John Muir Botanical Collection

Known as a writer, naturalist, and co-founder of the Sierra Club, John Muir is honored in a stationery collection distributed by The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.

There is certainly not a shortage of good looking paper products on the market now but these cards offer both beautiful images documenting Muir’s botanical legacy and they support the parks that stretch 70 miles north and south of the Golden Gate Bridge.

The assortment includes five SKUs of note cards, botanical prints, and a birthday reminder calendar.

In a time when many of us are constantly connected by electronic gadgets, how interesting to read that on excursions into the back country Muir traveled alone, carrying only a tin cup, a handful of tea, a loaf of bread, and a copy of Emerson.

So for anyone who has never walked through an ancient redwoods forest, Muir Woods in Mill Valley, California is just a short trip over the Golden Gate Bridge in the valley of Mt. Tamalpais. Visit sooner than later as the current cycle of fog-less days is said to be harming these giant beauties. With your mobile phone shut off you might just start to see and hear what you've been missing. The park's gift shop offers better photographs and postcard images than anyone could ever possibly capture with an I-Phone.




www.parksconservancy.org

For wholesale inquiries
Email: Wholesale@Parksconservancy.org
(415) 561-3033

Four New Garden Books

- Coming Soon to Your Local Bookseller (Hopefully)

Many of the current new garden titles are about maximizing small spaces with big yields of vegetables. The concept seems a bit too obvious to me and even first time gardeners should be able to figure it out from the instructions on the back of a seed packet.

When the warmer months of summer arrive I'll want to read more substance than about method. So after browsing the upcoming releases I am certainly looking forward to spending some quality time with these books.




Tenryuji: Life and Spirit of a Kyoto Garden
Release date: May 1st
$35.00
Stone Bridge Press
Author: Norris Brock Johnson is a Professor of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina. He was a Fulbright Lecturer at Waseda University and University of Tokyo, Komaba. Professor Johnson has been researching, teaching, and writing about the temple gardens of Japan for twenty years.





How to Plant a Tree: A Simple Celebration of Trees and Tree-Planting Ceremonies
Release date: April 15th
$15.95
Tarcher/Penguin
Author: Daniel Butler is an environmental writer who contributes to many of the United Kingdom's leading newspapers and magazines, including Country Living, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, and The Daily Telegraph. A former editor of Tree News, the in-house magazine for the UK's Tree Council, he is a devout tree-lover (he recently planted his own thousand-tree wood!).






Asian Gardens: History, Beliefs and Design
Release date: July 15th
$62.95
Routledge
Author: Tom Turner teaches on the undergraduate and masters programmes in garden history and landscape architecture at the University of Greenwich in London. Garden design was influenced by Polytheist, Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Daoist, Shinto and Modernist beliefs. Asian Gardens: History, beliefs and design explores how these belief systems influenced the design of gardens.




The Ivington Diaries
Release date: July 6th
$32.50
Bloomsbury USA
Author: Monty Don is one of Britain's best-loved gardeners. He wrote a weekly column for the Observer between 1994 and 2006 and he was the charismatic presenter of BBC Gardener's World from 2003 to 2008. He lives and gardens in Herefordshire with his wife Sarah and their three children. The Ivington Diaries is a personal collection of Monty's jottings from the past fifteen years.

A Young Billionaire With a Soul

The ultra rich are not very popular now. Yes, there are exceptions like Bill & Melinda Gates whose foundation is expanding health care around the globe and reduced malaria cases by 50%(a disease that kills about one million people a year). When many people are out of work it's understandable that there is strong resentment from the have-nots toward the haves.

A few years ago when working for a privately held company I attended a weekly meeting that included the founder/owner of the business who herself is in this net worth club. She was frustrated with the meeting and complained to the group, "You all think making money is difficult ?! You should try giving it away." From this sentiment we often see the more sexy projects like high profile museums and expanded cultural institutions. These contributions are indeed significant but when so many people in the world do not have access to clean water or land to grow their own food, the importance diminishes greatly.

