I doubt that many people think as much about design as those of us who are in the field. But for many of us, the concepts, words, and ideas become a bit repetitious. So when I was planning a trip to London with one of my grandsons and my husband, I wondered what it would be like to talk “design” with an 11 year old boy. Here are some interesting observations and comments from him … no jargon, just observations.

After at least an hour spent at the Niketown store on Oxford Street, looking at every color combination that Nike displayed and then some that we created on the computer, he commented that the “purple shoe with the red swoosh and green laces and eyelets, looked a lot like the flower bed at Hampton Court, the one with the little purple flowers and the red taller ones poking around”. The he asked me why I thought people liked purple and red together.

 I wonder how many people see a similarity between the Eye and the Liberty Store on Regent Street. Maybe spending about ½ hour inside the pod, while viewing most of London far above the ground, gave him time to stare at the construction of the Eye … all the supports and mechanics that are beautiful and functional at the same time. He saw that same concept again while running into the Liberty building, in the pouring rain. Beauty and function … a concept that he hadn’t thought of before.

Viewing the Eye and London

The Liberty store remains the same

And window shopping … although I expected him to be bored, he was a sport and began to talk about different ways that displays can get your attention …

Humour ....(we were in Britain):

Even the Queens Corgi gussies up for the Jubliee 

Clean and Simple:

Egg, elegant simplicity

Clever:

Chairs and Table @ Margaret Howell

No design jargon, just a simple reinstatement of what I think about a lot. Thanks, Daniel.

Just spent 5 days inside the Javits Center, exhibiting Creative Women's hand-woven textiles, at the New York International Gift Fair (NYIGF). Each day I walked to the Javits, about 1.5 miles, mostly along the the High Line, the park in the sky that was once an elevated train line and is now the talk of NY. Good design abounds on the High Line.

HighLine

I would climb two flights of stairs and as I reached the top steps, started smiling as I saw this view.  Natural plantings, chunky chaise lounges attached to the original train tracks, elegant drinking fountains, comfortable benches so you can watch the foot traffic on the High Line or the car traffic below you on 10th Avenue.  By the time I reached the end at 30th St and 11 Avenue, I was ready to spend the whole day inside (although I would have rather been outside).

Once inside, I rarely left my booth, even though I wanted to see what was new and good looking.  But I realized that I didn't have to go far to see some innovative and pleasing uses of something old ... or to see a new take on a traditional object.

Two aisles down, I met the women from Makaua,(MAKAUA in the ancient Nahuatl language
has two meanings:“hand to hand” or the act of “giving a hand”). 

Makaua

Makaua hires over 400 people to grow the palm fronds, dye their amazing and contemporary colors, weave the wonderfully shaped baskets, and market them around the world. They epitomize the concept of using tradtional skills to bring new life to craft.

At the end of the show I realized that I really hadn't spent much time looking around, so I looked across the aisle at BittersCo, the wholesale and retail general store, out of Seattle, and founded by sisters, Amy and Katie Carson. This is a booth filled with interesting reruns ... one product tweaked or reconfigured that becomes something new. Their set of tin boxes, nested within each other and perfect for storing kitchen and desk paraphernalia, are hand-made in Mexico from old oil barrels. Good looking, useful, "green" ...

bitters

And, how can I resist showing our Creative Women's new throws and blankets from Guatemala ... our contribution to the new and lovely at the NYIGF? 

Atitlan

The holidays are over and it's time to move on to the New York International Gift Fair. But I'm still thinking about the 6 days I spent in NY, with family and just looking. I always soak up cities ... great places for me to get new ideas for Ceative Women ... for our products, or re-designing our booth (again), and for understanding the beauty of hand-made items.

So, three places that stood out for me; each for different reasons:

Adelaide, a little gem in the West Village, on Greenwich Street. This shop oozes good taste, a fabulous sense of design and the best displays. This holiday, the store was all dressed up for a '40s cocktail party ... reminded me of my parents and very young days.

Adelaide, 702 Greenwich Street, New York

In SoHo, Kindred Spirits, Native American Influence on 20 Century Art, at the Peter Blum Gallery reinforced what I already know, but in such a beautiful and dramatic way ... the beauty of hand-made is in the imperfections, the reflections of the human hand that made the object. I spent much time looking at the hand-made rugs ... the variations in color create by hand-dying, the lines that were not straight and the designs that were slightly random. I now know how to answer customers who want to know about consistent dye lots.

