The American Craft Council is now hosting a 'Summer in the City Salon Series' which I had the luxury to see last week in New York.

However, for those of us who do not live in the city, they now post the series in podcast form from their website:

http://americancraftmag.org/zoom-entry.php?id=2311

Tyler had a lot of great things to say about how he started and now runs his business.

From Andrew Wagner at the Craft Council:

Tyler Hays is the founder and owner of the unconventional furniture and design company BDDW. On May 15th he helped launch the American Craft Council’s “Summer in the City Salon Series” with an engrossing look at how the company got started and what the future has in store for them. Along the way the capacity crowd learned about BDDW’s unique approach to design and how that has shaped the culture of the entire company and in the end, help create a business model that reflects Hays’ life philosophy of always figuring out how to “make cool shit” no matter if you’re making a chair, jewelry or a million-dollar company.


In our first pod-cast of the season, Hays walks you through his wildly twisting paths that got him and BDDW where they are today. Be sure to join us for our next two salons on July 24th and September 18th in the historic American Craft Council library and if you can’t make it, you’ll find the pod-casts here. Looking forward to having you join us either way!

This post from Blair Hobbs reminds me of why I love gardening. Just this week, Blair agreed to become one of our regular contributors to share her views on being mother, creator, business person, lover of food, gardener and woman of the new south...

I know it's spring when Mrs. Gary's field is a snowdrift of little white flowers. Up close, these weeds are star-shaped, and they blanket the lazy lawns of our neighborhood in Oxford, Mississippi. But there are lawns on South 11th Street where these weeds don't wake. There are yards that are not lazy and are tended by hoards of gardeners from places like Azalea Happenin's nursery. These gardeners show up after the first frost and get busy on whatever is trying to sprout. These gardeners-for-hire crank up with their loud mowers, weed whackers, and ghost-buster leaf blowers. They prune the Crape Myrtles and Knock-out roses; they blow brown-and-fallen holly leaves from beneath the trimmed boxwood. They also show up with birth control for the Zoysia, and the growing grass remains pure and green and perfect.

Come spring, what grows in my family’s yard does not grow in those more manicured lawns of our neighborhood, and this makes me sad. I like weeds. I like the craggy dandelion leaves, the fragrant stronghold of honeysuckle, the pom-pom clover, and this little yellow flower that now feathers throughout our rain-sodden grass. I don't know the name of this weed, but the blossoms are precious. They remind me of the small woolly balls that peel up from my favorite cardigan's sleeves after a long winter’s wear.

Here is Blair's Bio:

I was born in Oxford, MS in 1964 and moved to Auburn, Alabama when I was three. My dad was dean of Arts and Sciences at the University and my mother was an art professor. I am married to John T Edge, and we have a fabulous seven-year old son, Jess. I teach writing at the University of Mississippi (have an MA in Creative Writing from Hollins College and an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Michigan). I am a collage artist and painter, and I always weave words into the content of my canvases. At home, I enjoy cooking, eating, patting the cats, reading, writing, laughing, tending the window boxes, and watching some trashy television.

Learn more about Blair and her work:
http://www.blairhobbs.com/statement.php

This idea of our future from Caroline Priebe, ULURU:

I believe the United States is about to have a post industrial revolution, industrial revolution. I hope for this, despite the majority of my knitwear production occurring in china and potentially being out of a job.
I looked to China not simply because labor was so cheap as everyone assumes, but because I had no other choice if I wanted to make fine cashmere knitwear. China was the superior producer, they invested in the technology/machines, the “linkers” (skilled craftspeople) for fully fashion garments, the yarn, they were vastly easier and friendly to work with, and gave me landed prices.
Not to mention, the US knitwear industry was virtually extinct.

Things have changed since July 2004 when I opened my doors and “the party” is over in China.
Today, current economic, political, cultural and environmental forces are illuminating the unsustainability of our outsourced production and more importantly our consumption habits.

-New labor laws (which I welcome) that increase the cost of labor, lead times and minimums. At the same, time US retailers are looking for lower prices, shorter lead times and are placing smaller orders.
-Chinese government is discouraging labor intensive manufacturing.
-Weak US dollar
-Inflation
-Rising fuel and food costs
-Dwindling/aging worker population

I am optimistic that this perfect storm of events will force US producers and consumers to move into more sustainable business models, lifestyles and make us question our consumption habits.

http://ulurunyc.com/

I first became acquainted with Toni Morrison in 1987 when my friend Wendy sent me a copy of Beloved in the mail. Throughout my life, this book remains one of my favorites. The image of “one off-centered orange square” in a quilt on a bed haunts me from time to time.

Other Morrison stories that I read over and over (and over) again: Sula and Song of Solomon

How can you not love and cherish a woman who has won the Pulitzer and Nobel prizes and recently received the PEN/Borders Literary Service Award?

The current Time Magazine features a reader interview with Ms. Morrison in their “10 Questions” section which reminded me why Toni Morrison continues to be an inspiration and a hero:

http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1738303,00.html


I love this question and, her answer:

Out of all the novels you've written, do you have a favorite?
—Sarah Henderson, Loma Linda, Calif.

No, I always am most deeply impressed with the one that's going on at the moment.


Her new book, a non-fiction, “collects three decades of Toni Morrison's writings about her work, her life, literature, and American society:”

What Moves at the Margin


Photograph: Gregg Delman for TIME

I am happy to share that, due to overwhelming support of our Alabama Stitch Book, we have just signed a contract for our follow-up book: Alabama Studio Style.

Published by Stewart Tabori Chang and due on the shelf for spring 2010, you can expect more stories, more projects, more patterns, more techniques and, this time, more recipes. I am looking forward to working again with Robert Rausch, the addition of Angie Mosier to our team and to explore all of the stories and techniques we have collected since finishing Alabama Stitch Book. It was exciting to start writing yesterday. I am inspired to imagine where we will be going, the new stories we will hear, and the people we will meet along the way.

Thank you to Melanie and all the folks at STC for believing in our work.

“We should all do what, in the long run, gives us joy, even if it is only picking grapes or sorting the laundry.”
E. B. White (1899-1985)