Kickstarter celebrated the opening of their slick new Kent Street headquarters by throwing a blowout Block Party on Saturday, and it seemed like all of Greenpoint showed up to welcome them to the neighborhood. Or at least all of the part of Greenpoint that digs 3D-pen technology, bespoke vegan kimchi, and $250 floppy sun hats.
Appropriately all of the entertainment—the bands, the games, the art, the food, the vendors and their demos—was provided by companies or individuals who either got their start or expanded their offerings through a successful Kickstarter campaign.
In addition to the 3Doodler, "the world's first 3D printing pen" (their Kickstarter goal was $30,000; they received $2,344,134), on hand were MIDI Sprout, which converts the energy emanating from plants and fruit into music; the folks from Johann Sebastian Joust, a "no-graphics, digitally enabled playground game" at which I was terrible; Susannah of SKT Ceramics, who used Kickstarter to fund a RAM press for her printed mugs and bowls, and who had a line of kids waiting to throw their own on the wheel she had set up outside her booth; and at least a dozen more Kickstarter success stories.
Music was provided by the DJs of BBox Radio and, for about 20 memorable minutes, the Brooklyn-based PitchBlak Brass Band, who totally killed it marching up Kent. There was also an art show inside the Kickstarter HQ, with works from the likes of Swoon, Leon Reid IV, Jeremy Bailey, and Amanda Browder, Kickstarter users all.
Kickstarter HQ is inside the one-time Eberhard Pencil Factory, and it fits right in with new, post-industrial Greenpoint neighborhood. The company opened up the building's main common areas to the crowds, so everyone could envy these lucky tech bastards' gigantic test kitchen, cozy dining/meeting area, plush auditorium, soaring lobby/art gallery.
