Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Merry Christmas, y'all. It's sunny and 65 degrees here in lovely Austin, though I'm heading into some tundra-like conditions tomorrow (ski trip to Park City - forecast high for Thursday: 17 degrees). Just got done having dinner and opening presents with the family; getting ready to head to two Christmas Night parties later on tonight.
Nice to have a breather from all the store stuff - we ended up having to postpone the commencement of work on the interior build-out until next month, mainly since all three of the most important figures at this stage of the project (Tracey, Marc and my structural engineer) are on vacation until after New Year's. I'm skeptical that we're gonna hit the original March 8 launch date, but OTOH my new PR rep pointed out that SXSW is a bad time to launch anything that isn't music- or film-related, given all the bandwidth focused in those directions during the festival. All totally fine with me, as long as things don't end up getting pushed back into May. I have three can't-miss trips that month -- my brother's college graduation, ICFF in New York, and arteBA -- so a launch by the end of April is really an absolute necessity.
Nice to have a breather from all the store stuff - we ended up having to postpone the commencement of work on the interior build-out until next month, mainly since all three of the most important figures at this stage of the project (Tracey, Marc and my structural engineer) are on vacation until after New Year's. I'm skeptical that we're gonna hit the original March 8 launch date, but OTOH my new PR rep pointed out that SXSW is a bad time to launch anything that isn't music- or film-related, given all the bandwidth focused in those directions during the festival. All totally fine with me, as long as things don't end up getting pushed back into May. I have three can't-miss trips that month -- my brother's college graduation, ICFF in New York, and arteBA -- so a launch by the end of April is really an absolute necessity.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Very interesting article in yesterday's L.A. Times about Design Miami (free registration required at link). I kinda figured many of the vendors were having problems selling their stuff -- the market for superhigh-end contemporary furniture (which, keep in mind, I'm purposely not selling) is indeed a finite one in size. I didn't realize Moss was asking $1.1 million a pop for their Robber Baron set, however! As for the Prouvé items that didn't sell, I think part of the problem is also the weak dollar; the galleries selling his stuff were, for the most part, French, so they had to significantly jack up the normal euro price. (Btw I've only managed to find one Prouvé item myself; let's just say it's worth five figures but I brought it for three.)
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Btw I'm staying in Brooklyn this week, and I had no idea until the past couple of days that there was any kind of controversy about the dividing lines between Clinton Hill and Fort Greene. I've heard the place I'm staying in described as both -- technically, since it's on Clinton Avenue, it's in the former, but I'm a short block away from Fort Greene -- and I have to wonder whether there's some level of racism involved with the whole thing. Clinton Hill is a well-known, mansion-laden historic district with architecture and history not dissimilar from the West Village; Fort Greene has, over the past few decades, become in some areas an enclave for African-Caribbean immigrants (apparently from French-speaking parts of the region - there are numerous French restaurants in the vicinity, and you hear a lot of French patois even walking down the street), and as a whole it's one of the more multicultural parts of an already-very-multicultural city. This isn't an unfamiliar argument -- in my mom's Austin neighborhood, there's debate even now about the dividing lines between Clarksville (historically an African-American neighborhood, but these days mostly Caucasian and affluent), Castle Hill and Old West Austin -- but nonetheless a depressing one.
Brrr. I arrived in New York last night - quite a change from balmy Miami, and it's getting much worse tomorrow with the arrival of the season's first big snowstorm (at least 2-4 inches likely). I don't think it snowed at all any of the four Decembers I actually lived here, and while it may be fitting for the Christmas season, the reality of a NYC snowstorm is snarled traffic (as if it wasn't bad enough in normal weather), jampacked subways/buses (ditto), impossible-to-find taxis, and slush on every street corner as soon as the temps warm up slightly. (And that's assuming it's a minor storm, not an epic record-breaking dump, e.g. the 27 inches the city received in one day a couple of years ago, which was cool to see but essentially paralyzed the entire region for several days.)
