Some nice things to see, for curious eyes: Print Society, Svpply, and, Fröken Ö.
December 8th, 2009
december afternoon
It finally feels like winter here in New York City.
When it’s so cold outside your ears hurt, it’s time to look for things to do with the family indoors: see Beetlejuice, Batman, and the rest of Tim Burton’s original cast of characters, stop by the Bauhaus labs so the little ones can create their own Bauhaus-inspired masterpieces, and if you happen to be downtown, head over to Moomah for warm meal in an arts-and-crafts haven for kids.
December 8th, 2009
the instant family
I came across this after seeing her introduce her work, making real-time conversation drawing, as the current artist-in-residence for LIVE at the New York Public Library.
“Marooned in Penn Station, Far From Hometown”
by Flash Rosenberg
Instead of being with my family in Delaware as planned, I was spending a miserable Thanksgiving Day stuck in Penn Station.
Trains weren’t departing but people kept arriving until the place was packed with squalling kids and weary parents… and me, strangely envious: Where’s MY husband? Where’s MY kids?
Going home is unsettling. It’s like a visit to the hole where I was supposed to be. Here among my peers in New York City, we’re so busy pursuing our grand ambitions, I hardly pay attention to any latent rumbles about putting together a household. But my trips back to the suburbs are so overwhelmingly about “Family,” I’m forced to question my single life and wonder, How DOES a family happen? Then suddenly, in the voice of the station’s public address system, I discovered the secret: “Will Doris Johnson please come and meet her husband and children at the Information Booth?” Ahh-haa! So I waited all day in Penn Station listening for: “Will Flash Rosenberg please come and meet her husband and children at the Information Booth?” So I could rush over and introduce myself. I always knew I had a family here somewhere. We just haven’t been paged to meet yet.
Reprinted from The New York Times, Sunday, Nov. 24, 1996
December 5th, 2009
saturday style
An adorable new model for Half Dot, we couldn’t resist putting her in our Oxford Starter Coat and Clermont Swing Coat!
December 3rd, 2009
growing up
It’s been almost a year since mister baby arrived and I started Half Dot. And every day, I’m still trying to better balance my time between family and work.
I remember a talk that Alice Munro gave, where she said that when her children were young, the best time she had to write was early in the morning when it was still dark outside and everyone else was still asleep, and then short intervals throughout the day when her kids were napping. I’m neither a late sleeper nor early riser, so I knew my prospects for working when my husband and baby were asleep would be slim. For the first few months after my son was born, I did manage to get a lot done throughout the day while the baby rested contently next to me in his bouncer, but that came to an abrupt end when I had to be out of the house for three days straight (Half Dot’s trade show debut) and after that the many meetings with suppliers as I put the first season’s collection into production.
From the advice of other working mothers and designers I’ve met, I realized that with a bit of help (an amazing nanny who comes over several days of the week) I can balance my time better between designing and working on my clothing line while puttering around the house to spend time with my son.
When I recently heard Barbara Kingsolver speak, she said that even when she works from home, it sometimes gets really hard to unravel from work – she’s in her room all day writing, conversing with her fictional characters, and then at the end of the day she has to say goodbye to them and go downstairs to make dinner and be a mom. I was nodding in agreement when I heard that. I have a tendency to get really wrapped up with what I’m working on very late in the day, which botches my plans to cook up a decent dinner and give my son and husband my full attention. I’m trying to plan my workdays better now, saving miscellaneous work tasks (filing, admin, etc) for the end of the day when it’s time to wind down. I’ve also found that taking pictures and writing, recording my days here, is a good way for me to record my progress with work while also reflecting and remembering the other things that matter to me.
I recently came across Habit, and it is one of my new favorite places to visit. A glimpse into the lives of other women, mothers, wives, daughters, at work and at home.
December 3rd, 2009
the second season
Acquiring fabrics, sewing muslins, getting ready to put the second season into production. It’s going to be about really loud plaids this time.
December 1st, 2009
kawaii desu
A trip to Kinokuniya, picked up the latest issue of Kids magazine (which I can’t read a word of), and really like Couprio, Luco and Bonton.
December 1st, 2009
the lacuna
Caught up on quite a bit of reading in the waiting room this morning. A quarter of the way through Barbara Kingsolver’s new novel, The Lacuna, and I find myself especially intrigued by her depiction of Diego Riviera and Frida Kahlo in their most peculiar (and simultaneously fascinating) studio home.
November 30th, 2009
window view
Looking forward to seeing and reading this book, The City Out My Window, for Matteo Pericoli’s illustrations of the New York cityscape and what the likes of Mark Morris, Philip Glass, and Nicole Krauss have to say about their window views.
November 30th, 2009
the price of making little clothes
My husband likes wearing shirts and jackets with unique and interesting details. So it only makes sense that mini-him is clad in some equally nice apparel. In the process of doing so, we quickly discovered how pricey children’s clothes can be. “A rip-off!” Not really, if you know more about what really goes into making tiny little clothes …
Unless you are Carter’s or the Gap and have gazillions of factories in faraway countries who churn out your pieces for insanely low prices, it does cost a lot to make childrens’ clothing. It takes the same amount of work and effort to make a little shirt or dress as it does to make a big person (adult’s) one, and sewers have to be paid fairly for the amount of time and effort they put into making each garment. Fabric is also a pricey thing — it gets cheaper to buy fabric only as you buy a whole lot more, which isn’t realistically possible for a small boutique designer. The same applies to buttons, linings, and every other bit of material that goes into the garment. Children’s clothing designers (at least, the ones I’ve met!) do try really really hard to find the most affordable prices for the best quality materials, so parents can get their money’s worth for what they buy.
Now that I’ve seen what goes on “behind-the-scenes,” I’m pickier and more careful when I buy clothes for my son. I look at the way things are sewn — whether the stitches are neat, buttons are secure, what type of fabric is used, and I think about how much use and wear each little garment will get if we buy it. For certain things, it makes a lot more sense to buy the cheaper mass-produced things, but once in a while, when my husband and I want something different that our son will get to wear a lot and eventually pass down to another little boy, we treat ourselves to a nicer piece. And we do so willingly, knowing that the money we spend is supporting another growing designer.