Now, in a time when many businesses are trying to quickly 'cash in' with the social media phenomenon how refreshing to read the announcement from Chris Hughes, one of the four founders of Facebook this morning. He spoke about JUMO.com a format for global volunteerism. In his own words: "Jumo brings together everyday individuals and organizations to speed the pace of global change. We connect people to the issues, organizations, and individuals relevant to them to foster lasting relationships and meaningful action."

The site is in its 'soft launch' phase and takes anonymous visitors through a number of philosophical profile questions. Questions come in the form of multiple-choice answers include one's general political position, favorite first names, cars, language preference, leisure activities and priorities of charitable contribution. Information will later be sent to your email address.

This will be an exciting development to watch. I only hope the dot.com was for easy name recognition and curious why it was not the traditional not-for-profit dot.org.


www.Jumo.com

Alternatives to Spring Annual Brights- Go Monochromatic

-Los Angeles, California

Here in southern California we are quite lucky to have a rainbow of plant life blooming all year 'round. Anything can grow here with little or no attention. Lately I noticed many unplanned or ill chosen locations for things like fig trees- either sprouting 10 feet high from the side of a palm tree (most certainly planted by a crow) or struggling in the dark shade under a scrubby old pine.

It's odd that many large nurseries and garden centers treat our Spring like we were in New Jersey or Massachusetts. Pink, Red, and Yellow, oh my. Hundreds and hundreds of little annual flowers in crazy bright colors cascading over every possible surface at the entrance. To me so many of them are all flash and no substance. Where are the leaves that will insure a healthy life for these plants? Often hidden beneath the over fertilized flower heads.

Some of us are looking for interesting perennials or other rare finds. Too often I strike out in this department- perhaps because it seems that so few Angelenos actually chose their own plants or do any gardening. Doing things for oneself is a bit out of fashion here if you can hire someone to do it for you. How odd that I found my latest inspiration not at any nursery but inside the new White Flower Farm catalog. And they are void of color but not attraction.

I am very aware that shipping live plants around in the dark on airplanes is not ideal for many reasons, but here are a few bare-root choices that would zip along the mail stream nicely in a paper sack.

HABENARIA RADIATA
The common reference is appropriately named the White Egret Flower. It is a new offering this year and is part of a terrestrial orchid family with smooth dark green leaves. They bloom mid to late summer. For warmer climates they need to be frozen - not just chilled (35° F or less) for three months to simulate their natural northern Asian climate.
Zones 6-10 S&W
12-15" Tall

IRIS ENSATA
Another plant named after a graceful bird, Great White Heron. Enormous flowers that can be up to 11- yes eleven inches across. This Japanese variety with tall stems can grow as high as 4 to 5 ft. and blooms late in June or July.
Zones 4-9S/ 10W

IRIS CHRYSOGRAPHES BLACK FLOWERED
The photo speaks for itself- The almost black flowers of this Siberian iris should bloom in June. Standard height- no more than 18 inches tall.
Zones 3-8S/ 9W


Two other considerations in this black and white theme come in the form of seeds from Renee's Garden based in Fenton, California. Both should be planted right in the ground.

ALCEA ROSEA
The Black Watchman Hollyhock needs its space. It can grow to 7 feet tall and is on the Monticello heirloom list left by Thos. Jefferson. One needs to be very selective about a sunny location that can handle such a giant that will reseed even under the roughest conditions.

DAUCUS CAROTA or AMMI MAJUS
Legend has it that Queen Anne, the wife of King James I, was challenged by her friends to create lace as beautiful as a flower. While making the lace, she pricked her finger, and it’s said that the purple-red flower in the center of Queen Anne’s Lace represents a droplet of her blood. Also called Wild Carrot (since Queen Anne’s Lace is the wild progenitor of today’s carrot), Bishop’s Lace or Bird’s Nest. Grows to 3 ft. tall with 4-5 inch intricate blossoms.


Images listed are shown left to right.

www.WhiteFlowerFarm.com

www.ReneesGarden.com

Ralph Lauren Home joins forces with Kravet

With 30 to-the-trade showrooms in North America Kravet will be representing Ralph Lauren Home's fabrics, wall coverings, and trimmings. A select number of the showrooms will also have lighting and window hardware. Folia continues as the licensee for the decorative fabrics and was one of the partners in this arrangement.