Not only will it be snowing and freezing tomorrow, but I also unexpectedly find myself without a date to the social event of the season. Susy was supposed to go with me to the Guggenheim's annual holiday affair, but she had to cancel the entire NYC trip at the last minute due to personal issues, and finding someone else who can not only make it on 24 hours' notice but also come up with formal attire for the occasion -- including dress, shoes, bag, and proper hair & makeup -- is pretty much impossible, particularly given that all of my female NYC friends work full-time and/or have significant others/kids to worry about. (I would not have a problem taking a male date, and guys can thankfully just throw on a suit for the thing, but all of the NYC guys I still keep in touch with are either straight and/or not into things like huge Upper East Side society affairs and/or unavailable at the last minute without recriminations from their SOs.)
Not only will it be snowing and freezing tomorrow, but I also unexpectedly find myself without a date to the social event of the season. Susy was supposed to go with me to the Guggenheim's annual holiday affair, but she had to cancel the entire NYC trip at the last minute due to personal issues, and finding someone else who can not only make it on 24 hours' notice but also come up with formal attire for the occasion -- including dress, shoes, bag, and proper hair & makeup -- is pretty much impossible, particularly given that all of my female NYC friends work full-time and/or have significant others/kids to worry about. (I would not have a problem taking a male date, and guys can thankfully just throw on a suit for the thing, but all of the NYC guys I still keep in touch with are either straight and/or not into things like huge Upper East Side society affairs and/or unavailable at the last minute without recriminations from their SOs.)
Monday, December 10, 2007
Whew. What a completely exhausting week. I had my first television interview! (Still a little unclear with whom I was speaking: local news reporter? Just my luck, I looked like total crap, having spent the afternoon on a somewhat sweaty walk between various warehouses.) I knocked over part of an installation at the Basel fair! (It wasn’t damaged.)
Miami's a much bigger city than I remembered, and I've tried to see as much of it as possible: the Design District, the Wynwood Art District, Little Havana, Little Haiti, Downtown, Brickell, Coral Gables, North Bay Village and Surfside. (Lesson learned about the latter: presumably owing to the area's large Jewish population, many of its stores and restaurants are closed Saturdays but open Sundays.) The Design District was the most intriguing of the bunch, given that 2nd St. in Austin is becoming a de facto miniature version of it. If I'm recalling correctly, about half of the new businesses opening on my block (2nd between Guadalupe and San Antonio, in both the new AMLI building as well as the CSC building across the street) are going to be home interiors-related. I don't think AMLI's announced any of them publicly yet, so I probably shouldn't say anything, but 2nd St. being seen as a home décor destination can only be a good thing. The Design District here provided some excellent food for thought on what to do and what not to do in areas like storefront design, window displays, and merchandise mix.
The week’s most over-the-top moment? The Tobias Wong “pop-up tattoo parlor” may win that one. Wong hired four hot designers (including Hella Jongerius) to come up with original tattoo designs for a Design Miami satellite fair, and he set up an actual tattoo booth to ink anyone who wanted a permanent “memento” of it. (No, these weren’t henna tattoos.) Surprisingly, there were quite a few takers. Runner-up for Most Over-the-Top Moment would be my departure from the main Basel fair yesterday, where I saw two extremely well-dressed gentlemen trying to stuff a large, mounted canvas into the back of their Rolls Corniche convertible. Realizing it wouldn’t fit, they simply laid it flat on top of the back seat, folded-down top and trunk, and then drove off with the passenger holding down the painting to make sure it didn’t fly away while driving. Come on, guys: you can afford a $200,000 car but can’t shell out fifty bucks to have a painting delivered?
I was a good boy most of the week in terms of going out on the town, but the spectrum of cool events happening Friday and Saturday night proved too intriguing to pass up. On Friday I hit a Russia-themed party at the Raleigh, sponsored by Hugo Boss. The entrance had the full celebrity-party treatment – arrivals were asked to pose for a gauntlet of paparazzi – but I didn’t see anyone I recognized. This being a Russian party, copious amounts of vodka were served; let’s just say I’m glad I didn’t have to drive home! My Saturday-night festivities took me out of South Beach and back to a Campari-sponsored party in the Design District. Another celebrity-party treatment; another paucity of actual celebrities. (Then again, I left that one early since I had to drive home; Campari may not pack the same punch as vodka, but it’s nonetheless booze.)
