial will search for the answer. Athersys, in collaboration with Pfizer Inc., is conducting a study involving about 126 people in cli... Read more >

Palookaville Chili, a new restaurant set to open next month in Ohio City, is seeking to reeducate your taste buds. Owner and budding chef Ian P.E., who says he makes "a mean pot of chili," offers a blunt description of what will set his place apart.

"This is gourmet chili, not the slop you'll find at most places," boasts P.E., who lived in San Francisco before returning to Cleveland in 2007. "Most chili is tomato-based and uses ground beef and cinnamon, whereas our beef ... Read more >

The idea behind Urban Infant came to Eric Eichhorn when his sister Kelly Friedl had her first child. "All of the baby gear had ducks, bunnies or bears on it," he recalls. "I wanted to get beyond pink and blue to something that had solid, hip colors and was edgy."

Eichhorn and Friedl, who lived in Chicago, dreamed of products that would be geared towards parents "making the conscious decision to raise kids in an urban environment," Eichhorn explains. Friedl's expertise in ... Read more >

As founder, president and CEO of Quality Electrodynamics (QED) and founder of solar energy company eQED, Hiroyuki Fujita seems to have his finger on the pulse of emerging innovations. He believes in Cleveland's ability to be a major player, especially in bioscience.

At the recent Summit on Leadership at the Union Club, which this reporter attended, Fujita talked about what's still needed to make Cleveland the undisputed leader in healthcare-related industries.
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Could Lakewood become a hotbed for entrepreneurial talent? If the new effort Startup Lakewood fulfills its mission, the city will in the near future be home to a fresh new crop of entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas.

Startup Lakewood is a new program formed collaboratively between the City of Lakewood, Lakewood's Chamber of Commerce, LakewoodAlive, and Pillars of Lakewood. The program consists of biweekly brainstorming meetings held in various cafes around Lake... Read more >