Back By Popular Demand... More Blogs We Love!
Our last blog post spotlighting SF Bay Blogs We Love was so popular, we decided to do a Part Deux. For your blog rolling pleasure, here are a few more to add to your morning coffee routine. These gals are based around the country (from LA to Brooklyn), have awesome taste, and are sure to help bust you out of any creative rut you might be in. We hope you take a linking to them like we did!
Jennifer Chong is a designer who posts inspiring, gorgeous photography documenting her beautiful finds from around the country. Her blog is a great resource for recipes, as well as finding undiscovered restaurants and shops.
The Post Punk Kitchen was created by Isa Chandra Moskowitz in her cramped Brooklyn kitchen in 2003. It's an awesome resource for fun, healthy and delicious vegan recipes. The site always makes us smile, and has been known to get us out of our food ruts.
The Jealous Curator is by a fine artist and designer who wanted a place to show gorgeous contemporary artwork that "made her jealous." It's great for a quick injection of culture and art, especially if you enjoy a bit of self deprecation.
An Artist Reception and Q&A with Tallulah Terryll
We're really looking forward to having Tallulah Terryll's art up in the shop beginning on September 27th! Please come by from 6-8 p.m. to welcome her to the Old Oakland and see her show, "Willow Paintings" (up through November 1). Tallulah is an old friend of Kerri's (the shop owner) and an amazingly talented artist. She uses handmade stencils, paint, and Chine-collé techniques to create stunning mixed media works with lots of color.
We visited her studio in August, and were excited to see what she's got in the works. It's always fun to go behind-the-scenes with local artists and see where the magic happens. Plus, she sent us off with some zucchini from her garden, and a bottle of homemade jam (what a peach!). Here's a Q&A with her so you can get to know her work better:
What are your works inspired by, and where do you get the ideas for your patterns?
What's your arts background?
We love that you're local. How can we support your work as an artist?
SF Bay Blogs We Love
Keeping the shop stocked with lovely things is a full time affair. When we need a creative boost the designers, photographers, writers, and visionaries that make up the lady blogger force in the Bay are a wonderful source for inspiration and fresh product ideas. Since we have such a fun variety of blogs in our feed, we thought we'd take a moment to share some of them with you. Hope you enjoy following them as much as we do!
Conundrum is written by freelance graphic designer and "visual nerd" Maia McDonald in Oakland. She shares everything she finds beautiful or intriguing on her blog, mostly in design, fashion, food, photography and illustration. With almost 2 million followers on Pinterest, it's worth checking out her boards as well. She always has something inspiring to share.
SFGirlByBay is by designer, journalist, and stylist Victoria Smith. It's mostly an interior design blog, with a variety of posts that reflect her passion for Bohemian modern style. This blog will make you want to redo your entire home! If you want to find unique household items that will reflect your personal style, this is your blog.
SpottedSF is a relatively new kid on the block. It's a photo blog by Leslie Santarina capturing her favorite neighborhood spots in San Francisco + other travel gems, too. She has impeccable taste, so it's really worth giving her a follow to see what restaurants and shops she's hitting next.
Modestics is by artist and designer Linda Geiser (also the founder of Wallter Design home goods). It has tons of wonderful interviews with craftsmen and women who lean towards modern design. Here at Marion and Rose we only carry American-made goods, so we follow this one pretty closely.
Today is going to be awesome is by Oakland artist Lisa Congdon. She posts much of her new artwork on the blog, as well as some design finds, inspiring quotes, personal journal entries, and photos from her travels. Her posts are always unique and inspiring!
A MODify/d Trunk Show This Saturday! And a Q&A with Lisa and Candice
Lisa Solomon and Candice Gold of Modify/D are two very talented local ladies with a passion for turning high-end fabric scraps (think cashmere and lush jersey cotton) into all manner of wearable and and usable things for the home. Their stuffies, pillows, dog beds, and infinity scarves are always a big hit in the shop. Be sure to drop by the shop THIS SATURDAY the 7th between the hours of 12 and 6 p.m. to meet them in person and peruse the MODIFY/D TRUNK SHOW! Lisa and Candice will be workin' the shop and have a bunch of their merch on hand, including their beloved owl stuffies. Here's a Q&A with the gals to whet your appetite:
You have such fun products. How do you come up with new ideas?
A lot of the inspiration comes from what fabric we get. We look at a swatch and say, "Oh, that will make a great pillow!," or, "That is perfect for an elephant ear, " or, "That pocket is so cute! We have to find a way to use it," or, "We can just take the hood off of that sweater and make a head/scarf thing…"
So all of your items repurpose garments that would have been discarded otherwise?