I also hit several other parties both nights, and tried to crash a few others, with varying levels of success. Being a little too ambitious at first, I tried to figure out a way to sneak into the “Vanity Fair” soiree at the Shore Club. Given the number of celebrities and rich folk headed there, however, it had the strongest security and tightest door policy of the bunch. (Mastering the art of feigning surprise when one’s name isn’t on the VIP list is a necessary evil when attempting to gain entry to these places – through the front door, at least. The phrase “I should be on the Guggenheim list” also works wonders … unless you’re trying to gain entrance to a “Vanity Fair” party being co-hosted by the Guggenheim’s rival, MoMA. Btw that’s how these types of things work: various companies, institutions and groups submit names of their members or employees, but there are routinely omissions, errors and last-minute RSVPs that don’t make it onto the master VIP list. Hence, it’s less important for you to be on the list yourself than to know which organizations have submitted names for it.)
Trends I’m officially tired of, having seen too much of it in various venues over the past week:
Nonetheless, the trip was a massive success in my view, and it was exactly the jumpstart I needed to get my creative juices flowing in areas like store design and layout, lighting, discovering some additional emerging art destinations in South America – I didn’t previously realize that Sao Paulo’s modern art scene was so active, for instance – garnering ideas for storefront and signage, and finding some hitherto-unknown-to-me galleries in the Latin world (including several from Mexico City, an easy two-hour-nonstop flight from Austin) that could potentially provide me with some really compelling obras.
Anyway, I’m taking a breather today – and hoping it stops raining; my apartment’s right on the beach, but I’ve yet to step out onto it – before heading up to NYC tomorrow afternoon.
Miami's a much bigger city than I remembered, and I've tried to see as much of it as possible: the Design District, the Wynwood Art District, Little Havana, Little Haiti, Downtown, Brickell, Coral Gables, North Bay Village and Surfside. (Lesson learned about the latter: presumably owing to the area's large Jewish population, many of its stores and restaurants are closed Saturdays but open Sundays.) The Design District was the most intriguing of the bunch, given that 2nd St. in Austin is becoming a de facto miniature version of it. If I'm recalling correctly, about half of the new businesses opening on my block (2nd between Guadalupe and San Antonio, in both the new AMLI building as well as the CSC building across the street) are going to be home interiors-related. I don't think AMLI's announced any of them publicly yet, so I probably shouldn't say anything, but 2nd St. being seen as a home décor destination can only be a good thing. The Design District here provided some excellent food for thought on what to do and what not to do in areas like storefront design, window displays, and merchandise mix.
The week’s most over-the-top moment? The Tobias Wong “pop-up tattoo parlor” may win that one. Wong hired four hot designers (including Hella Jongerius) to come up with original tattoo designs for a Design Miami satellite fair, and he set up an actual tattoo booth to ink anyone who wanted a permanent “memento” of it. (No, these weren’t henna tattoos.) Surprisingly, there were quite a few takers. Runner-up for Most Over-the-Top Moment would be my departure from the main Basel fair yesterday, where I saw two extremely well-dressed gentlemen trying to stuff a large, mounted canvas into the back of their Rolls Corniche convertible. Realizing it wouldn’t fit, they simply laid it flat on top of the back seat, folded-down top and trunk, and then drove off with the passenger holding down the painting to make sure it didn’t fly away while driving. Come on, guys: you can afford a $200,000 car but can’t shell out fifty bucks to have a painting delivered?
I was a good boy most of the week in terms of going out on the town, but the spectrum of cool events happening Friday and Saturday night proved too intriguing to pass up. On Friday I hit a Russia-themed party at the Raleigh, sponsored by Hugo Boss. The entrance had the full celebrity-party treatment – arrivals were asked to pose for a gauntlet of paparazzi – but I didn’t see anyone I recognized. This being a Russian party, copious amounts of vodka were served; let’s just say I’m glad I didn’t have to drive home! My Saturday-night festivities took me out of South Beach and back to a Campari-sponsored party in the Design District. Another celebrity-party treatment; another paucity of actual celebrities. (Then again, I left that one early since I had to drive home; Campari may not pack the same punch as vodka, but it’s nonetheless booze.)
