Location: Paper Lady Studio in SwissvaleFeatured guest: Katy Dement, papermaker3 things that surprised me:1. As soon as Katy moved into her Swissvale studio and home in 2016, she started hearing about the building’s former tenants. For decades, the storefront was occupied by Riedel’s Grocery — owned by the Riedel family who used the basement for butchering meat. After an attempted robbery in the 1950s, Mr. Riedel retired and sold the building.2. The structure has lived many lives since it was a grocery store. It’s been a barbershop, a betting parlor, a dance studio that specialized in the lindy hop, a punk music venue and a lithography studio. Katy has discovered evidence of many of those businesses as she’s remodeled her home and studio.3. Behind the building is Katy’s garden where she grows vegetables, flowers and ingredients for her papermaking, such as flax. She’ll grow and harvest it, then process the linen fiber and turn it into a wearable piece of clothing within one year. She uses a homemade device to separate the different parts of the flax plant.One thing that didn’t make the final cut: Before getting into papermaking, Katy was a seamstress, creating costumes for dancers, wrestlers and mascots. Visiting a museum one day, she encountered an exhibit about papermaking and put her hand in the pulp. She was immediately intrigued. She went home that day, put some scrap paper in a blender and made her very first sheet of paper. She hasn’t stopped since.Additional info: You can learn more about Katy and find out about upcoming classes on her website. You can also look for Katy’s classes on Contemporary Craft’s class calendar.Want more Yinzer Backstage Pass? Check out our visit to the Allegheny County Emergency Operations Center where we found out what happens when a Pittsburgher calls 911.The post This Swissvale studio used to be a grocery store, punk venue and betting parlor appeared first on NEXTpittsburgh.