With this broad reach Ralph Lauren swatches may soon be the hands of many U.S. decorators and designers who may not have seen them before. Here I highlight two handsome patterns; a navy 'Chalk-Stripe' and 'Glenview Paisley' in henna. The chrome desk lamp is a classic called the RL '67 Boom-Arm and available in other finishes.

Kravet Inc. is a privately held, fourth-generation American family business that services the interior design trade exclusively in locations under their own name as well as Lee Jofa and GP & J Baker. They started in New York City as a small decorative trimmings store in 1918. They sell fabrics from a number of other well know designers such as Calvin Klein, Jospeh Abboud, and Laura Ashley.


www.Kravet.com
www.RalphLaurenHome.com

Your Favorite Eau de Toilette; To-Go

As a follow up to my last post about price tags and cosmetics, Sephora France has launched yet another channel of distribution to expand their empire; vending machines inside the Paris Métro. I have seen similar perfume machines before- one was inside the old Gramercy Park Hotel in New York during an Art Fair. But what makes this idea work is the low price point leading to an easy impulse buy.

Excerpt from Springwise in The Netherlands

It's been a while since we've come across any new efforts involving vending machines, but recently a nice one in the Paris Métro caught our eye. A week before Valentine's Day, fragrance retailer Sephora installed a series of machines at various Métro stations dedicated to selling Calvin Klein's CK One scent in a special, portable size.

From February 7 through February 20, visitors to the Métro's La Défense, Charles de Gaulle-Étoile, Montparnasse and Miromesnil stations could buy a special 15ml size of CK One at an on-site "CK One Pocket Store" by Sephora. Priced at EUR 10, the limited-edition pocket size is also available through Sephora itself. The vending-machine concept was created by Paris agency Nouveau Jour, which says it expects to use it abroad as well. A video on Daily Motion shows the campaign in action.


Website: www.sephora.fr

Estée Lauder tackles taboo of showing prices

Estée Lauder Cos. CEO Fabrizio Freda gave an interview with the Wall Street Journal revealing a significant shift in the way the company’s products will be shown in department stores. For the first time pricing will now be visible.

The main reason Freda stated that Lauder wants to show pricing is to illustrate the affordability of the products. This might also make the initial conversation easier for the shy and price conscious shoppers.

For example- Clinique’s Radiance chemical peel product is the most expensive item in that brands line at $55.00. A 2 oz. roll-on antiperspirant is $9.00. The most popular item sold at Macy’s is the 4.2 oz. Dramatically Different Moisturizer at a modest $24.00.

This follows other recent shifts in the way people are buying beauty products. Sephora has grown into a giant powerhouse with 750 stores in 21 countries. It is a force to be reckoned with since it has only been in the U.S. since 1997. The chain is well known for their generosity with samples, a lenient return policy, ease of one-stop shopping, and the option of self-service. Here you can see each product's retail price posted clearly from six feet away. As a way of taking department stores head on it has also opened 155 shop-in-shops inside JCPenny locations since 2006.

There are other reasons to watch Sephora. The cosmetics chain has a two level customer rewards program. Spend $100 dollars and you get a free gift. Spend $350 in a calendar year and you become a V-I-B which means Very Important Beauty Insider. And among the extra perks for this level include invitations to events at different stores. They also get exclusive dibs on new product launches and what is promoted on the company website as “total red carpet treatment”.

Combine all this with recent news of prestige and salon brands being reformulated and offered at mass merchants, like Frederic Fekkai heading to Target where they already sell Bumble and Bumble. So it’s no wonder that a company like Lauder needed to prod department stores to do something to be competitive.

For some time now the design of more inviting cosmetic spaces has replaced the traditional glass fixture counter top that divided buyer and seller. Prada was a leader a few years ago where their space was wide open and fully interactive. Other make-up counters shifted to a more spa / salon environment adding comfortable chairs that replaced barstools.

If all the department stores are agreeable to this shift it could lead to some healthy competition from brand to brand. I have a feeling the GWP promotions are about to become both more frequent and a little more compelling too.

