Michele Dawbarn

‘You’re not just a fan; it’s your livelihood!’ KC makers’ work featured in Chiefs’ playoffs trailer

The NFL playoffs tease a new season of creativity for Kansas City makers like Johnny and Michele Dawbarn — especially when the Chiefs’ success starts the clock on new opportunities. The couple behind Collective EX, sewKC, and HITIDES Coffee (all within their symbiotic studio space in the East Crossroads) recently helped design several items featured…

Rose latte by HITIDES Coffee

Hot cocoa, mocha, donuts and aloha: KC’s new tiki hideaway pours the unexpected — 1,600+ miles from the beach

Snowy skies and frosted windshields outside, beach vibes within. A new tiki-inspired cafe — tucked away in the East Crossroads — offers a warm, inviting atmosphere and tropical transformations of classic treats and sips. The concept: Blend the flavors of surf and sunsets with perennial staples like coffee, donuts and ice cream. “It’s an all-inclusive…

SewKC at Collective Ex

How an elastic team turned an early tip about face masks into SewKC’s saving grace

Editor’s note: The following is the third in a series of stories about Kansas City fashion companies putting their own creative spin on the often-utilitarian face mask. As demand for face masks surged this spring, a massive and sustained influx of traffic and orders at SewKC crashed the Crossroads creatives’ online retail engine — forcing the…

Johnny and Michele Dawbarn, SewKC

Married to collaboration: SewKC couple stitches meaning into each hand-sewn design

Michele and Johnny Dawbarn’s symbiotic studio space in the Crossroads allows the always-evolving creative duo to do more than finish each other’s sentences. It stitches ideas to passion, threading a common mission through their businesses, they said. “When you sew-” Johnny began. “You bring two things together,” finished Michele, co-founder of SewKC with her husband….