You can find a large amount of personal pride in every city. From museums and art that emphasize the history of the area to the shirts and bumper stickers sold on the street, the love that locals have for their home can be felt in so many ways. I have always found Pittsburgh to be an interesting study in this idea of city pride. There are so many museums and centers that dedicate themselves to sharing a small portion of what makes Pittsburgh interesting. It seems like there is always an event going on that is looking to further major causes or just a small idea to help move the city forward. Over the years an increased emphasis has been placed on developing the technological and artistic pursuits of the city, giving an interesting spin to the area's sense of pride. But despite the drive to move forward, there is also a celebration of the elements that originally defined the city. You can see this mixture of Pittsburgh pride in a lot of the companies and festivals that have started here.
PittsburghMade, the online store behind this logo, is certainly one of the more unique examples of city pride. They are a local brand that sells items that are heavily influenced by the area. You can get a t-shirt with Mister Rogers giving you the bird or one with some pop-art inspired steel workers. A good portion of their products though, use their name and logo to truly emphasize the wearer's roots. What I think sets them apart from many other local companies is the emphasis that they place on the products being made here in Pittsburgh. They buy the base products directly from US warehouses and then use local businesses and designs to support the Pittsburgh community. I'm sure plenty of other local businesses also do their best to support the local economy, but PittsburghMade clearly places a significant amount of effort into it. If you look closely at the sticker you can just make out the city skyline in the letters of the logo. I find that the combination of the skyline with the classic abbreviation of PGH is such a great representation of some of the elements that make this city unique. It also looks like they change the photo within the logo from time to time, judging by the Facebook page, which I rather like. What I love about this particular find is the fact that I managed to capture the mural behind the logo. It seems like a big part of the rebuilding effort years ago was the renewed interest on increasing the presence of art throughout Pittsburgh. There are so many murals around the city, giving the neighborhoods an interesting pop of color and breath of life. This particular mural is the one on the side of the Beehive and is actually by Shephard Fairey, the one artist I keep featuring rather unintentionally. I might be overstating things a bit, even I think tonight's post sounds rather pompous, but I find this photo to be a rather wonderful example of what continues to fuel my exploration of Pittsburgh.
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Maggie Ondrey
An amateur photographer and writer capturing a small portion of the city. Archives
August 2017
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