The WSJ interview can be found here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703915204575103604265214346.html?KEYWORDS=lauder

A New Crop of Businesses on Montana Avenue

-SANTA MONICA, California

Here in this quiet beach town in LA County there is a sign that the economy is improving. This neighborhood’s main shopping street had as many as 30 vacant store fronts last year in the seven block stretch, and slowly some new shops are opening up. Recently four have opened that all offer garden-related items or cut flowers and each has a unique focus.

H&H or Household Horticulture has been opened for a few years but they recently re-branded themselves from a name that did not clearly identify their trade: Hoot & Heart. They take a modern yet rustic approach to garden décor, plants, and containers with a flower studio at the back of the shop. Just one block away Stephanie Grace’s ‘Petals, Parties & Gifts’ refers to themselves as a “full service event production firm”. One imagines Stephanie will or could handle at least one big Oscar after-party next week. The target customer being the well-to-do brides that want every detail managed for them. The shop, her third location displays fine dinnerware place settings along with formal wedding gifts for the home. Just recently they started merchandising cut flowers out on the sidewalk perhaps as a test to attract a walk-in business.

The Language of Flowers (and santamonicaflowers.com) is a tiny florist where for years the former owner displayed nothing more than old knickknacks and philodendrons in the window- a small television was the most prominent feature then with a few mums mixed in. Perhaps when the analog TV signal died- so too did the old business. The newly renovated space was opened up and is bright & quite cheerful. I suspect this is the neighborhood favorite since there are always people inside and it’s directly across from the school pick-up area.

The last to arrive was Inner Gardens. Here they cater to the decorating professional with big garden ornament, landscaping & design commissions, old furniture and antiques suitable for enormous homes. Mix in some unusual orchids and you get the picture. A second showroom is in West Hollywood, the main nursery is in Culver City.

I admire the ambition to open a flower related business in a time where the dot.com way of sending flowers direct via Fed-Ex has hurt so many independent flower shops. Add that to two nice supermarkets on the street that sell flowers too and there is bound to be some healthy competition this spring. With competition often comes innovation so I’ll enjoy watching and reporting on their progress in the next few months.


www.householdhorticulture.com

www.StephanieGrace.com

www.santamonicaflowers.com

www.InnerGardens.com

Do You Have Fewer Customers ? Target New Ones

With more than 4 million babies born each year in the United States it’s no wonder that many home retailers are layering in children’s merchandise to the mix.

Who buys children’s toys and items for the nursery? Grandmothers enjoy this type of splurge buying more than anyone else. Then there are the expecting parents along with their friends all ready to celebrate a new addition to the family.

It comes as no surprise that the oldest luxury department store in Manhattan expanded their children’s department in a big and bold way.

Bergdorf Goodman is the last of the old-world luxury department stores in New York City and has been in business for more than one hundred years on the same site where the old Vanderbilt mansion once stood. Henri Bendel was never the same after being scooped up by Les Wexner and their move away from the intimate 57th Street location. Lord & Taylor is desperately trying to stay in business and strayed from its luxury roots long ago.

Bergdorf’s new Children's Department was launched this past month on the seventh floor within the expansive home furnishings area and is called LITTLE BG. It features clothing and accessories in sizes from newborn through six. The department also offers exclusive collections from Le Guignol, Le Nouveau Ne, Tartine et Chocolat, Little Marc Jacobs, Baby Dior and others.

‘Special occasion’ dressing is offered for both boys and girls, either off the rack or custom made-to-order. The department also includes a unique collection of handmade toys and gifts from around the world.

Shown here:
Gucci sneaker $195
Jay Strongwater rocking horse frame embellished with Swarovski® crystals $395



www.BergdorfGoodman.com

Mark Gabbertas for Gloster Furniture

Gloster furniture once known for its traditional English style teak collections has evolved over the years to be not only a leader in high quality outdoor furniture in many different materials, but they have also stepped out with many new modern and contemporary designs.

For example a new collection by Mark Gabbertas was launched for the 2010 selling season in Chicago this fall. Gabbertas says his philosophy is to create character through simplicity. He established his design studio in the 90s after training as a cabinet-maker and executed projects such as an outdoor public seating system for Tate Britain and a table collection for The Conran Shop.

