Maker and Place, a homeware design and artisan studio on Cooper Avenue, has grown its operation and included a cafe featuring locally sourced coffee and a breakfast and lunch menu. The grand opening took place on Saturday, Feb 17.

  “Part of the Maker and Place experience is that you get to come in and look through all these amazing goods. But you also get to meet the artisans who are making these products. Hospitality has always been a long term vision for that concept.”

  When a few popular breakfast and lunch spots closed their doors in the fall, Maker and Place owners, Michaela Carpenter and her mother Candice Carpenter Olsen, identified a void in the Aspen market.

  “We are also going to be serving breakfast and lunch, because this town is so desperate for that. When Peaches, Over Easy and Starbucks went down it was clear that there was an opportunity,” Carpenter said.

  Carpenter and Olsen are most excited about the coffee component of their new food venture. They have partnered with Lance Norton, head of the Carbondale based business  Cilundu, to create their coffee program.

  “We are going to be the only place in the world that serves his coffee. And we love the fact that Cilundu is a nonprofit that supports orphanages in Africa,” Carpenter said. “We also are going to be working with Louis Swiss, and serving their amazing pastries. We will also be selling delicious donuts.”

  In keeping with their philosophy of supporting local artisans, the menu at Maker and Place will feature primarily locally sourced ingredients.

  “We really want to showcase what the valley can do when we come together. We don’t want to just be an another Aspen coffee shop. Maker and Place wants to be a coffee shop for the valley, and we are trying to bring in the ingredients from local farmers and bakers,” Carpenter said.

  Maker and Place is launching an app that allows customers to place orders for pickup or delivery. Another feature of the new business model is a subscription service that allows individuals to place a standing order for pickup or delivery.

  Additionally, Carpenter and Olson hope that their space will become a hub for Aspen locals to congregate, work and just hang out.

  “We want it to be multi-functional, dynamic, interesting and engaging. We want people to feel comfortable here and feel like they have their own creative space,” Carpenter said. “These days we have all these digital nomads working from their laptops, so we thought it would be awesome to offer a space for people to come work, use our wifi, and drink some amazing coffee.”

This article first appeared in the Aspen Daily News on Feb. 18