Amelia....

made the wedding day of her parents such a treat. Here she shows off the bridal bouquet and look at those eyes! She has both of our hearts all wrapped up.

Congratulations to Dale and Marta!

I want....

these beautiful ceramic containers with hand turned walnut closures. These were spied at the New York Show and might possibly be coming in for fall.

Speaking of fall, I know it's a little premature but we are very excited about all of the new merchandise that will start pouring in any day now. Lots of beautiful reds, browns, greens and a little orange to spice up the mix.

Black + White and.....

I am back!

I needed some time off from something and the blog took one for the team.

Anyway, I am getting back into the swing of things and will be posting often.

In the picture above are some amazing new designs from a company we work with a lot. We got really excited about building fall around these ( and a few other styles ) and I think the shop will be wonderful come fall.

Oh you like me, you really like me......

We are so happy to get this post on the New York Times T Magazine blog. I feel like Sally Field!!

Thanks Pilar!

http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/shop-n-run-cursive-new-york/

Shop ‘N’ Run | Cursive New York

DESIGN

|

By PILAR VILADAS

| AUGUST 12, 2010, 1:18 PM

M.K. WongCursive New York in Grand Central Terminal.

In theory, I love buying hostess gifts. It’s fun to think of the perfect thing to give someone who has invited you for lunch or a weekend in the country. But exactly where to go and when to get there are questions that invariably bring out the procrastinator in me. Therefore, even when no one has invited me anywhere, I breathe a sigh of relief whenever I pass by Cursive New York, a small but perfectly formed shop in Grand Central Terminal.

Courtesy of Cursive New YorkA decoupage paperweight by John Derian.

The shop, which opened last summer, is an offshoot of the five-year-old independent boutique of the same name at ABC Home. Its 424 square feet are stocked with a stylish, witty array of decorative accessories, jewelry, paper products and other things to snap up as you’re dashing for the train. Cursive has a nice selection of John Derian decoupage plates and paperweights (approximately $60 to $175), for example, and chic enclosure cards ($22) that are a different color on each side. I could not resist the red/hot-pink combo, and the first time I enclosed one with a gift, I heard more about the card than I did about the present. And there are sets of letterpress coasters — eight for $16 — that spell out, among other things, “cocktail” or “cheers!!”

Cursive’s transportation-adjacent location has resulted in “insane” business, says Michael Schultz, who co-owns both stores with Douglas Duncan. And the customers aren’t just guests like me. “We get a lot of commuters — husbands buying anniversary gifts for their wives on their way home,” Schultz says. He and Duncan are looking for a third location; stay tuned.

Happy Anniversary,

Happy Anniversary!!!
Today Cursive at GCT turned ONE year old, oh my baby is growing up~
I have to say thank you to everyone we have worked with, the clients who support us and all of our friends and family who stood by us as we opened our new shop in the worst economic times in a decade.
The year has flown by and I am looking forward to what the future has in store.

Your ship....

has come in! Well maybe a little wishful thinking on our part but good vibes are always a good thing.

I just spent the last 3 days shopping for new goodies at the Stationery Show, so I am a little exhausted and blurry eyed. The good news is that we will be receiving a lot of new items from existing vendors along with some very good new designers.

"It was like Island pricing...."

no that that island.
The other day as I was walking up the steps from the subway I overheard two young women talking about the Brooklyn Flee. The one says to the other " I had a great time there but it was like Island pricing".. of course she was referring to the Island of Manhattan. I chuckled to myself at the irony of these two ladies carrying their Marc Jacobs bags and doing their best Olsen twin styling, complaining that Brooklyn Flee had the audacity to approximate Manhattan retail.
Listen up folks... Manhattan real estate is out of control expensive!!! So expect to pay top dollar any place you shop. It's a fact, so get over it and enjoy the island life!

Mommie Dearest??

Douglas and I did a quick window in honor of all mothers... the good ( mother teresa ) the bad ( kate gosselin ) and the ugly ( dina lohan ). The black and white overall look of this window is something new for us and I am quite happy with the results.

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers, especially ours!!!

I love you Mom(s).

Happy birthday to...

Douglas! You're never to old for a cake with a lion candle on top of it.
Thanks to Heath and Stephen for a wonderful weekend and for being such great friends.

Like a prayer....

I am not the most religious person on this planet but I do love a good church. The one above is from a small lake side hamlet in Guatemala. That's Douglas and my dear friend Blake peering inside the open wooden doors. It may not look like much but it was by far the largest structure in the village and you could tell it is well used and loved. Faith, Hope, Devotion, all things it takes to make it in this world.
Keeping the faith.... no matter what that happens to be!

rain, rain...

go away!

Up front and....

personal. Having the front location inside of ABC is a privilege and something I take great pride in. The one drawback is that our shop is in front of the Broadway windows and in order for the visual team to install and un-install them we have to open the wall the constitutes the entire back of the shop. Usually that means I have to be there at 8 ish to remove all breakable items from the shelves and supervise the removal of the wall pieces. The one cool thing is the visual (above) of being able to see onto the street from inside the shop. Sometimes when I look out the hole in the wall and onto Broadway I can't believe we have a shop (2) in NYC! It's a long way from Idaho.

Bonanza!