This new Gloster teak collection called ‘AXIS’ includes; a deep seating group, a dining suite (shown here), and occasional tables made in graceful geometric forms one would expect to see in Dwell magazine. The collection is also offered in mahogany with a dark sable colored finish.



www.Gloster.com

Fall 2010: Runway Fashion Color Trends

-New York, NY

Why wait for the home furnishings or gift market to translate and predict the next round of colors in High Point this April? Fashion colors can predict out as far as two years ahead of home furnishings- so Buyers & shop owners can make choices now for the next round of Fall/Holiday purchases and be one step ahead of those who’ll wait.

The Pantone Color Institute surveys New York fashion designers each season to find the most directional colors. Here are the results for the top five that were published this week in Women's Wear Daily:

Women
Purple Orchid Pantone 18-3027
Chocolate Truffle Pantone 19-1526
Woodbine Pantone 18-0538
Oyster Gray 14-1107
Lagoon Pantone 16-5418 ( Color of the Year )

Men
Sedona Sage 18-5105
Chocolate Truffle 19-1526
Woodbine 18-0539
Liberty Pantone 19-3850
Oyster Gray Pantone 14-1107

Please click on images to enlarge detail.

Please consult current Pantone color system publications for accurate color matches.

www.Pantone.com

Perfection in Porcelain

Porcelain is well known to have superior qualities over other types of ceramics- most noticeably its strength therefore the absence of scratches on a plate from using a knife and fork. The other qualities of some porcelain in addition to being chip resistant include; flexibility to go from the freezer to the oven to the table. Now porcelain is available at all sorts price points. Yes, even Wal-Mart offers a basic white dinnerware set. Well, about 6,000 miles away from Bentonville and light years away regarding aesthetics is the home of Nymphenburg. Today I want to highlight some of the new decorative items being offered from this premier porcelain maker.


Porzellan Manufaktur Nymphenburg has been handcrafting fine porcelain for 260 years. Porcelain services, figures, and objects of premium quality and purity have been produced at this location since the 18th century. This is no ordinary ‘factory’ location- the palace owned by the royal family of Bavaria is a popular tourist destination complete with gardens and canals. For years, it has been a best-kept secret among those who demand only the finest porcelain available. Each piece is made by hand based on the strictly guarded formulas and processes that have been passed down from generation to generation.

Porcelain was a highly desirable commodity during the baroque period. At the time, it only came from China and so, during the 18th century, attempts were undertaken in Europe to produce what was referred to as "white gold". The fragile and gentle character of this porcelain did not only meet the aesthetic of the time – it also reflected the preference for everything extravagant and playful. Which remains the case to this day as experts and collectors of Nymphenburg see its quality and refinement as unique.

Since its founding Nymphenburg has received many prizes and may be admired in some of the world's major art and design collections; MoMA and the Cooper Hewitt in New York, as well as the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. Nymphenburg is involved in many collaborations with contemporary designers such as Ted Muehling, Hella Jongerias, and about a dozen others. ( Image of Jongerias 'Four Seasons' tea pot 2007). With such provenance it is not surprising to see that Moss is one of the more visible retail outlets in the US. Kneen & Co. is an authorized distributor based in Chicago stocking a significant amount of SKUs.


www.nymphenburg.com/

www.jongeriuslab.com/

www.tedmuehling.com/

In Memory of British Textile Designer Lucienne Day

On January 30th, 2010 designer Lucienne Day died at age 93. She was one of the foremost British textile designers of her period.

Born Désirée Lucienne Day (January 5, 1917) she was the wife of furniture designer Robin Day. The Days, considered by some to be Britain's most celebrated designer couple of the post-war era, were married from 1942. They are often compared to their American counterparts, Charles and Ray Eames.

A graduate of the Royal College of Art, Lucienne and her husband set up their design practice in 1948, but it wasn't until the Festival of Britain exhibition in 1951 that the true extent of their design vision was recognised. Many of Day's printed fabrics were made in long production runs, which kept the price affordable. She made the link between mass production and fine art.

She was deeply influenced by European abstract painting. Her recurring motif of organic forms and geometrics remind us of the art of Paul Klee and Joan Miró.

Image shown above is Day’s popular Calyx print & Miró’s Upside-down Figures.

