kirkerblog 4.0

Next week's schedule:

Wednesday - arrive at hand surgeon's facility at 6:45am for operation on my wrist, under general anesthesia, to insert a plate and four screws.
Thursday - Kirk launches at 10am sharp, and TRIBEZA may cordon off part of the store that day as a location shoot for an upcoming fashion spread.
Friday - launch party from 6-9pm, with over 200 invitees.
Saturday - depart for Paris at 11am sharp.
Sunday - following red-eye overnight flight to CDG, dump my bags at my Paris hotel and head straight for the Maison&Objet fair.

Bets on whether I can pull it all off? I've had some crazy weeks in my life, a few chronicled here, but this one may take the cake.

I am back from a brief respite in London, where I had the misfortune of taking a tumble down the stairs running for the Tube and breaking my wrist in four places. Although the NHS "adjusted" one of the bones and put me in a cast (at no cost - gotta love socialized medicine), I will likely need surgery in the immediate future for the smaller fractures. (On a brighter note, I got to fly home on my Heathrow-Newark leg two rows behind Michael Phelps, which was quite cool.) Since my wrist is inhibiting my ability to type, expect a reduction in blog posts for a while ... which sucks since we're opening next week!! I don't know what day yet -- we have a tiny handful of remaining to-do items on the construction punchlist -- but the official launch party is next Friday night. E-mail me if you want an invite!

So the first pieces of reupholstered / restored / refinished / restained furniture are trickling in. Thought you guys might want a little preview, along with a few of the gallery's interior and exterior design elements.

Check out our first print ad, scheduled to run in the fall issue of "Austin Monthly Home" (coming out in early September). I was originally planning on going in a much different creative direction with it, but Stephani and Ethan (my photographer) talked me into this one, mainly on the basis of us having to employ a black background in order to highlight the chandelier (which you've already seen if you've visited the store's placeholder site). We purposely avoided including any product info in the interests of maintaining a somewhat enigmatic air, and in order to draw curiosity-seekers. You probably can't tell unless you're an expert that the top photo is the edge of a sculpted-bronze Paul Evans dining table that will sell for five figures, or that the middle piece is a tiny origami bird constructed out of recycled Buenos Aires subway cards that will sell for $50. The point of the ad -- and, really, the point of the store in general -- is that good design is simply good design, and that we'll be selling the best of it regardless of price point.

Store update: we're slowing moving in. Stephani is officially officing there every weekday, but since the desks going on the floor aren't built yet, she's temporarily working out of our makeshift back office. Since it's way too small for two, I'm still working from home. Redstart is already at work on our mural. We've received some of our small-piece inventory and have much more en route. Some of the furniture's finished; other pieces are at various stages of refinishing, restaining and reupholstering. The contractors have a small remaining punchlist of items to complete, including replacing all the lounge cabinet doors -- they were made in plywood instead of MDF, and thus looked warped and totally uneven when installed -- and putting up the front sign/awning, which last I heard was scheduled for this weekend. I'll post some work-in-progress pics over the next few days.