Wednesday, September 30, 2009

So we are back from the cabin and desperately trying to hold onto the relaxed vacation
attitude... so far so good.
As you can see from the above photo, the cabin is an inspiration inside. It's filled with posters from museum exhibitions dating back to the 60's. I love the mix, it's so personal and the juxtaposition between all of the different exhibits is visually stunning.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Douglas, Noodle and I are leaving for a much needed and DESERVED vacation tomorrow. We will be in San Francisco for one fast paced day and then we head for the hills to our secluded mountain cabin. No phone, no Internet, barely any radio~ it's heaven !!!! Someday in my fantasy world we'll be spending 2-3 weeks every August here, how sweet would that be?!

See you again next Wednesday.
So this last weekend was almost entirely devoted to Jewels! I finally got around to redesigning the Jeanine Payer case @ ABC and it looks beautiful. I covered the bottom of the vintage case with a natural silk lined from The Silk Trading Co. It took me about 2 hours to cover all of the different pieces with the linen {making sure to neatly fold over all corners}. The funny thing is that it took only about 15 minutes to install the linen risers and merchandise the case. The way I work is that I already know how it's going to go before I start, so the actual installation is a breeze.
On Sunday MK and I attended the D&A show and specifically focused on the Jewelery collection for GCT. I am sure all of you know that jewelry is a strong category and attention must be paid to the selection and point of view for the offering. We put a great new group of designers together with a strong focus of gemstones, this will compliment the existing collection of silver and gold but not compete with it.
Most of the new collections will be in the shop by the first week of October.

Friday, September 18, 2009

So Fashion... For those of you who don't know I am a huge fashion fan, you might not be able to tell by the way I dress, but I LOVE fashion.

This picture was taken at the Peter Som presentation Douglas and I were invited to on Wednesday {Cursive donated cute little boxed papers for all of the models}. For those of you with really good eyes that is Brad from The Rachel Zoe Project looking over the spring lineup.

I am a strong believer that most things follow fashion's direction and I most certainly use it for the shop buys, IE: Silver metallic jackets = silver metallic crackle journals and albums.
The easiest way to stay relevant and a head of the curve is to keep your eyes peeled to what the people on the streets are styling, read odd little foreign magazines (and by read I mean look at the photos) and travel as much as you can.
I feel lucky to live in the city that encourages personal style and experimentation.... if you didn't already know the 80's are very back!!!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

We just received the samples of our new shoppers, they are essentially the same but different. We decided to update the look of the bags to something more modern. I am loving the built in handle, so much cleaner.
It's hard to believe we went through 2500 small handled bags in 3 months. Crazy!

Wednesday, September 9, 2009



We added these florescent lights behind the JD Étagère, it looks really cool and ads a interesting effect to the all glass cabinet. This picture doesn't do it justice but I never professed to be a great photographer.

Friday, September 4, 2009

So here is something cute {noodle} before I talk about something and little ugly.

In reading my daily blogs I came across something that has been on my mind for a while. You see, there is a certain couple who have an on line shop, they and the shop are blogesphire darlings at the moment, but to me they represent a dastardly trend {when you own a shop (of any kind) you CAN NOT shop other peoples shops, especially brick and mortar, to curate your own}.This happened with the above mentioned couple. They came into the shop, made small talk but didn't introduce themselves and preceded to shop the shop, ie: turn over and look for brands, ask about certain items provenance and generally pick our brains under the guise of being potential customers. Now I have no problem with sharing information on lines with other owners/ buyers and in fact I do all the time, but when I enter another shop I always try and identify myself {as an owner of Cursive} to the owner or manager~ seeing another owner or buyer come into the shop and SHOP the shop is nothing but irritating and disrespectful.
Oh and please do not try and take sneaky pictures, we are not stupid and can see your little camera or phone being aimed at the stack of handmade journals we sourced in Belgium!
Now maybe they (and maybe you) didn't know the decorum of being an owner/ buyer but now it's out there and so no more excuses!!

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Photo courtesy of M.K.

Here is another picture from the opening.
The guy talking to Douglas is our business coach extraordinaire, Jim Deak. A few years ago he was recommended to us by our CPA and the work we did with him really prepared us for the turbulence we all have experienced lately.
I can't tell you how many times he talked us off the ledge when we were ready to pull the plug on GCT. " Remember it isn't personal" he would tell us and he was right, business is business!

Thank you , Jim!

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

The big question is: what the {blank} is this Holiday Season going to be like?
I have spent the last few weeks deep in the throws of what to buy and more importantly how much to buy for Q4. After last year's disappointing turnout of holiday shoppers I am cautious about the selection and delivery dates to fill our stockings.
My optimistic self says " this year is going to be great". My beaten down self says " be prepared to be let down" who do I listen to? Well I don't know. All I can say is that I am stocking both shops with the coolest, high quality goodies I can find. Q4 will be visually exciting and if you can crack open your wallet you will find the most delicious treats to give to your nearest and dearest!