brooklyn flea august 9

has it been that long since I've posted? not to worry- ebmerc is still in the works. I've been itching to get the merchandise out for all to see, so we'll be taking the shop outdoors to the DUMBO brooklyn flea SUNDAY, AUGUST 9. we have so many great summer goodies, and it would be a shame for them to stay locked up here in our apartment.

b and I went over to the flea last weekend, and it was my favorite one yet. the first one we spent a couple of hours at, browsing the booths, finding treasures, and eating some yummy food. if you come, make a day of of it and spend some time exploring DUMBO and the brooklyn waterfront. you won't be sorry!

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UPDATE: will be there August 16.

sneak peek #9

While in Los Angeles I happened upon a magical booth at a farmer's market. We have the good luck to stay in San Pedro when we visit, which is lively with Mexican culture. I couldn't believe the artistic use of bright colors employed by the Huichol Indians in their bead work. What I came home with is a small sampling of their beautiful work. My eye was drawn towards stars and flowers, but there was also a vast array of figurative and animal-themed work. I'm so in love with the necklaces, I should have picked up one for myself, good gosh. Well here's to the work selling quickly, so I can order some more!

today's project

I ordered a variety of shipping boxes from the P.O. and the rest of them arrived today. I will be weighing items one by one and recording the weights, so b can come up with shipping formulas. Like I said, I've had some crazy allergies for the past couple of weeks, mixed in with a pulled muscle and now an outbreak of hives. nice! so I'm kind of poking along, while b works full steam ahead. you wouldn't believe the features he's building into the site. Next up I need to work on the overall look of the site. We initially came up with an *olde store* theme, which morphed into an old barn look, and now I'm thinking fresh and green for spring. I took a load of photos last week as the trees were all sprouting with new leaves on my block. you know that new, lime-green color the leaves have before they've matured? I love it! okay, off to do some weighing!

sneek peak #8

I had a bit of a sluggish week, dealing with suddenly warm weather and a burst of pollen into the air. as I plodded through, b forged ahead with the technical aspects of the site. finally on sunday we had diane come over, a former co-worker at dna who had modeled for us a year and half ago. since then b has beefed up his lighting equipment and we were able to shoot the session smooth as silk. having t-shirts modeled helps a lot when selling them on a website. all t-shirts are cut differently and it's good to be able to see how they fit. paste t-shirts come in men's and women's cuts, the women's made of a lighter, stretchier fabric. some of the styles were only available for men, so I ordered a few extra smalls. you'll be able to see the difference in how they're cut when the whole collection is presented. I'm going to have b model some of the shirts too, so you can see how they look on a real man. shown are paste's just say yo and chouette's unisex squares t in black/blue.

sneak peek #7

We're getting really close. I've got just a few more products to photograph today. B has been implementing the shopping cart functions for the pat few days and getting the design closer to how we want it. We still need to set our shipping rates and fill in the about and info pages. Leaving only about a week to design the actual site was cutting it a little close. Note to self.

So here's something I'm way in love with- the Cottage Incense Pot from Japan's PULL + PUSH products. Young designer Nobuhiro Sato uses materials traditionally used in building construction- mortar, glass and steel, to create his little abodes. Also in his collection are planters and ash trays. He is fascinated by the way materials age in the world and he replicates this process in his house-inspired designs. As the products are used the smoke, ash, water and dirt age the pieces, giving them a beautiful, mellowed look.

The cottage burner uses cone or brick incense and the smoke rises out of the chimney. I am currently looking for incense that I will make available in the shop.

sneak peek #6

as you might know the site is supposed to launch today. and as things go, we're not quite ready- but very close. so I'll share with you another sneak peek. this one is by way of, um...Brooklyn! another talented designer and extreme ecoist from our fair borough is Daniel Baxter of Kreepy Doll Factory. I had such fun picking out the dolls we'll be selling. While photographing them I felt like I was shooting portraits, the dolls are so full of personality. They really are stunning in their detail and craftsmanship. made of 100% repurposed materials- they even were shipped in a re-used boxed, lovingly styled and given new life.

sneek peak #5

next up from the county of Kings (aka Brooklyn, NY) is PASTE t-shirts. living in a city that has such a wealth of fashion and visual information, it takes something special to stand out and catch my attention. I was drawn to paste's marriage of urban references (bling jewelry, old skool kicks) with historical cultural icons. (Nancy Reagan, Sigmund Freud) not to mention paste's mashup of super soft prewashed cotton tees with FOILS. nice touch. welcome, PASTE.