Come Thru 2021

A Picnic for the People

Origin Studio House is a community space rooted in Black culture that offers coffee, cocktails, food, events and art.

On November 13, we presented Come Thru, a picnic for the people.

This event was our first expression of bringing our audience together, while we search for a permanent home.

Our Event Partners

Chefs: Better Say Grace, The Kibanda

When we first started shaping Origin’s food program requirements, we kept coming back to “food that makes you feel good.”

Our chef parters for Come Thru exceed that standard.

Meet @bettersaygrace and @thekibandachef! 👩🏽‍🍳👩🏾‍🍳

@bettersaygrace is a first generation Honduran-American who loves cooking baleadas and pickling curtido. She grew up in New Orleans and the smells of gumbo and bread pudding in sync with the sounds of jazz pulsating from St.Charles Avenue encompasses the essence of her cooking.

@thekibandachef specializes in Kenyan cuisine. She realized there was a misconception of what African food is, a lack of knowledge on how diverse it is from country to country, even from tribe to tribe in the same country! Her goal is to change that misconception and educate while serving up some scrumptious dishes. She’s opening up her own restaurant and attendees got to taste several of her dishes with Origin first.

Artist: Johari Palacio

The Arts are central to the mission of Origin as art is a vehicle to tell our stories and enrich our community.

We’re proud to share @perpetualrebel is our artist partner for Come Thru.

J. Johari Palacio was born in Chicago, Illinois in 1975, a first-generation child of Belizean immigrants, who relocated with his father to Southern California during his childhood.

An interdisciplinary artist since his beginnings in South Los Angeles' illustrious late 80s street art scene, he works primarily in the medium of sound art, but also video, photography, mixed media and creative nonfiction.

Palacio’s practice revolves primarily around subterranean and street culture, underground music and sound, the landscape of the metropolis, and human interaction in these environments.

For Come Thru, he live-painted two large scale installations.

Drinks: Bjorn Taylor

We partnered with the king of cocktails himself @kingbjornce for Come Thru.

You may be familiar with his work from Péché, Qui, Otoko, Emmer & Rye, Midnight Cowboy, the Arrive East Austin Hotel, or Craft Cocktails Delivered. If not, we’re letting you know: you’re in for a treat.

@kingbjornce designed three options for us:
🍸 Apple Sour
🥃 Old Fashioned
🍹 Harvest Tonic

Each could be served as a mocktail (cc: Drink Spiritless)

Gratitude to our sponsors: Dehy Garnish, Desert Door, Still Atx and Brew and Brew.

DJ: Stefon Osae

@stefonosae is an Arizona-born, Austin-based multi-hyphenated DJ, producer, and songwriter, and was in charge of melodic direction for the evening.

Vibes: Wildly Flowered

@theflowernote provided bespoke floral designs for the event and had a retail pop up with blooms for sale, because Black folks deserve all the beauty.

Location: Distribution Hall

Originally constructed to house Austin’s first German beer importer, @distributionhall features a 7,000 sq-ft studio warehouse, a 3,000 sq-ft open-air hangar, and a beautiful 7,500 sq-ft courtyard and lawn and we took over the whole thing!

Find you, fam.