New York 2012

This past week was a busy time as I traveled to New York city to attend the design week events in town. What I did not expect to do was meet up with so friends from around the world. Here are the highlights, in no specific order of preference:

I attended Rena Tom's amazingly insightful workshop on wholesale tips for small businesses.
The event was held at the lovely Design*Sponge studio in Brooklyn. 

Dropped in for a chat with Doug Johnston and see his detailed works-in-progress at his Brooklyn studio. He and his incredibly talented wife Tomoe are the nicest peeps on the planet! :)

Doug gave me these AMAZING delicate yet sturdy cotton rope baskets: I cant wait to use them!

Caught a quick brunch with (l-r) my cousin Sandhya, my friend Anvita and cousin Leslie.. love these girls!

I had a brief, fun chat with Avery of Juju Papers at the ICFF: loved all her handmade prints!

I did not remember to take a pic, but I also had a nice chat with Sanjay Rajan and Tricia O'Keefe of Slowcolor about the gorgeous textiles they sell and the weaving co-operatives in Andhra Pradesh that they support.

At the Cranbrook + Alessi event. Some amazing work by Cranbrook folks in the foreground.
Also, a man with amazing hair.

"A Reasonable Mirror" by Chris Schank, my classmate from Cranbrook (@Heller Gallery)

This piece spoke volumes about new life in familiar yet discarded materials, I am such a fan! (@Heller Gallery)

Jack Craig's PVC stool made a beautiful use of the material and pliability. (Heller Gallery)

The Bodega Bag, by Aria McManus: love this for how obvious and beautiful this was! (Heller Gallery)

Dropped in at the Wanted Design event with the fun work by French and American students.
So glad my friend Carli Heggen sent me this way from the ICFF!

Caught up with my Elle Kim, fellow 2D from Cranbrook & an amazing designer. (Pic via Instagram)

Kiel Mead at the Core 77 show gives driftwood new life as wall hooks: I love these fun colors and textures!

Seldon Yuan's Center of the Youniverse juxtaposes constellations and well, your face! (at the Core 77 show)

Lindsey Adelman's Piecework is a hand-stitched skeleton of the American flag. This quiet powerful piece was on view at the "Love it or Leave it" show at R'Pure Gallery.

Ran into Rhea Karam on the street, my classmate (and an amazing photographer) in Paris from 10 years ago!

I loved the re-purposing of wood by Piet Hein Eek at Future Perfect's pop-up shop at NoHo.

Looking up at Manhattan.

On the last evening, I sat in a quiet office on the 40th floor of a shiny skyscraper, waiting for my cousin to wind up at work, and took in this view. I don't think I'll ever get used to how tall these buildings are, but most importantly, I'll never get used to how amazing the folks who live + work here are. Lots of love your way, NYC!

Mother's Day, everyday!

Mother's Day is not a traditional festival we celebrate in India (ours is a bit different), but I can't help get caught up on the fever since I'm here in Boston. It is still more than a week away, but I just wanted to share with you what makes our team *extra* awesome: my business partner Indu Menon is also my mother :)

The picture above was taken the very summer we started Kara Weaves: notice how we're sharing earphones for the music? Clearly we were meant to collaborate!

If you met me, it would take you all of two minutes to figure out how much I adore my mother. But objectively speaking, what makes her amazing is how she blends together a razor-sharp focus on our social enterprise with a practical and compassionate outlook towards our team members, shoppers and business partners.

Kara Weaves (in part) wouldn't exist if it wasn't for an awesome mom; love you amma!