Wowza, look at all the new merch that arrived while we were gone. In all of these boxes are new greeting card collections, lacquered boxes with dots, o check journals, Japanese tape, k studio embroidered pouches, yellow owl workshop and Poketo...whew that's a lot of good stuff!
I'd better get to work!!!!

Welcome back....

Carter? No just me!

This is a view from a small motorboat on lake Atitlan, Guatemala and yes, that is a volcano. We had the most relaxing and rejuvenating vacation we have ever experienced and it was in no small part to the shops staff. A big thank you for running the shops so well and not e mailing or texting for 10 days... a miracle!

Lot's more to come.

Into the GAP

So last night on my way home from ABC something happened that hadn't happened in a long time. As I was walking down lower 5th I was overcome with a retail urge, in the window of the GAP I saw this shirt, a perfect shirt, could it be in a GAP? I hadn't been into a GAP in about 10 years but from what I saw I could of bought 4 or 5 shirts, a few pair of jeans and maybe a jacket or two.

Could it be that the GAP is back? I had read all about Patrick Robinson's make over of the line but the ads and the still hideous store designs hadn't lured me back in but the clothes certainly deserve a second look. A perfectly faded, crinkled and fitted chambray shirt for 49 bucks, just what the doctor ordered! I'll be wearing my new shirt in the evenings as i sit and contemplate the world in Guatemala later this week.

When it rains it snows...

... woke up to this. Being from Idaho I love the snow but sometimes it would be nice to sleep in and watch it fall but when you're the owner of a small business a "snow day" is not in the cards! Fortunately though I can walk to the shops so our poor car (above) can have a "snow day" and I don't have to shovel and scrape to get to work.

When it rains....

it pours and starts fires! Yes once again a little rain has caused the lighting tracks to burst into flames, sparks and lots of smoke!!! Everything is fine except for the fact that half of the shop is in the dark but no serious damage, thank goodness.
People, if you think that owning your own business is all cheery and wonderful you haven't been paying attention to this blog! You never get a rest, never get to take your mind off the business and hardly ever get to just check out. We are doing just that, checking out, next week as we will be in Guatemala and will have no cell or e mail access, oh a dream come true!!! I thank my lucky stars we have great employees who can manage without me! But, please if your listening oh benevolent one, don't let this happen again while I am away.... PLEASE!

Disappointing reading...

So today since it's a blizzard outside and the shop is slow { see above picture of GCT at morning rush hour, it's NEVER this empty!} I decided to catch up on some blog reading.. and I wish I hadn't! You see I came across something that made me sad, not tears sad but sad non the less. I find it funny how people don't understand that it's all a collaborative effort and respecting everyone who has helped you to get you were you are today is a big part of the picture. Some people haven't the manners or self awareness to see the big picture and are only into self... it just makes me sad!!!

So I thought I'd acknowledge those who have helped me to get to were I am professionally today.

First: Pier One Imports for giving me a job during the worst recession that California had ever seen. I learned what I didn't want to do with my life!

Then: Lisa Graves for letting me intern to become a jeweler and then handing me the reins to her table top empire. It changed my life in more ways than one.

To: Douglas Duncan for believing in my talents and letting me run free.

To: 280 Design for letting me launch them and expand my horizons.

To: Frederic and Alan who pushed me to explore the world and led to, Jean Rouget, A.Purr.A, L' Atlier Des Tuilleries, Marie Papier and all the great years of collaboration and wonderful lunches.

To: Sesame Letterpress, together we changed the color pallet of greeting cards for the better.

To: ABC for believing in my retail talents even though they didn't exist in the real world.

And finally to the future creative and fearless people who will cross my path... here's to you!

I know the I phone photos are not the best but I need some sort of visual in order to blog!

For those of you who don't know, Douglas and I have run our wholesale company, Motel Deluxe, together for almost 14 years now. This past fall we decided that the shops needed me full time and that I would be pulling back from my duties at Motel to focus on Cursive. Well, if you know anything about wholesale companies you know that trade shows are a huge part of the business, and this season is the first that I am not working in the booth! It was kinda weird not to have the interaction with our great customers that I have worked with and talked to for so many years but it has been wonderful to be able to focus on the buy for the shops... each shop is so different in temperament and each of our little monsters needs to be fed differently in order for them to grow...
I'll fill you in on the new collections later this week.

Common thread...

So I was going to post this yesterday but got caught up in the business of running a business and forgot. Anyway, as it would happen we had an incident of shoplifting today and guess what she stole...? Yes, the thread in the picture! It was such an interesting thing to steal, mini spools of vintage thread, not exactly a classic shoplifting item, although I do understand it's sparkly allure!
One can see such incidents one of two ways, either it's a slap in the face and it ruins your day or you can take in stride and roll with the punches. Today I turned the other cheek and seemed to see the humanness in it all... boy, am I going soft?

Love is in the air...

I know I've been out of the blogging loop lately but sometimes you just don't have anything to say...
This morning I came into the shop after not being here for 4 days and became overwhelmed by my wonderful staff. The shop was exactly the way it should be. I feel so lucky to have found great, talented and motivated people to share the shops with! Of course this isn't a new thing , from the first day of opening the ABC shop almost 5 years ago I have had the pleasure of being supported by wonderful people who LOVE the shops as much as I do.
I feel lucky!