About

Hello!

We are John and Emily Gross, the husband and wife team behind Artifact Workshop.  Artifact Workshop was born in 2007 when John and our good friend Erik Horn saw a need for a label that could compliment the increasingly unique and amazing music happening in our wonderful city of Austin. The goal was a truly boutique independent label that serves to make tactile artistic representations of the music via packaging and presentation. In 2009, the face of the label made some changes as Erik made the bittersweet decision to leave Artifact Workshop and devote his time to his media agency SUPER!ALRIGHT!. We happily and enthusiastically continue to support each other’s efforts. Realizing that creativity flows best with multiple influences, we joined forces soon after and remain devoted to promoting creative musicians through creative means.

With every release, we seek to enhance the musical experience by providing listeners with a physical relic of the music that moves them, along with one hell of a story. Artists can get their music out to people via the Internet without us — what we provide is a different way for people to experience music again. With online downloads out of control and major labels hemorrhaging money as a result of it, we focus on small runs of absolutely unique releases that physically are as interesting and captivating as the music inside. Each Artifact Workshop release is a calling card of unmatched creativity and innovation.

We have channeled Burt Reynolds, hosted a Victorian pageant complete with phrenological assessments, and fashioned a jungle creature mural — all for the love of originality. Stay tuned;  we have all kinds of great ideas in the works!

Check out what people are saying about our events:

“The cover art is a mural painted live at the group’s CD release show …. (it) epitomizes both the Laughing’s love for thematic integration.” –Austin Sound

“(T)he Victorian Pageant…was indeed a unique experience, and a sprightly, fun show” –Austinist

Thanks for stopping by! if you have any questions about anything at all, shoot us an email at info@artifactworkshop.com.

CHEERS!

John & Emily Gross