Go PUBLIC

I love this new bicycle simply know as "PUBLIC."  Founder, Rob Forbes, who also  launched Design Within Reach, envisioned a design-driven bicycle as a means of reclaiming streets and public spaces to develop better human interaction and conversation. According to Forbes, "we’d like to see streets safe enough for kids and old folks to get around on foot or on a bike. The quality and usage of our public spaces is the measure of the success of our democracy. This is why we call ourselves PUBLIC." 

Personally, I like it because it looks like it would be comfortable and fun to ride. It reminds me of my first Schwin bike and the fun I had riding it. I haven't flipped over a product this much since the iPad!

Sale: Julie Addison Paper

Pretty gift wrap papers designed by celebrated ephemera artist, Julie Addison (available through Barbara Schriber Designs) on sale for $1.00 per sheet (24 sheet minimum). Order $100 and get free shipping! Contact your Sales Associate or call 800.791.4321 for details.

Just Hatched: Nashelle Jewelry

The Barron Collection Ltd. is now representing Nashelle, an artisan crafted line of jewelry. Using recycled precious metals with an experienced artistic touch, Nashelle jewelry is never mass produced. Nashelle's jewelry is eco-chic at its finest.

Contact your Sales Associate for more details or call us at 800.791.4321 for more information.

Sneak Peek: Rosy Rings Fall & Winter 2010

Rosy Rings' Fall and Winter 2010 launch captures the fragrance of the season with a rich selection of candles such as Honey Tobacco, Autumn Quince, Forest and beeswax blended candles in pretty recycled glass jars. Making a return are Rosy Rings' popular scented votives, now available boxed in sets of four or twelve.  The perennial favorite, Spice Apple will also be available in a grander scale as well as other popular sizes. 

Contact your Sales Associate or call 800.71.4321 for details.

Shown (top): Honey Tobacco candle: a scent of sweet honey, tobacco leaf, sandalwood and vanilla is warm, sensual, timeless.Shown (below): Scented votives in a box.

Sneak Peek: Winter Collection from Rosanna Inc.

Rosanna Inc.'s new Woodland Cameo collection combines feminine Victorian with dark Gothic to create an eclectic urban aesthetic that's crisp, clean and undeniably fashion forward.

Contact your Sales Associate or call 800.791.4321 for more information.

The Big Dipper

Wickman will soon be introducing four new candle "dippers." Wick dipping or quenching is a great way to snuff a candle while also preventing wick from continuing to smoke and smolder. The burning wick is instantly snuffed when submerged into the molten wax, leaving the wick coated and preserved with a thin layer of wax.  Dippers also eliminate smoky odors and reduced soot emissions.

Other Wickman candle essentials include a sleek lighter and wick trimmers.

Shown Above: Four new "dipper" styles from Wickman.

Savour: A Taste for Life

Savour, a delightful European-style deli, located in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle Washington, offers of world of flavors in a relaxed atmosphere with plenty of tasting samples and a regular series of in-store demonstrations.
 
Prior to launching Savour, owner Holly McLean had a career in the travel industry. Her travels provided McClean with the perfect opportunity to fine tune her passion for fabulous foods.  McLean also inherited the retail gene from her family who owned a shoe store in Port Angeles, Washington. Starting a Savour was a natural extension of her love of travel, food and retail.

Savour's mission is to cater to people who love to explore the world of food by offering unique foods and products that that enhance one's cooking, eating, and entertaining experience. All of which should be savored, which is why we McClean choose the name Savour – pronounced "savor" with a spelling twist!

Click here to learn more about Savour.

Shown Above: Rosanna Bowles of Rosanna Inc. prepares pasta with Savour owner, Holly McLean.

The Nose Knows

Knows Perfumes: Purveyor of Uncommon Scents, a unique perfume gallery, recently opened its doors in West Seattle. Owner, Christen Cottam, moved to Seattle from San Francisco four and a half years ago after a successful career in the bio-tech industry to pursue her passion for fragrance. Cottam's love of perfume grew out of her fascination with wine's complexities of notes. Perfume, like wine offered Cottam the same intrigue.

The store's decidedly San Francisco vibe is unlike department store perfume counters. It's  surprisingly fragrance free. Cottam keeps her shop fragrance free to enable each perfume's fragrance to to be enjoyed without the interference of competing fragrances.

At Knows Perfumes, one will find the world's finest and rarest perfumes, including: McBride Beauty, Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier, Strange Invisible Perfumes and Tallulah Jane Natural. Cottam's personal favorite is Fire & Cream from Strange Invisible Perfume. 

