MISSION 

BRICK x BRICK’s mission is to use art, architecture, and design to directly impact people in need. If every person can use their knowledge, skills, and interests to make a positive impact, that’s how we will collectively repair the world. These six watercolor paintings represent the big picture, the idea that a labor of love can really contribute to the way we impact people around us.

ABOUT CALVARY

Calvary Women’s Services empowers homeless women in Washington, DC to transform their lives through housing, health, education, and employment programs. Calvary is committed to providing these services in Wards 7 and 8, neighborhoods with the highest poverty rates in the District. Their programs are designed for women who are survivors of violence and trauma, are living with mental illness, or are in recovery from substance abuse. Utilizing a trauma-informed model, personalized services, and peer support, each woman identifies and builds on her own strengths in order to meet her goals for safe housing, good health, and financial independence. With more than thirty-five years’ experience, Calvary knows their model works: 90% of the women who move from Calvary into their own homes end their homelessness for good.

ABOUT BRICK x BRICK Studio X Calvary

This partnership formed at the beginning of the BRICK x BRICK concept development. From the start, this company was always meant to be defined as equal parts art and charity, the model of art for kindness sake was at the forefront of the formation of BRICK x BRICK. In determining which charity to designate the proceeds to, online research and a visit to the Calvary location at Good Hope Road made it apparent that they’d be a perfect fit. Their mission is simply put: Ending homelessness. Inspiring hope. Transforming lives. We cannot wait to help them further these goals, brick by brick by brick. With your support, each purchase will benefit local women who rely on Calvary’s programs and services.

ABOUT the artist

I’m Rachel Edelstein, the founder of BRICK x BRICK Studio. In 2018, I graduated from the New York School of Interior Design after completing a year-long thesis project designing a women’s rights activism center. I spent my last few years of school delving deep into the conceptual aspects of art and architecture, always thinking about how to keep the idea of bettering lives at the forefront of every project. Design is, at its core, entirely about people. If this company can make even a minuscule difference in the life of one person, it will have served its purpose. A thought I hold onto dearly is that every one of us should be able to utilize our passions and skills to give something back to people in need. BRICK x BRICK is a manifestation of this concept. It’s a late night thought that said “I love painting watercolor house portraits”, and then a thought that said “Maybe I can do that for charity.”

EMPATHY:

“Let me hold

the door for you.

I may have

never walked

in your shoes,

but I can see

your soles are worn,

your strength is torn

under the weight of a story

I have never lived before.

Let me hold the door for you.

After all you have walked through,

It is the least I can do.”

-Morgan Harper Nichols