Madison Originals Magazine Madison Originals Magazine May 2014 | Page 25

like to work with kids, but after this
experience, I changed my definition of
kids. Now I say, ‘I work with kids from
1 year to 99.’”

Six years ago, sisters Laura and Sachi
Komai opened a Madison paper and
craft shop called Anthology. In addition
to selling their own creations, Laura and
Sachi carry the work of some 100 local
artists and craftspeople. Anthology’s
special space—which pairs clever,
original product offerings with the
materials and room to create some of
your own—has since proved a popular
State Street destination.
“We share our inspiration and our
products, but we also want to get
people thinking about themselves as
creating and join in the fun,” says Laura.
“We have always had our craft table
where people could work on their own
projects, and we sell supplies for them to
go home and continue working there.”
Seeing that the size of the store presented
some space limitations, Laura and Sachi
contemplated ways to expand the reach
of their creative offerings. Partly through
Sachi’s experience teaching creative
workshops at the library and partly
through meeting Trent Miller, the sisters
began to realize that more space didn’t
necessarily mean more store space—in
fact, it made more sense to look for more
community creation space. “Early on in
the Bubbler Program, we kind of had our
eye on that space,” says Laura.
With scheduled weekend events as well
as drop-in projects, Laura and Sachi are
excited to be extending the spirit of their
store to a new environment. “I think
it just kind of meshes with our overall
goal of inviting people to do creative
things,” Laura says. “The setting of the
library works particularly well with
working with paper crafts: things like
using the paper of discarded books to
make pottery, or creating altered books.
Projects like that that are spinoffs of
library things.”
Not only has the AIR program given the
sisters more room to share their creativity
with the public, it has also provided
them with personal studio space and—
with a location just two blocks away

from Anthology—the physical proximity
to keep their store up and running.
“There are projects that certainly seed off
the fact that we’re Anthology, but we’re
artists on our own,” Laura says. “There
are projects that I don’t have space to
work on at the shop, and it’s nice to have
the opportunity to work on those. With
studio times for ourselves, we’re present
and able to show people what projects
we’re working on in more of an informal
setting.”
Perhaps most importantly, Laura and
Sachi hope to expand public perceptions
about creativity as a whole. “I think the
main thing is just to emphasize to people
that this space is like all library space,”
says Laura. “Everybody’s welcome; it’s not
a restrictive space. I have this problem
sometimes where people come into the
store and say, ‘This is a great store, but
I’m not creative,’ and they say this as
though they’ve disqualified themselves.
It’s the same thing for libraries: people
have a limited view of what it’s for—
books, internet access, only books for
my kids—they have a particular idea of
what the library is, and there’s so much
more than that. We want to invite people
to come and be surprised and enjoy the
serendipity.”

For the latest on the Artist-in-Residence
Program, visit madisonbubbler.org/
artist-in-residence. To find out more
about the Meadowridge Art Project, visit
madisonbubbler.org/meadowridge-art
-project.
Erin Abler is a Wisconsin native and
graduate of the University of WisconsinMadison. She divides her time between
online content strategy, information
architecture, and freelance writing.
Photographs provided by
Madison Public Library.

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