The Turnbull building, with its heavy wooden rafters and slanted window light, is on the National Register of Historic Places. On the first floor, artist Christina Chan Sok breathes life into a new corner of space — Studio Ours.
Birthed out of a desire for curated art and friendship, she collected a group of artists and makers. The space will hold everything from paintings and jewelry to kimchi-making classes and artisan breads.
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There’s a wooden booth where you can order matcha from Ester Gao of The Matcha Spot. Croissants and French baguettes line up behind the counter like gems in a jewelry box from Johann Tremor of Oui Oui Boulangerie.
Behind the frosty glass of the refrigerator, find fresh pecan milk from Other Milk Co. founder Elizabeth Bounds.
Studio Ours creates a unique haven for artists and makers
Find a rainbow of macaroons, Summer Sun Coffee and local kombucha. A lot of the folks you’ll recognize from markets and pop-ups around town, like Matt Cone of the kombucha company Chattanooga Culture, or Laura Ter Beek of Summer Sun Coffee.
(READ MORE: Restaurant Scene: Parisian baker Johann Tremor’s new chapter in Chattanooga)
The space will serve as a touchpoint for the city but also help makers find some stability during the winter when the transient nature of outdoor markets slows down.
Ter Beek was serving up brown sugar cinnamon lattes and more from her booth at Summer Sun Coffee while she shared how much she admired Sok’s concept for the studio.
“Ideally, it will kind of turn into a home base,” Ter Beek said. “This will be where everything happens eventually, but it will at least give me a place to tuck in for the winter and take a break when things do slow down and get cold — just have a break from things to reimagine what’s next, and this store is a big part of that.”
Studio Ours
— Address: 1401 Fort St.
— Hours: 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Thursday and Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday
A recently enacted piece of legislation, known as the chicken pot pie law — which expands the sale of homemade goods in Tennessee to allow poultry and dairy products to the extent permitted by federal law — enabled new opportunities as well. Sok shared that her mom’s friend, who runs a Korean pastry business called Cho & Crumb, will also be able to sell her pastries from the studio.
Sok is giving breathing room to the vendors. “You pop up when you want to,” she said of her philosophy. Her sister has kids, and a lot of Sok’s vendors are mothers, so she has woven intentionality and care into how she runs her business so that it works around busy schedules and people’s very real lives.
“My idea is empathy, collaboration and working around that,” Sok said.
On Nov. 21, Creative Mornings’ local chapter hosted an event at the Turnbull building, and Studio Ours hosted a soft opening. The store opened for regular hours starting Saturday .
When asked if she feels relief now that the store is officially launched, Sok said, “I did not expect this to grow this fast.” But the snowballing of good ideas and good people came together to make something truly special.
Contact restaurants reporter Lyric Lewin at llewin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6216.