New York Gift Fair Names Accent on Design Winners

Five Accent on Design exhibitors were recognized this week for design excellence, with awards for product design, overall excellence, best collection and best new designer.

The Winter 2010 Accent on Design award-winners are:

Excellence in Product Design: Areaware (New York, N.Y.) for "Shovel Birdhouse"

Excellence in Product Design: j-me® (London, England) for "Float" magazine rack

Best Collection: Pablo (San Francisco, Calif.) for ambient, hybrid and task lighting

Overall Excellence: Eastern Accent (Sudbury, Mass.)

A+ Best New Designer: Jung-woo Lee of EK DESIGN (Seoul, Korea)


The ‘Best Collection’ winner Pablo Pardo is worth reviewing in more detail. This month as SFMOMA is celebrating its 75th anniversary, the existing museum-store will soon mark ten years since the store doubled in size expanding to 6,000 ft. sq. With that was a decision to showcase furniture and lighting and Pablo was the featured lighting designer.

For this award his designs were recognized for ambient, hybrid and task lighting. The collection, which is both innovative and traditional, includes LED task lighting and energy-rated incandescent or halogen ambient lighting. The judges recognized Pablo’s high design, quality and technology in a diverse line of lighting.



www.pablodesigns.com

www.nyigf.com

www.SFMOMA.org

And the Award goes to….

The Wallpaper* Judges' awards celebrate the best of the creative crop from the past twelve months. In my January 8th post I narrowed two categories down from five choices to two of my own ‘finalists'. Well, what do you know… my prediction was correct for both awards.


Best domestic design
Slowcooker, by Margriet Foolen, for Royal VKB


Furniture designer of the year
Konstantin Grcic- various projects including a Thonet / Muji collaboration

The complete list of 66 winners including restaurants and specific pieces of new furniture can be found through this link:



http://www.wallpaper.com/news/design-awards-2010-the-winners/4212/

Diane von Fürstenberg announces launch of Home Collection

-NEW YORK

The legendary fashion designer and one time German Princess, Diane von Fürstenberg has signed with Springs Global to design a line of home furnishings including, bedding, bath, and tabletop that will debut in spring 2011.

For Springs Global it is the first high-profile licensed program the company has had in many years. It is well known for its Wamsutta and Springmaid brands of bed linens. This week Springs launched a new luxury linen brand called the Court of Versailles at Maison & Objet. It’s a licensed collection made in partnership with the Palace of Versailles foundation.

The DVF program will debut with a collection targeted at the department and better specialty store channels. Von Fürstenberg said she had waited a long time to do a home line like this, holding on for the right moment and the right partner.

"Since my business is so textiles driven,” she said to Home Furnishings News, “this is a natural for me. But what had held me back is that the distribution of home products is so odd.”



www.Springs.com/


www.dvf.com/

Moss Gallery Re-opens with New Format

-South of Houston St., Manhattan

Buyer’s headed to New York for the Gift Show at the end of this month should be sure to head down to SoHo and see the recently renovated space at Moss. This gallery and retail shop has been recognized by the International Herald Tribune as "the most important design store in the world". It's a Mecca for modern design objects and home furnishings. After 15 years the tall cube fixtures have been replaced by new low corian platforms and the floor plan and flow has been improved.

Glowing in the gallery's front window is a light sculpture called ‘Illuminated Crucifix’ by Czech designers: Michal Fronek and Jan Nemecek. The piece is made to order with pricing available upon request.

Using religious symbols for commercial purposes is not new but there’s nothing like a little controversy to draw attention.

For example, a few years ago Madonna’s appearance standing on an enormous crucifix in concert was condemned with calls from Roman Cardinals for her excommunication. Of course we all know about her converting from Christianity anyway as well as those record ticket sales.

Then there is the UK's graffiti artist Banksy who has made a living poking fun at establishments both political and religious. In the piece shown here SOLD WITHOUT RESERVE he portrays religious figures on their knees worshiping either a good deal or mourning a return to regular priced merchandise. The oil painting was sold at auction last fall for $230,500.

Socrates and Anaxagoras were put to death for impiety (against ancient Greek gods). Only since 1952 the US Supreme court decided that the laws against sacrilege were unconstitutional. The interesting source of this issue actually came from a Fellini and Rossini film called “The Miracle”. The story line disputes the biblical story of the immaculate conception and portrays Joseph as the real bio-dad.

