Q&A: Coco Corral, artist and store owner
Editor’s note: This is the first in series of interviews with local entrepreneurs.
By Molly Lovell
Staff Writer
Biddeford residents since 2005, Coco and Gil Corral have turned their passion for music and the arts into businesses located in downtown Biddeford – Lovinganvil AndMor on Washington Street and Hog Farm Studios on Main Street.
Describe what you do here at Lovinganvil AndMor.
I’ve been making jewelry and designing jewelry for a long time and have a little bit of a following and I thought, well, maybe we’ll get a store front. We weren’t really focused on that, you know, we’re both studio artists and just used to working on our own thing, and this space become available. We had some friends who were like, “hey, you know, you should check it out.” We got excited about providing a place for people to be able to show what they’re doing. That’s kind of how it evolved.
Did it take a lot of effort to develop the space here?
We had a pretty clear vision. My husband’s pretty good at coming in and manipulating spaces. I really wanted it to look really Neapolitan ice cream-ish, with the pink and the brown [on the walls]. I’m sure he would be the first one to say he did not pick that.
I guess this used to be an after hours bar, so it was pretty “ehh,” when we moved in. When we rented the space we rented with some musician friends. They had the upstairs space for their music studio. They’re on tour this year, so now there’s a woman upstairs who refurbishes antiques, and she’s really awesome.
What about Hog Farm Studios?
When we moved here to Maine, we bought a home in Biddeford that appealed to us because of the attached barn. We started having these barn concerts for friends – Gil’s been involved on the music scene for a while on the West Coast and just kind of got back into it. We would invite people to come over and by word of mouth, it just started getting more and more. I got to the point where we were getting requests from these incredibly talented musicians. Our barn is right in the middle of a very kind of suburban neighborhood – it’s not in the middle of nowhere. Our neighbors are very cool, but it got to the point where either we have to stop doing this – and that was sad – or move it into town, and that’s what we opted to do. We’re not really open unless there’s something going on, we wanted to be open more constantly. It’s open maybe seven times a month.
What’s the atmosphere like?
It’s really lovely, it’s pretty eclectic. It holds about 75 people and it’s real intimate in terms of the musicians. The thing that was going on with the barn, is that we really emphasized it was a listening room. We’ve carried that over to this venue. Similar in philosophy to Lovinganvil, it’s a curated experience. Here [Lovinganvil], I want to give, or assist in providing artists and crafts folk a place to show their work and with performing artists it’s the same idea.
At Hog Farm Studios, you come in and you’re there to take part in the experience. It’s not supposed to be background noise. It’s an artistic showcase. The audience is, very, very into it – electricity happens between the performers and audience.
How has Biddeford specifically played a role in the opening of your two businesses?
Biddeford has made them possible to think of opening in terms of overhead and I think there’s also a real desire, and there’s also a lot of very cool people roaming around from all walks of life. People want to see something good happening. I mean, I’ve had people come in and say, “I haven’t even seen stores like this in Portland,” Or, “this is straight out of Brooklyn, what are you doing here?” It’s like well, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be here, you know?
Have you experienced challenges because of the weakened economy? If so, what kind?
Yeah, absolutely. During the past year especially, we’re not open a whole lot. And I totally understand, but I find that I sell a lot of jewelry online, and it’s just me, so when I have orders I’m at home madly working. That’s an important part of our income.
Here [Lovinganvil], I’ve noticed, I feel like with jewelry, people are wanting to buy something special – and to be able to come in and talk with me and design it, makes it special. I do think people are spending less, but at the same time, when they are spending money, it becomes a more thoughtful and more precious act, and that’s why I feel like this shop is important and doing alright because of that. You’re not just going to Wal-Mart or the Gap, spending money to look just like everybody else.
It’s hard to make a purchase. Our items aren’t inexpensive because they’re all basically artwork. I’m always really excited and honored when someone will be like “yeah, I’m going spend $130 on this,” it’s incredible. I feel very warmly welcomed by the community.
What can you do, and what do you do, to make sure your businesses thrive?
Right now we’re kind of reworking Lovinganvil and bringing some artists on board to make it a little bit more of a collective. That will help with the hours that we can be open, so it’s not just me. The items they’re bringing in I’m really excited about. And just to have a few people to pool, resources and ideas and energy.
Describe your journey from when you first opened Lovinganvil to now.
Sometimes I think it was insane opening two businesses in less than probably a year apart from each other, especially in this economy. It wasn’t necessarily that we planned to do it that way, things came to block points that had to be addressed. Either we were going to do it or we weren’t.
What does the future hold for you?
I don’t know, I don’t know. We’re constantly talking about that. I’m really excited to have Lovinganvil as more of a collective, for sure. Hog Farm Studios is really picking up a lot of speed and that’s exciting and feels good. I think there’s a big shift happening you know, so we’re just being thoughtful.
What kind of advice would you offer to other entrepreneurs?
I would say really work at keeping your overhead as low as you can. There are lots of awesome ways to do things that maybe aren’t the “business traditional.” Those are very important. It causes too much stress to have these monthly bills. And no matter what your storefront is, just be creative, make it look, pretty. Add a little love, because people are very thoughtful about how they’re spending money right now.
