Category Archives: Shopping Trip

May 15, 2012 · 10:27 am

Shopping Trip: Moko

Last week I traveled to Helsinki, Finland for the first time, on a blogger press trip hosted by Visit Finland and World Design Capital Helsinki 2012, where I represented Design Milk, and took plenty of photos for StyleCarrot readers too. We rode bikes through the city, which is undergoing major urban renewal, foraged for edible herbs in the park, visited the future food market, and viewed an exhibition of student artwork from Aalto University in an otherwise mostly empty waterfront warehouse. We also went behind-the-scenes at the Marimekko corporate offices, where the fabrics are printed. And of course, shopped the outlet store. We had lunch on one of the days at a charming home decor shop called Moko, which has a cafe and coffee bar. It reminded me a bit of ABC Carpet & Home, on a much more modest and smaller scale, but cute.

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Filed under Food & Entertaining, Home Accessories, Shopping, Shopping Trip

Tagged as Finland, Helsinki, Moko Market & Cafe, World Design Capital Helsinki 2012

March 6, 2012 · 11:01 am

Site Spotlight: Room 68

Nick Siemaska, Eric Portnoy, and Brent Refsland in their shop, Room 68.
Photo: Laura Barisonzi for Boston Magazine

Design shop Room 68 is Boston’s answer to Matter (heaven, on the edge of Soho). Owned by three bespectacled design hipsters in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts (an outlying area of Boston), the gallery-like shop opened this past fall. I cringe to say I haven’t actually been (it may be Boston, but it’s a 25 minute drive from my Back Bay sofa). The guys have garnered plenty of press (no surprise, as we get hot and bothered by new design outlets), including write-ups in Boston Magazine, Boston Globe, and Apartment Therapy.

I am familiar with a number of the Boston-area designers whose work if for sale, including furniture maker Jacob Kulin, who I’ve had the pleasure of working with, accessories designer/architect Susana DeVoe of Make.Good Studio, who I met last year at the SoWa Open Market, Debra Folz, a New England Home 5 Under 40 winner, who I met at the party, and Nervous System, a design team with degrees from MIT and Harvard.

Textile designer Cary Hewitt is a new find . . . her reversible rugs look delicious. I love the wood vases from Seth Rolland, and Pelrine + Durrell Design’s Lobster Trap Table is an excellent contemporary interpretation of a vernacular monstrosity.Many of the designers are local, but not all. Room 68 recently launched its online shopping site. Below are the above mentioned items, and more, complete with links both to buy and to the designers’ own sites.

S H O P P I N G

Lobster Trap Table by Pelrine + Durrell Design, $1,500 (Boston)
Comfort/Conform Pillows by Make.Good Studio, $150 each (Boston)
Reaction Cups designed by Nervous System, $60
Lotus and Jasmine Wood Vases by Seth Rolland, $115 (Seattle)
Balancing Blocks designed by Fort Standard, $80.
Turned Leg End Table by Pelrine + Durrell Design, $700 (Boston)
Procession Reversible Rug by Cary Hewitt, $750 (Boston)
Concrete Idea by Kaza Designs, $15
X-Stitch Stool by Debra Folz, $1,600 (Boston)
Twist A Twill Blanket by Tina Ratzer, $140 (Copenhagen)
Spool by Jeb Jones, $450 (upstate New York)
Blossoms on Cherry Reversible Rug by Cary Hewitt, $650 (Boston)
Single Leg Coffee Table by Jacob Kulin, $3,500 (Boston)
Beam Bench by Jacob Kulin, $2,000 (Boston)

Room 68 • 68 South Street • Jamaica Plain • Boston

Photo: Apartment Therapy Boston

Shopping Trip: Nesting on Main

Back in October, when most of you weren’t stressing about holiday hoopla, I was running (and writing) myself silly pinpointing the perfect holiday gifts to feature in print magazines. This year’s “Boston Globe Magazine Holiday Shopping Guide” took me to Concord, MA that lovely little New England town where literary legends Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne once lived. And let’s not forget Thoreau and Walden Pond.

It being a gorgeous, upscale hamlet, there is actually some excellent boutiques in town. Viola Lovely is one of my favorites for shoes; Tess & Carlos for pricey clothing. I discovered Hatch, a clean-lined white shop with modern home and baby accessories. Another find was Nesting on Main, an aerie full of artfully arranged antiques and vintage trinkets. I took tons of photographs that I thought you’d enjoy.

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Filed under . REGULAR FEATURES, Home Accessories, Shopping Trip

Tagged as Concord, Nesting on Main

September 14, 2011 · 9:22 am

Shopping Trip: Missoni x Target x 2

Yesterday, as you know unless you live in an absolutely fashion-free world, Missoni dropped at Target stores around the country, and online. The stores opened at 8am. I couldn’t make it over until about 8:30. Almost everything I was interested in was gone. I knew when I saw the woman loading the zigzag bike into her trunk at 8:25 that I was doomed.

My main interest is always the housewares. The melamine plates that come out of these collabs actually tend to be good quality. I love my John Derian for Target pieces (thank you Gilt for the pre-sale), as well as the one Liberty of London for Target flowered bowl I was able to grab. Again, I came home with just one miniature square plate. (They actually had a few larger ones left, as well as a nifty dessert stand that I thoroughly didn’t need.)

My Missoni x Target purchases.

My other weakness is stationery and storage containers. I love my John Derian for Target bins, and my Liberty of London for Target hat box. I really, really, love my brand new blue zigzag Missoni for Target covered box. I saw a woman with one in her cart, asked her where she found it, and she said she was on her way to put it back. Voila, it’s now mine. Thank you fellow shopper for sharing!

I also scored a few lovely notebooks. I love them. I so don’t need them. I plan to give one or two as gifts, along with the mini journal sets I couldn’t resist. I gave the clothes a once over, but as usual, no thanks. The purchases from my first trip are above. Unsatisfied. I drove to another Target (after calling to find out the housewares situation over there). No luck in the little square plate department. (Do you see my sole plate above? It’s perched atop the two notebooks.) I left with two more notebooks (one fabric covered) and the journal sets.

I would have easily bought several more zigzag boxes, but overall, I’m happy. I’m guessing Target is pleased too. They haven’t had a sellout collaboration since Liberty of London (March 2010). And then there was the crashing of Target.com. Woof!

Blogger Snobella, who writes “Confessions of a Snobaholic,” had a seriously loaded cart.

By the time I left the stores, the shelves were bare.

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Shopping Trip: Twelve Chairs

Today, one of the few days I’ve had any time recently, I ventured down to Boston’s Fort Point neighborhood to stop in at the new home furnishings shop and design studio, Twelve Chairs. The business is a collaborative effort from two 27-year-old interior designers who met at Cornell, Roisin and Miggy. Roisin, who’s from the area, worked at a commercial architecture firm and did a stint at Koo de Kir in Beacon Hill two learn the retail side of things. Miggy, who’s from New York, worked in operations for the Anthropologie in Rockefeller Center in New York City. The pair stock the sun-filled loft space with pieces from small artisans, with a focus on sustainable methods and materials. They also offer design services.

Twelve Chairs, 319 A Street, Boston