Finally, I walked by Canvas, in SoHo (full disclosure, they are a customer of Creative Women). They were featuring a Creative Women runner in their window; I was flattered and proud. I was wishing that I could magically bring some of the weavers and artisans who made the products that Canvas (also now in Chelsea) buys from us. How sweet to share the excitement of success with them. 

Canvas, 199 Lafayette Street, New York

Now we're planning for the the NYIGF. I've taken some of the display ideas I saw in NY and am using them in our booth at the Fair.  Come visit us  ... BOOTH 6308. One last vision of the holidays ... my amaryllis which just keeps blooming and makes me smile.

amaryllis

I've never thought of Halloween as an opportunity to learn something about the design process, but looking back on last weekend, I now see Halloween differently.

I spent the weekend in Providence, RI with my grandkids. I volunteered to help the 3 kids cut their pumpkins.  From the start, I should have realized that pumpkin cutting had entered a new era. First, we went on line and got directions (I didn't tell them that I have been cutting pumpkins, annually, for the last 45+ years). Then we looked at pumpkin designing sites; there's been a lot of thinking outside the pumpkin in the last few years. Amazing designs ... way beyond a smiling or frowning face. And controversy ... do you cut off the top or make a whole in the back; do you scoop out the gook before or after you cut out your design?

Being a modern grandmother, and not wanting to infringe of their creativity, I suggested that each one create their own design and go about it anyway they wanted. So,

• one chose an oblong pumpkin (aren't round ones premiun?), laid it on its side, and carved a crescent moon, a star, and meteor;
• next one cut out three stars to light up the Halloween night;
• the third one, Mr. Retro, asked how I cut my pumpkins, when "you were young." I told him there was only one way ... triangle eyes and nose, and either a mean or happy, big mouth, with fangs hanging out of it. That suited his personality just fine.

Pumpkins10.11

I drove back to Vermont that night; at 10PM, I got out the pumpkin carving knife and got going. The kids had challenged my pumpkin carving rut ... my pumpkin had to have a face (it's tradition and makes me feel good), I scooped out the gook after I carved the face, and I created a pumpkin face without any triangles. How freeing ...

Pumpkin10.11

I go to Ethiopia, Mali, Senegal, Swaziland ... but why Iceland. Because we promised our grandchildren we would take them on a trip, minus siblings, when they turn 12. And the oldest chose Iceland. He loves science, is interested in the geothermal activity in Iceland and wanted to see, very badly, the Northern Lights. So did I.

I look for new products, new designs, inspiration, for Creative Women, my textile business. Glaciers, waterfalls, incredible vistas, folk musems? What a treat to be in a country that has both ... wonderful stores and young designers, a fantastic concert hall, lovely old metal clad houses, and the scenery that rivals my home state ... Vermont.

No words needed ... a few of the sites we enjoyed.

Awaterfall

ConcertHall2

CityHallPond

Geyser1

Gullfuss3

We saw so much, but we never saw the Northern Lights. Maybe I'll see them on my next trip to Ethiopia.

Another unexpected alliance, Garden and Gun (the Soul of the the South magazine) and Creative Women. I met Haskell Harris, an associate editor, at the February New York Gift Show. She was interested in featuring a Creative Women Dots Beach Blanket in their summer edition. I was being my Vermont, somewhat reclusive self, and wondering if this was a good match. See for yourself; we both share a number of similar interests and values ... beautiful things for the home, healthy life styles and good food, well designed products, and Emmylou Harris (she's featured in the June/July edtion).

GardensGunss

Oh, I forgot to mention that the first day out, we got a phone call from a Texan, who wanted to get one of the Dots for his wife ... it was their 44th wedding anniversary. He told me, "haven't been to Vermont yet, but I hear it's beautiful." Then he commented, "I think that creating jobs in Ethiopia's a pretty darn good thing, too."

Thanks Haskell and Garden and Gun.  Come see us again at the NYIGF.

