Today we’d like to introduce you to Brendan Nass.
Hi Brendan, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I originally started Pistachio Gallery in 2016 when I was living on Main Street in Old Ellicott City. I had a small room on the first floor of my apartment that I converted into an art gallery with work from 15 local artists. The room had a large glass door and window that made it easily visible from the sidewalk, so it gained a decent amount of attention fairly quick. Things were going great and then came two devastating flash floods in 2016 and 2018 that caused major damage in Old Ellicott City. After the flood in 2018, my building was damaged beyond repair so I was forced to close the gallery and move to a new apartment.
After closing the gallery, I decided to focus on making clothes and kept the Pistachio name as a tribute to how it all started as a gallery. I initially learned how to screenprint from my friend Jereme Scott who also had a spot on Main Street called Cotton Duck. I was working out of a small studio space in the Howard County Arts Center that I used to produce the first few collections of clothing I released. In early 2019, Navid Sarfaraz, who owns Hive, contacted me because he was looking for a few additional people to share the space he was using as a print shop. He ended up taking me and my friend Yanju Padonu, who owns Mingo by Domingo, under his wing and taught us how to use his printing equipment which was a major upgrade from what we had previously been using.
In December of 2020, me, Navid, and Yanju joined forces with Matt Aikman from Pangea Print Co and moved into a larger warehouse space in Hampden. We operate our 4 separate businesses out of the space and also work together on various projects.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Dealing with the flash floods in Old Ellicott City was definitely pretty difficult. In addition to losing the gallery, it also forced me out of my home. After the 2016 flood, I debated whether or not to come back and rebuild the gallery. Most of the town really rallied around each other to reopen which was a really great thing at the time. After the 2018 flood hit, it was a really tough blow to take after working so hard to rebuild. When my building ended up being condemned, I was forced to face the reality that it was time to move on. I have a lot of love for Old Ellicott City and the opportunities and friends I made there, but I am also grateful for what has come since then. I think it’s important to always try to find the positive out of situation and grow from it, even if it’s hard to see in the moment.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My work for Pistachio Gallery is primarily hand screen printed and embroidered clothing. I really enjoy the handmade aspect of the screen-printing process from start to finish. Lately, I have been trying to improve my sewing skills and I have a collection of tote bags that I made from scratch releasing with my upcoming Fall collection.
Outside of Pistachio Gallery, I enjoy painting, woodworking, and tattooing. My big project this past spring/summer has been building a halfpipe in my backyard. I have been teaching math for the past 5 years and it is nice having my summers off to focus on personal projects. I was recently hired at Baltimore Design School as a special education teacher and I am really excited for this upcoming school year.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
It has been really cool seeing a lot of new and exciting brands coming out of Baltimore the past few years. I’m a big fan of what the guys over at Carpet are doing and Yanju has been killing it with Mingo. Navid and Matt have been picking up a lot of new clients lately for print and embroidery jobs so I am definitely excited to see what the future brings us.
Contact Info:
- Email: 26.pistachiogallery@gmail.com
- Website: pistachiogallery.com
- Instagram: @pistachiogallery
Image Credits
Sara Crooks
Jon Nass