I also hit several other parties both nights, and tried to crash a few others, with varying levels of success. Being a little too ambitious at first, I tried to figure out a way to sneak into the “Vanity Fair” soiree at the Shore Club. Given the number of celebrities and rich folk headed there, however, it had the strongest security and tightest door policy of the bunch. (Mastering the art of feigning surprise when one’s name isn’t on the VIP list is a necessary evil when attempting to gain entry to these places – through the front door, at least. The phrase “I should be on the Guggenheim list” also works wonders … unless you’re trying to gain entrance to a “Vanity Fair” party being co-hosted by the Guggenheim’s rival, MoMA. Btw that’s how these types of things work: various companies, institutions and groups submit names of their members or employees, but there are routinely omissions, errors and last-minute RSVPs that don’t make it onto the master VIP list. Hence, it’s less important for you to be on the list yourself than to know which organizations have submitted names for it.)
Trends I’m officially tired of, having seen too much of it in various venues over the past week:
- Andy Warhol and John Chamberlain. Why did seemingly every blue-chip gallery have their work on display? Is there anything really new and different to be discovered about someone like Warhol at this stage, or did these galleries just want to show off? (Same goes for Basquiat btw: way too much of his stuff on display.)
- Spoiled young artists “rebelling” at a gallery’s request for an original piece or installation for Basel and submitting the art-world equivalent of a tantrum. One YBA’s (Young British Artist’s) work consisted of the phrase “Relax, it’s just a crap” (insert artist’s name, which I’ll be nice and not mention) “show” written in black paint on a white canvas. It maybe took, what, 15 seconds to create?
- ”Limited edition” works consisting of more than 20 easily replicated prints. Yes, Damien Hirst, I’m looking at you.
Nonetheless, the trip was a massive success in my view, and it was exactly the jumpstart I needed to get my creative juices flowing in areas like store design and layout, lighting, discovering some additional emerging art destinations in South America – I didn’t previously realize that Sao Paulo’s modern art scene was so active, for instance – garnering ideas for storefront and signage, and finding some hitherto-unknown-to-me galleries in the Latin world (including several from Mexico City, an easy two-hour-nonstop flight from Austin) that could potentially provide me with some really compelling obras.
Anyway, I’m taking a breather today – and hoping it stops raining; my apartment’s right on the beach, but I’ve yet to step out onto it – before heading up to NYC tomorrow afternoon.
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Btw here's one pic I took today, just to give you an idea of the insane prices contemporary art is commanding these days. (For those of you who aren't familiar with art-gallery price tags and need a "translation": the red dots represent sold pieces; the artist made nine copies; and this is the eighth of them. I have no idea what the previous seven sold for, but $123,000 is the asking price for this one copy, not all nine.)
Lesson learned today: even the best Miami art galleries aren't above price-gouging. I visited about 15 today (in addition to the PULSE fair) mainly to check out their lighting and layout, since we're in the process of finalizing my store's specs and I wanted to see how other contemporary galleries handled them. I won't name names, but one very well-known gallery had a piece by a relatively well-known young artist priced at $28,000. Problem is, they left a bunch of price tags out in the open, including the one they'd apparently just taken down for the piece in question. The old price tag was $24,000!
One lesson I forgot:
8. It is critical to note street direction and suffix when plotting directions. There isn't simply an address like "20th and 1st" in Miami. The various on "1st" include NW 1st Ave, NE 1st Ave, SW 1st Ave, and SE 1st Ave; NW 1st St, SW 1st St, NE 1st St, and SE 1st St; NW 1st Ct and SW 1st Ct; and NE 1st Pl and SE 1st Pl. NW 20th St intersects with NW 1st Ave, NW 1st St and NW 1st Ct, for instance. (And there's also a NW 20th Ave, NW 20th Ct, and NW 20th Terrace.) It's the most confusing street grid I've seen outside of Salt Lake City, and thank God my rental car has a GPS system. (Oh, also: numbered streets in Miami Beach have nothing to do with the Miami grid; it has a separate 1st St, 2nd St, etc.)
