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Four Tampa Bay entrepreneurs named Martha Stewart American Made Award finalists

 
Russ Phillips started Sunshine Dye Dream with his family in 2008. Selling mostly at local farmers markets it truly is a family affair. Everyone pitches in and helps setup and sell. They are currently developing a line of tie dye kits and instructional videos in an effort to help people to make better looking tie dyes on their own. People always ask how we get such great colors on our shirts. Our kits and videos will help folks to get the colors and results they are looking for. two local finalists for the Martha Stewart American Made Awards. sent emails to phototech. One shows Sunshine Dye Dream tie-dye shirts. Good photo is the family shot of owners Russ and Loretta Phillips and their sons, Cole (left) and Ben selling their wares. Photo is courtesy of Russ Phillips.
Russ Phillips started Sunshine Dye Dream with his family in 2008. Selling mostly at local farmers markets it truly is a family affair. Everyone pitches in and helps setup and sell. They are currently developing a line of tie dye kits and instructional videos in an effort to help people to make better looking tie dyes on their own. People always ask how we get such great colors on our shirts. Our kits and videos will help folks to get the colors and results they are looking for. two local finalists for the Martha Stewart American Made Awards. sent emails to phototech. One shows Sunshine Dye Dream tie-dye shirts. Good photo is the family shot of owners Russ and Loretta Phillips and their sons, Cole (left) and Ben selling their wares. Photo is courtesy of Russ Phillips.
Published Sept. 29, 2014

Martha and money. What more do you need?

That's the feeling of four Tampa Bay entrepreneurs seeking to win a Martha Stewart American Made Award. The 10 awards are given annually to small businesses devoted to quality craftsmanship and design.

The contest is part of ongoing efforts to support locally made products and shift shoppers from mini-malls to Main Street. Thousands of business owners nationwide applied for the nearly 1,000 finalist spots, 20 of which are from Florida.

The winners — nine selected by Stewart and a panel of judges and one chosen by audience votes — will receive $10,000 each and a trip for two to meet Stewart at the American Made Summit Nov. 7-8 in New York City. They'll also get a chance to be featured in the Martha Stewart Living magazine.

Most importantly, they'll get to boast, "Martha loves us!''

George Medeiros and Scott Durfee of St. Petersburg nominated their company Spathose (pronounced spay-thoes). Life and business partners, they make fashion accessories out of pieces of palm tree leaves called spathes, hence the name.

"Everything we do is about repurposing and reusing,'' said Medeiros, who started the business with Durfee out of their garage in 2012. "We know a lot of landscapers and have a following of people who bring us stuff. We don't have to climb trees.''

A Stewart award would help them expand beyond Florida, where Spathose products are available locally at the Museum of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg and Urban Body Clothing in Tampa.

Russ Phillips and his wife, Loretta, hope to catch Stewart's eye with one of their tie-dyed shirts. Russ started making the shirts in the 1980s as a way to support his Grateful Dead habit, selling them in parking lots before shows.

Russ formed Sunshine Dye Dream in 2008, playing off the title of a Grateful Dead album and documentary, Sunshine Day Dream. The children and adult T-shirts are made with organically grown cotton from Texas and produced at a factory in South Carolina. He does the dying at his home in Seminole Heights.

"Everyone loves a tie-dyed baby,'' said the father of two boys. "It looks so cute, and if they make a mess in it with their food, no one notices.''

Other local finalists are Roc Paper Scissors in Palm Harbor and DIYFunIdeas.com in New Port Richey. Rosa Clifford's Roc Paper Scissors makes three-dimensional paper cards and art. Jenise Frohlinger's DIYFunIdeas.com makes whimsical planters out of high-heeled shoes.

Voting for the finalists began Sept. 15 on marthastewart.com/americanmade and ends Oct. 13. As of Monday, Roc Paper Scissors led Tampa Bay's contingency with more than 6,800 votes, followed by Spathose with more than 5,500. Florida hasn't had a winner the past two years, so it seems like we're due.

Get ready to start seeing pink for breast cancer awareness month.

P.F. Chang's is kicking it off early by painting its iconic 11-foot Warrior Horses pink, including the one at Tampa's WestShore Plaza. The "Paint P.F. Chang's Pink'' event will be held from 4 to 5 p.m. Tuesday with free pink sushi rolls.

To raise money for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, P.F. Chang's is donating $1 for every photo with its pink warrior horse posted on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram that includes the #PaintPFChangsPink hashtag. It also will donate $1 for every Spicy Tuna or California Roll sold during the month of October, up to a total of $100,000.

Contact Susan Thurston at sthurston@tampabay.com or (813) 225-3110. Follow @susan_thurston.