Ellen

 … (or at least I do)

Couldn't resist … I now own the book The Devil's Cloth: The History of Stripes. It's short; that's good. The beginning section is a bit more serious than I need it to be, but the sections dealing with more recent history really make the connections between stripes and feeling good. Once stripes stopped being associated with monks, prisoners, prostitutes, jugglers, and the French navy, Picasso, Coco Chanel, and others, began dressing in striped shirts; it was just a short jump to associating the stripes with the sea, then the beach, then the sun and feeling goood. Why wouldn't Creative Women use stripes in our products?

I've been going through some of my photos looking for stripes, here, in the my travels, on kids,adding pizazz to decor, and just making people feel good. Take a look:          

Colorful stripes in Ethiopia.

Les Nubians (carrying Creative Women bags) like stripes.

Tying the warp to make the stripes.

Hand-knit striped hats, on the side of the road, Dorze, Ethiopia.	Fat babies like stripes.

Some people can't get enough stripes …

Well, these aren't strictly stripes, but I couldn't resist showing you these plastic manikins seen in shops all around Addis.

~ Ellen

It's not as if folding laundry has ever been a favorite hobby of mine; and although I have done enough waitressing to know how satisfying it is to have a couple of boxes of napkins ready to go for the dinner rush, I certainly never took particular pleasure (or care) in folding them at home.

Then I came to work at Creative Women. Every shipment we receive, of course, has to be counted, then shelved in a way that makes each product easy to identify and pull out for filling orders. At first, I thought Ellen's insistence that all the tablecloths should be folded the one way, all the scarves another was just possibly a little compulsive.

Within a month or so, however, I realized she was absolutely right. Give it another six months, and I started experimenting with different folds to use shelf space more efficiently while keeping the fabrics in good shape. I've been here two years now, and I've gotten a little territorial about the folding. Come on—I just want to be sure it's done right. Not that I'm compulsive about it, or anything.

But if you do it carefully, you can smooth out most of the shipping wrinkles as you go, and everything will fit better on the shelves, and those full shelves just look so much better … and, yes, I've become a little compulsive. Sue me.

This is what's making me happy today (excuse the picture quality; it's from my cell phone):
Tablecloths, blankets, and throws, oh my!

Okay, some of the stacks are starting to get wobbly, but still, there's something about shelves full of nicely-folded tablecloths (and blankets, and throws) that makes me smile.

And the scarves that I completely re-vamped when we got the new colors in. Again: full shelves, smiling Amy.

Lots of folded scarves.

~ Amy

Just back from the NYIGF (well I took a few days off in NY to see family and move at my own pace, rather than the show's pace).  Definitely our best show … great location, good customers who I really enjoy seeing, and a chance to see the friends we've developed among the other exhibitors over the years.

I used to be so nervous before each show.  Now I'm a bit more confident that our booth will hold its own among all the others in the Handmade section.  And the press seemed to agree … HandEye, an exciting and elegant on-line and print magazine featured us during the show.  And otto included Creative Women on their site during the show, with a close up of our booth.  Good press is priceless!

In photos, our booth seems to look like a collection of unrelated textiles, rather than the story I try to create.  But people ooh and aaahed; I'm happy.  Take a look at our site, if this photo doesn't move you.

Booth_0810_300














 

Nice to be back in Vermont,

~ Ellen

I love this time of year in the office. There's so much happening, and so many different projects to coordinate, and samples of new products coming in, and … well, let's just say that there's a lot going on.

Ellen's getting ready to head to New York for the International Gift Fair (we'll be in booth #6308), so for the last two weeks we've had piles of blankets, scarves, tablecloths and napkins in various places around the studio, waiting to be counted or ironed or packed. And there are many lists in circulation, from products to be displayed to the booth furnishings on which to display them.

My lists revolve around new items that need to be posted on our website (have I included all the new colors? Do the links work? Has the price list been updated?), and then updated in the on-line catalog that NYIGF posts for us. Lots of fussy little details, but I love the finished product.

It seems odd, but despite all the details that have to be handled, we've been very calm here in the office. Is it possible that practice really does pay off?

Bare_Mannequin_200

Our poor mannequin, stripped of her usual scarf & shawl, waiting to be boxed for shipping.

~ Amy