Staff writer Molly Lovell may be reached at 282-4337, ext. 223.
By Molly Lovell
Staff Writer
Biddeford residents since 2005, Coco and Gil Corral have turned their passion for music and the arts into businesses located in downtown Biddeford – Lovinganvil AndMor on Washington Street and Hog Farm Studios on Main Street.
Describe what you do here at Lovinganvil AndMor.
I’ve been making jewelry and designing jewelry for a long time and have a little bit of a following and I thought, well, maybe we’ll get a store front. We weren’t really focused on that, you know, we’re both studio artists and just used to working on our own thing, and this space become available. We had some friends who were like, “hey, you know, you should check it out.” We got excited about providing a place for people to be able to show what they’re doing. That’s kind of how it evolved.
Did it take a lot of effort to develop the space here?
We had a pretty clear vision. My husband’s pretty good at coming in and manipulating spaces. I really wanted it to look really Neapolitan ice cream-ish, with the pink and the brown [on the walls]. I’m sure he would be the first one to say he did not pick that.
I guess this used to be an after hours bar, so it was pretty “ehh,” when we moved in. When we rented the space we rented with some musician friends. They had the upstairs space for their music studio. They’re on tour this year, so now there’s a woman upstairs who refurbishes antiques, and she’s really awesome.
What about Hog Farm Studios?
When we moved here to Maine, we bought a home in Biddeford that appealed to us because of the attached barn. We started having these barn concerts for friends – Gil’s been involved on the music scene for a while on the West Coast and just kind of got back into it. We would invite people to come over and by word of mouth, it just started getting more and more. I got to the point where we were getting requests from these incredibly talented musicians. Our barn is right in the middle of a very kind of suburban neighborhood – it’s not in the middle of nowhere. Our neighbors are very cool, but it got to the point where either we have to stop doing this – and that was sad – or move it into town, and that’s what we opted to do. We’re not really open unless there’s something going on, we wanted to be open more constantly. It’s open maybe seven times a month.
What’s the atmosphere like?
It’s really lovely, it’s pretty eclectic. It holds about 75 people and it’s real intimate in terms of the musicians. The thing that was going on with the barn, is that we really emphasized it was a listening room. We’ve carried that over to this venue. Similar in philosophy to Lovinganvil, it’s a curated experience. Here [Lovinganvil], I want to give, or assist in providing artists and crafts folk a place to show their work and with performing artists it’s the same idea.
At Hog Farm Studios, you come in and you’re there to take part in the experience. It’s not supposed to be background noise. It’s an artistic showcase. The audience is, very, very into it – electricity happens between the performers and audience.
How has Biddeford specifically played a role in the opening of your two businesses?
Biddeford has made them possible to think of opening in terms of overhead and I think there’s also a real desire, and there’s also a lot of very cool people roaming around from all walks of life. People want to see something good happening. I mean, I’ve had people come in and say, “I haven’t even seen stores like this in Portland,” Or, “this is straight out of Brooklyn, what are you doing here?” It’s like well, there’s no reason why we shouldn’t be here, you know?
Have you experienced challenges because of the weakened economy? If so, what kind?
Yeah, absolutely. During the past year especially, we’re not open a whole lot. And I totally understand, but I find that I sell a lot of jewelry online, and it’s just me, so when I have orders I’m at home madly working. That’s an important part of our income.
Here [Lovinganvil], I’ve noticed, I feel like with jewelry, people are wanting to buy something special – and to be able to come in and talk with me and design it, makes it special. I do think people are spending less, but at the same time, when they are spending money, it becomes a more thoughtful and more precious act, and that’s why I feel like this shop is important and doing alright because of that. You’re not just going to Wal-Mart or the Gap, spending money to look just like everybody else.
It’s hard to make a purchase. Our items aren’t inexpensive because they’re all basically artwork. I’m always really excited and honored when someone will be like “yeah, I’m going spend $130 on this,” it’s incredible. I feel very warmly welcomed by the community.
What can you do, and what do you do, to make sure your businesses thrive?
Right now we’re kind of reworking Lovinganvil and bringing some artists on board to make it a little bit more of a collective. That will help with the hours that we can be open, so it’s not just me. The items they’re bringing in I’m really excited about. And just to have a few people to pool, resources and ideas and energy.
Describe your journey from when you first opened Lovinganvil to now.
Sometimes I think it was insane opening two businesses in less than probably a year apart from each other, especially in this economy. It wasn’t necessarily that we planned to do it that way, things came to block points that had to be addressed. Either we were going to do it or we weren’t.
What does the future hold for you?
I don’t know, I don’t know. We’re constantly talking about that. I’m really excited to have Lovinganvil as more of a collective, for sure. Hog Farm Studios is really picking up a lot of speed and that’s exciting and feels good. I think there’s a big shift happening you know, so we’re just being thoughtful.
What kind of advice would you offer to other entrepreneurs?
I would say really work at keeping your overhead as low as you can. There are lots of awesome ways to do things that maybe aren’t the “business traditional.” Those are very important. It causes too much stress to have these monthly bills. And no matter what your storefront is, just be creative, make it look, pretty. Add a little love, because people are very thoughtful about how they’re spending money right now.
Staff writer Molly Lovell may be reached at 282-4337, ext. 223.
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