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PieLab was a backwards business, an outgrowth of the Free Pie! event I co-created with a team of young designers, while at the Project M workshop in Belfast, Maine.

PieLab’s goal was to bring together one of the poorest communities in America, and provide job opportunities, through affordable, delicious, homemade pie. We collaborated with a local aid organization to extend the reach of our efforts, and the restaurant opened to rave reviews in the New York Times, Bon Apetit, and Southern Living. The restaurant space, a repurposed storefront, was nominated for a James Beard award in restaurant design, and the store was named one of the ten best places to eat pie by Bon Apetit magazine.

Locals came to the restaurant to eat good pie, and some came to make their own family recipes for the customers. With the space functioning as a social hub for the community, there were music events and entrepreneurial initiatives, like the one that helped a local group of kids launch their pecan brittle business out of PieLab’s kitchen.