YES. We work directly with companies and get their extra yardage, damages, discards, samples, overruns, etc. It's fun because we never know what we are going to get. And we try really hard to use up what we are given with very little waste. We even keep tiny scraps to make patches, or scrap flower pins… we even save tiny scraps to use as stuffing. Most of our cashmere and sweater materials come from White + Warren in New York. Most of our knitwear and denim comes from Isda & Co. in San Francisco.
What are your favorite MODify/d products right now?
Hmmm. Always a fan of the stuffies. They are so cute and each one turns out a bit differently since they are hand-cut. Also, we're really loving our super soft infinity scarves, made from an amazing bunch of really lovely high-end jersey. Finally – our Jacquard Pillows are definitely high on the list. We got these super pretty swatches in, and it was fun to match the knit with menswear.
How did MODify/d get started?
Candice and I have been friends for quite awhile now. We're both interested in fashion (shoes in particular), design, and the environment, and Candice has a history of working in the garment industry. At some point she was working with a cashmere sweater company and showed me the boxes of stuff that were going to end up being thrown away. It seemed criminal to allow such amazing fabric to end up in the landfill… so MODify/d was born. It's great because we have really similar aesthetics. We are also driven to try and make a difference (even if it's small. You have to start somewhere, right?).
What are your arts and apparel backgrounds?
I'm a mixed media artist who moonlights as a professor and freelance graphic designer. I'm currently working on an exhibition that is exploring the number 1000 – sen in Japanese, with an installation featuring 1000 doilies in 100 colors pinned to the wall. Candice is an apparel industry executive (she owned her own company in New York) and is currently a consultant with Isda & Co. in San Francisco.
Our Email Newsletter is Back!
We have so many summertime sale goodies, we were inspired to revive our email newsletter! It's back in action, and you can check it out here. If you're not yet on our email list, definitely sign up to get all of our latest updates, check out our new merch, be alerted about sale items, and see our latest Instagram photos. We'd love to keep in touch with you in the coming months as we get fun new products in for Fall.
An Awesome Day at the Renegade Craft Fair!
I love the Renegade Craft Fair! I try to go every time they come to town to scout for new merch for the shop. The fair plays host to so many talented vendors, and it's fun to experience so much cool, handcrafted stuff all in one place. As a shop owner though, I'm not just your average, lazy craft fair shopper. This is a serious operation, and I'm on a mission to find as much cool stuff as possible to carry at Marion & Rose. Therefor, when I go to the RCF, I am super prepared. Here's my checklist:
1. A Scarf. Visiting the Renegade Craft Fair is like going from summer to winter! Brrrrr... The show is at Fort Mason, which means it's safely 10 degrees colder and 10 miles-an-hour windier than in Downtown Oakland.
2. Reusable Shopping Bag. For carrying all of my purchases and my business cards, which I like to hand out to vendors. This time I used my super cute "thank you" bag by The Workshop Residence.
3. A Map. I went through and marked off all of the must-see vendors on my list. Once I hit all of them, I allow myself to stroll around and shop like a civilian.
A pro tip – be sure to scout the bathroom when you first get there. After sitting in Sunday San Francisco traffic, the first thing I think about when I get there is beelining to the WC (Ladies, you all know what I mean).
And lastly – know your coffee options. Because you're going to need a pick-me-up (or two) to keep you going for the day. This time there was a tent serving Four Barrel at the front entrance. Score!
The fair was grand, and I was really excited to see and meet some of the vendors I've worked with over the past year, who hail from all over the U.S.
My first stop was at the booth of the fabulous Sharon Z Jewelry. Sharon's positive attitude is infectious, so I was happy to kick off the Renegade voyage at her booth. When I stopped by, she was playing an impromptu game of Renegade bingo that one of her booth neighbors had just created. The jist of which was... "take a picture of the nine things on the list and win a prize." One box said "bike helmet," and another said "garlic fries." Fun!
From there, I moved on to meet a couple of my out-of-town vendors, including the lovely couple who are Peg and Awl. They were so sweet, though very tired from two weeks of traveling from Pennsylvania and first hitting the Renegade show in Los Angeles.
I also tracked down half of Bison Letterpress husband and wife team from Washington State. I was excited to finally meet them in person!
My next stop was to see the Shapes & Colors booth and the smiling face of Samantha Cisneros. It was a beautiful booth, and as always, she was surrounded by lots of fun colors!
I then on to see The Heated, which is the creation of the adorable Cristina Espinosa. I have worked with Cristina for a long time and she always has something fun going on. I can't wait to get some of her new designs for the holidays.
Along the way, I ran into the two amazing Oakland designers behind Bird vs. Bird and PollyannaCowgirl, who happened to be sharing a booth space. I couldn't resist snapping their pic and purchasing a super fun ring from PollyannaCowgirl!