8. It is critical to note street direction and suffix when plotting directions. There isn't simply an address like "20th and 1st" in Miami. The various on "1st" include NW 1st Ave, NE 1st Ave, SW 1st Ave, and SE 1st Ave; NW 1st St, SW 1st St, NE 1st St, and SE 1st St; NW 1st Ct and SW 1st Ct; and NE 1st Pl and SE 1st Pl. NW 20th St intersects with NW 1st Ave, NW 1st St and NW 1st Ct, for instance. (And there's also a NW 20th Ave, NW 20th Ct, and NW 20th Terrace.) It's the most confusing street grid I've seen outside of Salt Lake City, and thank God my rental car has a GPS system. (Oh, also: numbered streets in Miami Beach have nothing to do with the Miami grid; it has a separate 1st St, 2nd St, etc.)
Wednesday, December 05, 2007
Lessons learned during my first 24 hours in Miami:
1. You shouldn't assume that your South Beach condo rental includes parking. The building I'm in has none, which is a problem since ALL of the area's street parking is either metered -- 9am-midnight, seven days a week -- or residential-parking-permit only. There are no nearby surface lots, or even any public parking garages. Parking is even more of a chore here than in NYC or San Francisco; even L.A. pales in comparison.
2. It's a good idea to look at a trendy restaurant's menu before sitting down, lest you get hit with some serious sticker shock. (I thought I was immune to it after living in NYC for three and a half years. I was wrong.) Never mind the $50 steaks: the steakhouse I went to last night had sides (as in mashed potatoes, not appetizers) that started at $12, and it has the first cocktail menu I've ever seen that includes an "up" charge for martinis and Manhattans ($3 above the cost of a regular, mixed vodka/gin drink).
3. Even "affordable" European art is largely out of reach these days, thanks to the weak dollar. My first stop today was the SCOPE fair, weighted heavily in favor of European and Asian (mainly Japanese) dealers. A lot of the European work was priced in both dollars and euros, and naturally -- the dollar being at a historically weak level against the euro and all -- the dollar amounts were significantly inflated. SCOPE is supposed to be one of the "cheap" Basel satellite fairs, but there wasn't much of decent quality under $5,000. (On the bright side, it saves me a trip to Germany; I had been planning to go to Berlin next year on the hunt for more art.)
4. Regardless of what category of car you rent at the airport, Hertz #1 Club Gold is the only way to go. Instead of waiting in line at the counter, your contract and credit card info are kept on file, and you walk straight from baggage claim to your car, keys already in the ignition. Hertz is no more expensive than other agencies if you know where to look for Internet coupons.
5. Miami and Miami Beach are two entirely separate cities.
6. Dining hours are similar to Barcelona and Buenos Aires: late. (Never mind the fact that a lot of retirees live here.)
7. I finally understand why South Florida's so popular with the snowbird set: it really does have incredible weather this time of year. My only previous visit was in April a few years back (en route to the Keys for a fishing trip with my dad and brother), and by then it's hot, humid and almost summerlike.
1. You shouldn't assume that your South Beach condo rental includes parking. The building I'm in has none, which is a problem since ALL of the area's street parking is either metered -- 9am-midnight, seven days a week -- or residential-parking-permit only. There are no nearby surface lots, or even any public parking garages. Parking is even more of a chore here than in NYC or San Francisco; even L.A. pales in comparison.
2. It's a good idea to look at a trendy restaurant's menu before sitting down, lest you get hit with some serious sticker shock. (I thought I was immune to it after living in NYC for three and a half years. I was wrong.) Never mind the $50 steaks: the steakhouse I went to last night had sides (as in mashed potatoes, not appetizers) that started at $12, and it has the first cocktail menu I've ever seen that includes an "up" charge for martinis and Manhattans ($3 above the cost of a regular, mixed vodka/gin drink).
3. Even "affordable" European art is largely out of reach these days, thanks to the weak dollar. My first stop today was the SCOPE fair, weighted heavily in favor of European and Asian (mainly Japanese) dealers. A lot of the European work was priced in both dollars and euros, and naturally -- the dollar being at a historically weak level against the euro and all -- the dollar amounts were significantly inflated. SCOPE is supposed to be one of the "cheap" Basel satellite fairs, but there wasn't much of decent quality under $5,000. (On the bright side, it saves me a trip to Germany; I had been planning to go to Berlin next year on the hunt for more art.)
