Not long ago, Teusdae Bradley moved from Phoenix, Ariz. to Michigan, a climatically shocking experience for a West Coaster, and one she accepted gracefully. When she couldn’t find a job in the city, she again rolled with the punches and opened her own smoking specialty shop in Old Town.
“All of my savings were going out the window so I decided to take a risk at this,” Bradley says of Blown, the Old Town 
specialty smoke shop she launched in the fall of 2009. Blown is located at 523 E. Grand River Ave.
While living in Arizona, Bradley worked for one of the largest specialty smoke shops in the country and when she moved to Michigan, she felt she had enough training and knowledge to open her own store.
“It’s important to me to show the art in glass blowing,” says Bradley of the beautiful pieces displayed in her store.
Bradley supports local artists as much as possible, including showing their work in her sizeable stock, which includes other glass products such as wine glasses, decanters and pendants as well as discs for disc golf. She also works with other Old Town businesses and even had the Golden Harvest cater her grand opening.
“We felt to be secure, the first step was to integrate with the local community,” she says. “That’s been pretty good so far.”
Blown also hosts events to expose the public to local artists and musicians by bringing in live and local DJs on a scheduled basis.
Source: Teusdae Bradley, Blown
Writer: Ivy Hughes
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie
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