In addition to an exquisite array of fragrances, Knows Perfume carries the AB Home collection from Archipelago Botanicals.

Knows Perfume is located at 4536 California Avenue SW, Seattle, WA 98106. Shown Above: Cottam surrounded by extraordinary perfumes.

Shades of Summer

ICU is known for its readers but they also have an extensive collection of fashion-forward sunglasses for men and women.

Contact your Sales Associate for more details or call us at 800.791.4321 for more information.

Look at Books: The Perfect "Guy Gift"

Father’s Day will soon be here and many buyers are once again at odds over what “guy gifts” to bring into their stores. The challenge is not that men are difficult to shop for. Rather, it’s that most women buyers are buying for themselves and other women. There’s nothing wrong with that until Father’s Day rolls around and buyers find themselves with little in the way of "guy gifts" to offer their customers.

Our Father’s Day gift suggestion is books. There are endless titles with masculine appeal that can be easily integrated with gifts you may be carrying. For example, if you sell stemware, bring in titles relating to cocktails. This time of year, books on the art of grilling or gardening also abound.

A book is a gift that keeps on giving long after the holiday has passed.

Shown: Rules for My Unborn Son from Macmillian.

Pop of Color

One of the summer's brightest pop of color is turquoise. This cool blue hue casts a calming spell on everything from fashion accessories to home furnishings.

Shown: Down filled turquoise bursts pillow by Trina Turk from Peking Handicrafts, Inc.

Just Hatched: Just 4 Kicks

Northwest winters are known for endless days of rainy gray skies, but not for long! Just 4 Kicks is launching a fun line of rain boots and umbrellas guaranteed to brighten anyone's day. Samples are expected to arrive in our showroom in July.

Shown: Kowboy kitsch rain boots.

Birds of a Feather

Rosanna Bowles was on hand at at Fireworks Gallery's University Village location in Seattle, Washington recently to promote and sign copies of her new book, Coming Home. While there, she and owner Michelle Manasse, discovered that they both attended the University of Oregon during the same time. These two "Ducks" are definitely birds of a feather!

The Magic Number

For the last 25 years, $20 has been the magic price point for impulse purchases. It seems like it’s the only thing that has remained unaffected by inflation. In fact, statistics show over 25 years the cost of almost everything doubles. Why then has the $20 price point of impulse items remain unchanged?

I was recently visited Susan Wheeler Antiques, located in the booming Georgetown area of Seattle Washington. Wheeler’s shop is a magnificent mix of antiques and ephemera that beckons one to meander through it slowly and thoughtfully. As I walked through her shop, I kept noticing price tags for $28. The more I saw that modest number, the more comfortable I felt with that price point. Maybe it was that in the context of an antique store, $28 seemed like a bargain or perhaps it was the even number integers made it seem accessible. Maybe it was seeing $28 tags repeatedly. Whatever the reason, I felt comfortable with that number and left with the feeling that the time has come to begin pushing the price point envelope away from $20 for impulse purchases. In an environment where every sale is precious, an extra $8 to a sale represents a 40% increase. This is a huge increase to the retailer but an amount that many consumers can comfortably leap to spend.

I can already hear the registers ringing in an extra 40%.

Design Sponge: Soak it Up

Brooklyn New York has become a magnet for aspiring artist and designers who are quickly making their mark in the world of art and design. A stand-out among this talent pool is Grace Bonney, founder of Design*Sponge, a daily website dedicated to home and product design (www.designspongeonline.com).

Launched in August of 2004, Design*Sponge was declared a “Martha Stewart Living for the Millennials” (NY Times, 2008) and features store and product reviews, gift guides, DIY projects, before and after furniture, home makeovers, recipes, videos, podcasts, trend forecasting and more.

Bonney has a unique angle on the industry. If you want to get a beat on what appeals to "Millennials" and learn about the latest trends, join 60,000 other readers who daily soak up Bonney's wisdom.

What's Hatching: Midori Wraps it Up

New from Midori Inc. are six new gift paper designs joining over 30 other styles. Made of 100% recycled cotton, papers are individually hand pressed and hand screened.

Zine Scene: Pillow Talk

The latest issue of People magazine features Peking Handicrafts Inc.'s (PHI) hooked Seahorse pillow.

Zine Scene: Oprah Gets Creative

Prominently pictured on the cover of the 10th Anniversary issue of O magazine, are Creative Candles's 6” Celebration tapers.