4. Regardless of what category of car you rent at the airport, Hertz #1 Club Gold is the only way to go. Instead of waiting in line at the counter, your contract and credit card info are kept on file, and you walk straight from baggage claim to your car, keys already in the ignition. Hertz is no more expensive than other agencies if you know where to look for Internet coupons.
5. Miami and Miami Beach are two entirely separate cities.
6. Dining hours are similar to Barcelona and Buenos Aires: late. (Never mind the fact that a lot of retirees live here.)
7. I finally understand why South Florida's so popular with the snowbird set: it really does have incredible weather this time of year. My only previous visit was in April a few years back (en route to the Keys for a fishing trip with my dad and brother), and by then it's hot, humid and almost summerlike.
Saturday, December 01, 2007
Continuing along the lines of the existential meaning of the letter "K" -- I'm in a philosophical mood this weekend, it seems -- it's occurred to me that by launching my store I'm effectively setting myself up for a de facto name change. Given that Kirk is possibly more prevalent as a first name than a last, some of the people I've been meeting in regards to the store (my bank officer, for instance) keep confusing the two and calling me "Kirk" instead of "Jeff." Not that I particularly care, but it's a little amusing. A lot of people I know already call me "Kirk"; one of my circles of friends has an unusually large number of Jeffs (and Geoffs) within it, so we got in the habit way back in college of referring to each other by last names, and it's stuck ever since. Also, guys in general -- straight guys, at least -- seem to have a tendency to refer to each other by last name.
My oldest friends still call me "Kirker," which -- in case you ever wondered where the name for my blog stems from -- was my nickname in high school. Confusing matters further, my dad was at one point using "Kirker" as his online poker handle, and unlike me Dad -- having won a major World Series of Poker event (interesting family, huh?) -- has some notoriety in poker circles. I'm not really into poker myself, but on several occasions friends have said something about seeing me playing online, and it took a little while to figure out the culprit was my father.
My oldest friends still call me "Kirker," which -- in case you ever wondered where the name for my blog stems from -- was my nickname in high school. Confusing matters further, my dad was at one point using "Kirker" as his online poker handle, and unlike me Dad -- having won a major World Series of Poker event (interesting family, huh?) -- has some notoriety in poker circles. I'm not really into poker myself, but on several occasions friends have said something about seeing me playing online, and it took a little while to figure out the culprit was my father.
Seemingly contradictory caveat to what I just said about some businesses failing because they weren't right on 2nd: I know I'm not, either, but that was intentional. The new AMLI building's highest-profile units are the ones on Guadalupe, and the ones right on 2nd have the disadvantage of being long and narrow (and thus having little room for awnings and window displays), plus the street dead-ends at the western end of the block. The only two spaces I was ever interested in were the one I successfully leased and the one that St. Bernard ended up getting. I'd say St. Bernard's is better than mine, and it's on the corner of 3rd, not 2nd; it's easily the most visible if you're driving south down Guadalupe, plus corner units are usually better in general. I'm also not expecting to generate most of my business from people just wandering by; that doesn't work when you're selling $10,000 investment-grade dinette sets, and I'm not deluding myself otherwise. I am assuming my customers will for the most part be interior-design professionals buying furniture for clients or people heading to the area with the specific intent of visiting the store.
One more caveat: don't forget that my place faces the new W going up. Do I want hotel guests gazing out of their window and seeing my cool awning when they look down? Hell, yeah! (Granted, the building just broke ground, and it'll be at least two years before that happens.)
One more caveat: don't forget that my place faces the new W going up. Do I want hotel guests gazing out of their window and seeing my cool awning when they look down? Hell, yeah! (Granted, the building just broke ground, and it'll be at least two years before that happens.)
Busy week. I am discovering that it is a colossal pain in the ass to establish bank financing for a new business. More on all this later, but having never sought a loan for business purposes in the past, I had no idea the requirements for getting even a comparably small amount of capital or credit were so strict, even when you have collateral and a perfect credit record. Not that my business plans are any jeopardy -- I have alternate means of financing the store than a bank -- but even quotidian tasks like paying for inventory are difficult when you don't have something like a line of credit established; I can't just put it all on my personal credit cards (and a lot of auction houses don't even accept them -- checks and wire transfers only).
