From March 2020 to 2022, over two thousand face masks were handmade, donated, sold, shipped, and delivered from Storm's West Village home studio. Right before the start of the pandemic, Storm and her talented seamstress Jenny Lin designed street style face masks for a client. Conveniently having patterns prepared and using the Storm Ritter Studio deadstock original fabric, Storm focused on mask production in March. Sending material back and forth with Jenny, bulk double-sided masks were produced at a rapid speed. The rate of production and shipping was at an all time high. The online website was just being built by the artist, so this was the first launch of online commerce for the artist.
Storm shipped masks and care packages daily to essential workers of all positions, people in need, and to purchasing/donating customers. Full time working from the home studio, Storm ran the website, communicated with various businesses for donations, packaged shipments and delivered masks around the community.
Masks were safely given to medical centers, hospital staff, community outreach groups, veterinarians, public service workers, grocery store employees, food/service laborers, postal heroes, teams of nurses, elderly neighbors, rest home caretakers, firefighters, low-income individuals, etc. The money produced went right back into the labor and project costs, as well as donated to many charities. Sourcing PPE from Camolots, she included medical face masks in orders as well. Storm became involved with New York Cares COVID-19 Relief Program, donating masks, apparel, PPE, and monetary donations.
FUNDRAISER T-SHIRT FOR HEALTHCARE WORKERS
The "Heroes Rock" T-Shirts were specifically designed to celebrate and benefit our essential workers. The sales online went towards monetary donations and care packages to the New York Cares COVID-19 Relief Program and Black Lives Matters Global Network. Care packages to essential workers including fabric masks, sourced medical masks, bandanas, & heroes rock t-shirts.
SAMPLING OF MASK VISUALS
All masks were made with Storm's original textiles. Due to the unique lay of the fabric, all masks were one-of-a-kind organized by style and size. The classic reversible mask featured The Cool People in black and white and expanded into many variations of patterns. As masks were produced so quickly, it was a fast turnaround to photograph the products, advertise and ship out, all in the same day. With the masks all being handmade, specific design styles were listed online or chosen at random in small quantities.
SMALL CARE PACKAGES
Through social media, Storm was able to connect with thousands of people who needed PPE or knew a loved one who could use a thank you. Care packages were sent upon request without payment and masks were sold in bulk online to customers. The fabric masks were also accompanied by medical masks in care packages.
SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
Thousands of people shared their appreciation on Instagram and Facebook. And it was accessible to quickly advertise the masks, shirt, care packages, and donation efforts though stories and posts. In a virtual time in the world, it was a beautiful way to connect with a community of new friends and clients. Positive action results in positive change.
