The other day, we came across some spectacular earrings: fur pom poms dangling from thin gold wires. WANT, we thought. And then, MAKE, which starts us researching materials and processes. We discovered that pom poms, both fur and fake, can be easily bought and hold huge possibilities for gifts. And then we found we’d unknowingly tapped into the zeitgeist.
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(Video link here.) So, er, yes, well, er, we DO have a regifting drawer as well as a gift drawer of stuff we’ve bought because we think it’s universally great. Truth be told, the stuff in the regifting drawer tends to languish, we suspect because it can take a while before we find someone for whom…
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In this season of frenzied holiday shopping, Quartz asked 40 leaders in art, business, fashion, science, and social justice the question: What’s the best gift you’ve ever received? Their surprising answers cast a lens on just what a great gift really is, along with some really lovely ideas….
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Over many years of cooking professionally, amidst sharp knives and fire, I learned that an accidental cut or burn was in fact a signal: a message from myself to myself that I was distracted. I needed to listen deeply to what was going on, or at the very least, slow down and take care. I…
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Recently in a secondhand bookstore, a jazzy little book jumped into my hand. I was drawn to it by its beautiful cover design which read “Dickinson”, meaning Emily. Finding the book, and the first poem I turned to, proved to be a lovely bit of bibliomancy.
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Our friend Virginia del Giudice recently sent us another of her wonderful teeny gifts: a little colorfully wrapped bonbon of some sort. Only an inch across, it is an example of the power that even small gift can have in making the recipient feel appreciated, considered, cared for. We wondered what was in the mysterious cloth wrapping…
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Whenever someone we know has a baby, we go on the hunt for our favorite kid’s book, the enduringly great, zennish, out-of-print, A Hole Is to Dig by Ruth Krauss with illustrations by Maurice Sendak. We buy used copies, doing our best to find clean ones, but we never really know what we’ll get. Recently, we found…
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Virginia del Giudice of La Percalina in Buenos Aires sent us a tiny gift via a friend. The wrapping was SO wonderful, that we felt as though we had been given something mysterious, deeply special: a treasure. We took our time unwrapping it and were reminded that when a gift is wonderfully-wrapped, opening it is,…
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In the New Yorker’s recent Why Startups Love Moleskines, David Sax describes the popularity of the spare notebook that many tech-savvy people find superior to digital task software. M.I.T. students, academics, artists and other high-achieving entrepreneurs prize Moleskine notebooks, which come in variety of shapes and sizes, for their simplicity and efficiency.
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Having traveled A LOT over the years, I’ve honed a kit of essential items that see me through, both physically and spiritually, the unexpected events that are guaranteed to hit, sometimes hard. Since I have a seriously-sensitive constitution, I’ve learned the hard way that taking some fortifications is well worth the bit of thought and effort…
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I’m always on the lookout for gifts I can stockpile for unexpected occasions, that have a wide reach in terms of “giveability” to different kinds of people. My trove includes a number of items in our shop, from books to the great knives. Recently, I stumbled on another goody: stylish temporary tattoos.
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How often have you found yourself late for a birthday party and casting around for a way to wrap your gift? We find ourselves in that position so often, we’ve begun to keep a photo archive of hasty, curiously chic gift wrapping solutions, sometimes made with only a few elements, like the startlingly-sensual beauty from artist David Carrino, below…
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Creative director/editor/stylist Fritz Karch’s official bio begins:”he became an active collector at age eleven and has always been an ardent believer in the benefits and pleasures of hunting and gathering.” Recently, he collaborated with Rebecca Robertson on Collected: Living with the Things You Love, a tour of fantastic, often eccentric collections around the world, and an entry IN to your own creative collecting.
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The pristine, white sculptural water pitcher featured at A Cup of Jo is so pretty, it briefly made us consider abandoning our tried-and-true DIY ones, below. It holds about 2 1/2 quarts, has a footprint of 10 x 7 x 4 1/2 inches and is available at Amazon for under $30, a bargain. We love our homemade…
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Recently, Jim Dillon asked me to recommend a good mortar and pestle. It is a fine request as they are incredibly useful, yet misunderstood tools. I’ve been mentally panning most of the mortars and pestles I see for year because of their ineffective —yet often beautiful — design. So here are some mortar and pestle basics,…
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I recently came a diary of sorts that I kept long ago: notations of dinner parties, what we ate, the wines we drank and the guests that were there. I’d bought it on a trip to Venice —a handmade book of days, no year — which I filled in with pencil, interleaving it with thank…
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(Video link HERE!) We are knocked out by Jerry Seinfeld’s radically truth-telling, funny —Is he kidding or what?— send up of advertising during his acceptance speech for a CLIO Awards, which honors creative advertising. I love advertising because I love lying…
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Yesterday while on the way to an appointment, we found ourselves in a frenzy of people shopping for gifts to meet the Christmas deadline. The tension in the air was palpable. Although we are not immune to the pressure —some people, like little kids need to get a gift on time — over the years…
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Just as we were getting ready to post another lovely recipe from The Cuban Table, our friend Ellen Silverman‘s brainchild created in league with Ana Sofia Pelaez, we heard the news that relations were getting warmer between Cuba and the US, that some of the embargo that’s hurt the country so terribly may be easing at last.…
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Once, necessary functional objects were quiet tokens of personal style. Wrist watches, cigarette lighters, address books and compacts brought glamour and pleasure to everyday rituals. But they are fading away. To fill the void, Laura Handler designed something personal, portable and beautiful, that can’t be replaced by a cell phone or a plastic disposable. The…
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