My visit was short, but jam packed with smiles, laughter, and fun. Stay tuned for some great new designs from our current shop vendors, and introductions to some new future vendors whose designs will arrive in the shop in this Fall!
Check Out Our Mason Jars Turned Travel Mugs
This 4th of July we're going to be imbibing in style, mmmkay? We just got in our Cuppow lids, which turns mason jars into stylish travel mugs, and we even have a selection of blue mason jars just ready for gussying up.
We love that Cuppows are made in America (Somerville, MA to be exact) and with recyclable, BPA-free plastic. Check out the handy dandy infographic below to see how these puppies work. We've got 'em in regular and wide-mouth sizes.
Thanks to local jeweler Sharon Zimmerman for tipping us off to the fact that they exist.
By the way, we're going to be closed on July 3rd and 4th, so you may want to get your Cuppows (in our online shop or in the store) sooner rather than later. Have a Happy America Day!
CUPPOW!fromPaper FortressonVimeo.
Our New Guest Curator... Nicole Grant Kriege!
We're excited to have a new guest curator in the shop… Nicole Grant Kriege! Some of you might remember we hosted The Bold Italic's pop-up shop inside our walls over the holidays, and Nicole was the visionary behind that endeavor. She's since left The Bold, moved over to the East Bay, done some marketing and PR consulting for small businesses, and joined up as a guest curator at our shop. Here's a little Q&A with Nicole so you can get to know her better.
What inspired you to join up with Marion & Rose?
I loved hosting The Bold Italic's pop-up shop at Marion and Rose, and Kerri (the store owner) and I hit it off. I was really inspired by her excitement around revitalizing downtown Oakland through commerce that supports small batch artisans. There's a magic surrounding certain retail shops, and Marion and Rose has it. I like meeting all of the neighbors, vendors, and local characters who come to interact with the store – it's definitely a community hub.
What are you bringing to the shop?
A little of this, and a little of that. There are so many designers that inspire me aesthetically, it's a constant challenge to stick to my buying budget. Kerri and I have committed ourselves to only carrying USA-made product, and often times the items we find are made right here in Oakland. The shop has an awesome ethos of spotlighting American craft traditions, and supporting independent artists and local economies in the process. Designers I've brought into the shop include:
W+P Design - Inventors of The Mason Shaker! A cocktail shaker fashioned from a mason jar.
Rifle Paper Co. - A husband and wife company selling adorable cards and notebooks.
Little Otsu - A Portland outfit and inventor of the Film Diary.
What else are you up to these days?
I'm firing up my consulting business. There's so much change going on in Oakland right now, and I'm excited to be a part of it. I've been helping out both Marion and Rose and Popuphood (the small business incubator with the vacant storefronts initiative in downtown Oakland), and I'm looking forward to working with other small businesses who want to expand their marketing and PR efforts. I'm also making our new home in Berkeley purty, and spending some time in my garden.
Nicole's in the shop on Thursday afternoons – come on by and say hello!
The Oakland Indie Awards... And A New Shop Video!
You might have heard right here on this blog that Kerri Johnson, owner of Marion & Rose, was nominated for an Oakland Indie Award in the "Soul of Oakland" category! Here at the shop, we try to embody the entrepreneurial, do-it-yourself, creative, and community-oriented vibe that Oakland's known for, so we were really excited for Kerri to be nominated, especially since the other nominees are doing such inspiring work.
While we didn't take home the main award, one of our vendors, Juniper Ridge, won the Green Award, and Tina Tamale, our fabulous neighbor in Old Oakland, won the Oakland Pillar Award. And we do have something to share from the festivities – a fun little video about the shop. (Thanks to the ever-so-talented Joshua Farr "Fish" of The Volcano Club for lending us his videography skills.)
Oakland Soul - Kerri Johnson from The Volcano Club on Vimeo.
And boy, did we have fun at the awards! The Kaiser Rooftop Garden is such a beautiful green venue. Here are some of the things we saw:
Lots of vendors! We did a little shopping ourselves at the Indie Marketplace. The free food by Souley Vegan was a hit!
Lively performances.
Beautiful artists.
And just tons and tons of people!
You can bet we'll be saving the date for next year's event – we had a blast.
Photos by: JZ Lim, Bonnie Chan of Oakland Local, and Nicole Grant Kriege
Happy New Year!
As we wind down the first month of 2013 we have much to be excited about!
Recap:
We celebrated our first year of business in December and want to take a minute to thank everyone for your support and love in 2012.
Look Ahead:
We are steadily populating our online shop with some great new products perfect for gift giving and maybe a little personal indulgence! Stay tuned for gift sets for babies, housewarming and weddings. Happy 2013!