Inside Tacoma’s Hotel Murano, on Broadway, a shop in the lobby’s southeast corner attracts attention with pleasant daylight and a unique gallery featuring local artists. Even its name, Creative Forces Gifts & Sundries, suggests discoveries far more exciting than a bottle of aspirin or a packaged snack.
Unique and inspired pieces of original Northwest art—paintings, drawings, sculpture, pottery, photography, stationery, blown glass, handmade jewelry and accessories— cover the walls and fill the shelves. But the special atmosphere comes from the heart of owner Carolyn Osborne, an artist herself and the recipient of the Tacoma-Pierce County Chamber’s 2012 Spotlight on Business Award for a minority-owned business.
When Osborne’s brother David Osborne died of cancer in 2008, their family held a fundraiser at Hotel Murano to benefit St. Anthony Hospital’s oncology center. After that, they called it “David’s hotel.” When invited to open a shop there, in 2012, Carolyn Osborne felt it was all meant to be.
“I love it here,” she said during an interview. “I want to be here forever because it’s fun. Every day, I get to meet amazing people from our community and all over the world. It’s like a continuous art show. I get to help my artists who are in here too.” Those 27 local artists include a real estate agent, a pastry chef, an architect, and a stay-at-home mother of twin girls.
Hotel guests from all over the world love the opportunity to take home genuine Northwest artwork, but Creative Forces also welcomes those who live nearby to visit the shop Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Osborne hopes that when residents of the South Sound area need a special gift, or just want to spoil themselves, Creative Forces will come to mind immediately.
CANDACE BROWN
For more information:
creativeforcesgallery.com
1320 Broadway Plaza, Tacoma
253.227.8871