Well, I do not expect any protests out on Green Street. It will take more a florescent cross to offend resilient New Yorkers. However for those needing some real spiritual help Moss also sells an Our Lady Of Guadalupe cross for $110, and a porcelain crucifixion scene designed in the 18th c. for $12,500, the latter worthy of a place inside the Vatican Museum.


Moss Photograph by Davies + Starr

Opening Soon- Bloomingdale's Outlet Stores

Following up on a December 10th, 2009 post.

Macy’s confirms details of Bloomingdale’s Outlet store concept this year.

The outlets will offer a range of apparel and accessories, including women’s ready-to-wear, men’s, children’s, women’s shoes, fashion accessories, jewelry, handbags and intimate apparel.

According to a company statement, the plan calls for the opening of four Bloomingdale’s Outlets this year—in Bergen Town Center in Paramus, N.J., Dolphin Mall in Miami, Potomac Mills in Woodbridge, Va., and Sawgrass Mills in Sunrise, Fla.

If this roll out is sucessful we will most likely see a home store version to follow.

Bunching Onion- A Winter Wonder

Los Angeles is not known for its varying seasons however the cooler nighttime temperatures that start in November combined with fewer hours of sunlight do slow many plants down and they go dormant. One plant that defies the cold weather and continues to thrive is the Japanese Bunching onion or Allium fistulosu. They are also known as 'scallions', 'green onions', or 'spring onions'. However, these names are ambiguous and may also be used to refer to any young green onion stalk. When compared to their shorter and skinnier cousins, chives (Allium schoenoprasum) are an attractive plant -even more so in bloom, but often die back in the cooler weather.

Growing bunching onions is very practical and convenient. They are simple to start from seed as one may be challenged to find the plants anyway. Spacing is important as well as thinning of seedlings as they have a high germination rate and one 6.0 gram packet contains over 2,400 seeds.

They can be harvested at a number of stages, depending on whether you want the tender, early green shoots, or the mature, white flesh of the lower stem. It is advised to not over cook them as they might become bitter.

In most bowls of miso soup this is the traditional green herb added with the seaweed.

Since 1917 The Kitazawa Seed Company based in Oakland, California has responded to the ever increasing demand for Asian vegetable seeds. They sell bulk quantities and have been producing the same traditional individual illustrated packets for almost 100 years. An full catalog is available by mail and they also offer wholesale collections for retail shops.

There are over 250 rare heirloom varieties alone so labeling is essential especially with the more exotic leafy greens in order to recognize Molokhia from Mugwort.


www.kitazawaseed.com/

California Gift Show Welcomes Buyers with Music & Champagne

-Los Angeles Convention Center

With low attendance at many of the nation’s trade shows, perhaps the management of the California Gift Show knew they had to try a little harder this year to make this a better experience than usual.

Indeed attending the winter show was a new experience. The following are some details that were unexpected after walking the summer & winter versions many times.

The registration area was heavily staffed- Buyers were escorted to smaller lines depending on their paperwork or special needs. The front line team seemed to enjoy their work and produced badges quickly with a smile.

As I walked up to the main hall Friday morning at about 11.00, I was scanned in and also welcomed by a group of people offering catalogs. A ribbon cutting ceremony was underway in the first row with press and video cameras. Glasses of Champagne were passed around by a team of people wearing tuxedos while Frank Sinatra was being played through the public address system. This sort of treatment is more fitting for what one would expect at the VIP lounge at Maison-Objet Show in Paris.

The look and feel of the wider aisles was also new. White felt carpeting helped bump up the lighting significantly and every few aisles offered some open seating- modern cardboard chairs and desk equipped with lap-top computers provided by Twitter.

An all day TWITTER workshop was going on, packed with Buyers and shop owners wanting to jump on board the social media frenzy. Lastly in the middle of the hall was a large cocktail lounge with full bar and deep sofas certain to be the center of activity later - or sooner depending on how well the order writing goes.

With such added attention it was a welcomed shift in both attitude and outlook. As far as new product being offered, individual post to follow with some of my highlights.