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Chester’s Blacksmith Shop Debuts in Park City

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Park City, Utah, October 24, 2005 - Forging a new era in men’s lifestyle stores – Chester’s Blacksmith Shop will open its inaugural location on Friday October 28th in Park City, Utah.
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Chester's Blacksmith Shop defies the conventional
By ANNA BLOOM, Of the Record Staff


Gallery-slash-men's clothing, 'purveyors to the extraordinary everyman'

Saturday, October 29, 2005 - Chester's Blacksmith Shop, one-part gallery, two-parts clothing, dials into the sub-culture/pop-culture hybrid-American trend of urban graffiti artists whose designs cross over into fashion.

The store features graffiti artwork on its walls, and clothing, snowboards and shoes that that artists have helped to design. Different artists will show their work throughout the year between antique cupboards and shelves.

For Chester's grand opening Friday, owners welcomed Salt Lake artists Chew and Guts4, two artists who began their graffiti the traditional way on streets and freight cars. Like other artists in the movement, they use spray paint to create their artwork quickly in public places so as not to be caught by the police.

Chester's owner and conceptual designer Jeff Wardell describes artwork by Chew and Guts4 work as Southern Utah landscapes overlapped with graffiti characters. The show will be up until Thanksgiving, then Wardell plans to incorporate artists from Los Angeles, Seattle and Amsterdam.

Wardell, a collector, cradles his newest find: a hand-painted skateboard created by Barry McGee with a delicate stenciled blue face on its belly. He refuses to divulge the price he paid for the board, but estimates it was probably one of the most expensive skateboards ever sold to anyone.

"I find a lot of these artists, because I travel a lot," he explains. "It's a movement that I began to follow when I was in San Francisco, and now I go back and as I drive through neighborhoods on my motorcycle, I can identify their work on the sides of buildings, on cars and on the sides of homes."

Located above Mary Jane's, Chester's plays the role of the hip male counterpart to the pink fashion-forward shoe and clothing store below. Yet, it appears female shoppers have been impatiently awaiting the store's arrival to shop for CDs, books and clothing themselves, according to Wardell.

"Women have actually been coming up to me to tell me they're looking forward to shopping for men, but also for themselves," he confirms. "But this store is really for the normal guy looking to dress well."

Mary Jane's owner and manager Lori Harris, who will manage Chester's store, says that all of Mary Jane's men's shoes will move upstairs. Previously, men often felt alienated amidst the bobbles and bangles in her store.

"We had a men's line, but most guys don't like sitting in a pink store, and this is definitely more masculine," she said.

Harris observes that many of the bureaus, benches and shelves that support stacks of clothing at Chester's look like old antiques, but the design is sturdy, not delicate. The color of the furniture is rich and dark, in contrast to the warehouse white walls that frame the interior retro, with a new urban scent.

If the name, "Chester's Blacksmith Shop" throws some shoppers off, it's intentional, says Wardell. "I like things that are not what they seemed to be," he explains. "It's something that's expected in the art and fashion world right now. There's a clothing store in New York called 'Dave's Quality Meats' and a San Francisco gallery called "The Luggage Store.'"

Chester is the name of an uncle Wardell admired who lost his leg after being shot in the Korean War. The name of the shop is also a tribute to the mine-town history of Park City, to remind guests of the town's beginnings.

Wardell is confident that the urban transplants to Park City will respond to the merchandise, since many ride boards and wear tees and shoes designed by graffiti artists.

"A lot of young people coming from big cities will recognize the names we bring into the store, since they may not be able to afford the artwork, but they can buy the clothes," he said.

But at the same time, Wardell wishes to stay true to his shop's mantra "Purveyors to the Extraordinary Everyman." Clothing at Chester's is also sophisticated, like the velvet jacket he dons during his interview, he notes. Coffee table books like 'Hip Hotels' also cater to a crowd with the means to globe-trot. It's an interesting mlange of the hip, the popular and the high-fashion. The shop spotlights urban artists, and sells what Wardell likes to call a "highly edited" clothing collection and books on things that "guys obsess about" like stainless steel design gadgets.

Find Chester's Blacksmith Shop at 613 Main Street above Mary Jane's. Store hours are Monday through Thursday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., Friday, 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.,Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 pm., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. For more information call (435)901-2563.