Aside from filling out mountains of bank paperwork and documentation, I've been busy with a seemingly endless stream of meetings, phone calls and e-mails to get the store's finish-out process going, as well as cranking out a preliminary logo and run of business cards before I leave for Miami on Tuesday. My identity designer Marc came up with a seriously cool concept to build the logo around, and this week was definitely the first time I've had a two-hour bull session built largely around discussions like the existential underpinnings of the letter "K." (Okay: first sober discussion.) Yes, I know it sounds like bullshit out of context, but you will see the fruits of these discussions soon enough. (I would post a copy of my business card design if it didn't have my cell phone number on it. Probably not a good idea for that to go up onto the Internet, though I suppose I could blur it out.) I have a bit of a breather this weekend, but Monday I have a lengthy meeting in regards to the store's interior architecture and engineering -- preliminary specs for a half-dozen areas (e.g. electrical and plumbing) are due a whole three days after I get back from my trip to Miami/NYC, although AMLI doesn't need my 100% final plan until late January.
(Speaking of AMLI, those of you who read the Chronicle may be aware that they're in the news this week, which I didn't know until someone mentioned it at a holiday party tonight. I normally support the little guy, but I'm with AMLI on this one. The businesses that recently went under were either bad ideas -- a motorcycle dealership in the middle of downtown Austin? -- or had a lack of foot traffic because they weren't located directly on 2nd. There's not any real question that the area as a whole is thriving. I also don't think renting to St. Bernard, my immediate neighbor to the north, is a philosophical cop-out; one of 2nd St.'s most prominent retailers -- and, arguably, my biggest future competitor -- is Design Within Reach, and they're a national chain with around $200 million a year in sales. (Contrary to what the article implies, St. Bernard isn't a true "chain"; their only other stores are in Dallas.) I do, however, agree that parking is a major problem, both day and night, and it's only getting worse.)
I'm notorious among my family and friends for my epic number of periodical subscriptions, and I have a stack of unread magazines practically all the time, but until this week I was always able to make time to read the paper every day (skipping only the sports section). As of this morning, however, I hadn't read The New York Times since Sunday (I caught up this afternoon).
Aside from filling out mountains of bank paperwork and documentation, I've been busy with a seemingly endless stream of meetings, phone calls and e-mails to get the store's finish-out process going, as well as cranking out a preliminary logo and run of business cards before I leave for Miami on Tuesday. My identity designer Marc came up with a seriously cool concept to build the logo around, and this week was definitely the first time I've had a two-hour bull session built largely around discussions like the existential underpinnings of the letter "K." (Okay: first sober discussion.) Yes, I know it sounds like bullshit out of context, but you will see the fruits of these discussions soon enough. (I would post a copy of my business card design if it didn't have my cell phone number on it. Probably not a good idea for that to go up onto the Internet, though I suppose I could blur it out.) I have a bit of a breather this weekend, but Monday I have a lengthy meeting in regards to the store's interior architecture and engineering -- preliminary specs for a half-dozen areas (e.g. electrical and plumbing) are due a whole three days after I get back from my trip to Miami/NYC, although AMLI doesn't need my 100% final plan until late January.
(Speaking of AMLI, those of you who read the Chronicle may be aware that they're in the news this week, which I didn't know until someone mentioned it at a holiday party tonight. I normally support the little guy, but I'm with AMLI on this one. The businesses that recently went under were either bad ideas -- a motorcycle dealership in the middle of downtown Austin? -- or had a lack of foot traffic because they weren't located directly on 2nd. There's not any real question that the area as a whole is thriving. I also don't think renting to St. Bernard, my immediate neighbor to the north, is a philosophical cop-out; one of 2nd St.'s most prominent retailers -- and, arguably, my biggest future competitor -- is Design Within Reach, and they're a national chain with around $200 million a year in sales. (Contrary to what the article implies, St. Bernard isn't a true "chain"; their only other stores are in Dallas.) I do, however, agree that parking is a major problem, both day and night, and it's only getting worse.)
I'm notorious among my family and friends for my epic number of periodical subscriptions, and I have a stack of unread magazines practically all the time, but until this week I was always able to make time to read the paper every day (skipping only the sports section). As of this morning, however, I hadn't read The New York Times since Sunday (I caught up this afternoon).