Felicity Rubinstein and partner Sarah Lutyens were colleagues at two publishing houses and partners as literary agents for sixteen years before deciding to open a bookstore in the north end of Notting Hill, a shop which has several times been praised as one of the loveliest in London. Being both retailers and longtime literary agents makes them ideal interview subjects for women in all kinds of creative businesses; They are creative entrepreneurs in a tough economy and their business of choice is in an industry that is in peril but also one with fierce loyalists who want to retain this most sacred of cultural experiences. I asked Felicity to share her thoughts about agenting and owning an independent bookshop in an era of such tremendous change.

It turns out that their decision and the timing of the store was not a stance against digital books or chain stores like Waterstones (The U.K.’s Barnes & Nobles) or Borders or WH Smith (which she spoke highly of), nor did it have anything to do with the marketshare taken by Amazon. “We’d been talking about opening a bookshop for a long time. It just finally happened to come together in 2009.”

Between then and now, the popularity of digital books has moved so fast and still there’s no way to determine what will happen in either digital publishing or the bookseller landscape in the months and years to come. Still, like all good small business owners – and all writers actually who are endlessly told ‘write what you know’ – she expressed great passion for her neighborhood, an area she’s lived in her whole life, and one where she has an intimate knowledge of the market.

They saw a gap and filled it: “North Notting Hill is a highly literate area. We were sure the neighborhood would appreciate a place to buy books you wouldn’t find in a supermarket.” Felicity feels that everyone in the book business harbors a fantasy of owning a bookshop. “It’s a bit like all children wanting to own a sweet shop.” (a candy store in ‘American’.)

I personally don’t want to imagine a world without aisles of books – the smell of fresh paper, a quiet public space to browse and discover – and she doesn’t think it has to be one or the other. “The curated experience at the heart of forward-thinking retail and that’s what we offer. Change is in the air and people are frightened of change. New developments are happening very, very fast. We don’t sell digital books in our stores, clearly, but we do work on digital royalties as agents. These are exciting and scary times. One of the best things I’ve noticed is that kids are reading more than ever. If reading is on the rise in children, we feel very encouraged.”

It’s clear that their love of agenting hasn’t ebbed. In their mid-30s, both working in publishing they realized that there were very few agents their age. “Most agents at the time were half a generation older than us. We felt we’d gone as far as we could in publishing and wanted to do something new and there’s still nothing like taking on a new author and announcing that their life is going to change because their book has been accepted for publication.”

Each day, Felicity Rubinstein and Sarah Lutyens walk downstairs, slide open a wall of books in the back of the store, and enter their offices where they go to work for their writers. The day-to-day decisions in the bookshop are trusted to their full time staff. Sometimes at lunch and on weekends they’ll go behind the counter “because if you have a job that involves sitting on your bottom all day answering the phone, it’s nice to get up and talk to people in the shop,” she says laughing, but she’s adamant that their day jobs as agents are as busy as ever.

The two roles compliment one another. As agents, they have to take on authors they think they can sell but “as booksellers, we recommend books that we’d give to a friend or ask our mothers to read and we can sell books that were published any time in the last 200 years.’ The balance keeps them inspired and excited – and that’s what the energy of change is all about.

Q & A

What would you say to female writers looking to the future of the publishing industry?

Keep writing!

3-10 female living authors whose books you love

Jennifer Egan – A Visit From the Goon Squad
Cressida Connolly – My Former Heart
Melissa Bank – The Wonder Spot
Mary Lawson – The Other Side of the Bridge
Emma Forrest – Your Voice in My Head
Claire Messud – The Emperors Children
Gabrielle Hamilton – Blood, Bones & Butter

Visit:
Lutyens & Rubinstein Bookshop
21 Kensington Park Road
London, W11 2EU
Tube: Ladbroke Grove

(I thought this would be a great time to post this as I run out to go here Joan Didion speak at the Peter Jay Sharpe theater…)

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Henrietta Thompson is an exuberant visionary and thought leader in the design world. The former design editor of Wallpaper – now editor-at-large – is responsible for the chair arch at the London Design Festival (pictured here), the popular ReMake It: Home (2009) a DIY design guide employing good design for a resourceful waste-free lifestyle, and is a shepherd for a myriad of upcoming projects connecting designers with innovation companies, most if not all fueled by technology. Her mission is to make design more accessible in the next few years. “Design,” she says, “should not be an elitist proposition or an expensive style statement. Design has so much more to offer.”

In service of her hypothesis, she finds ways to work with designers to explore new conceptual products along trends and themes that show how far innovative thinking can make a difference. One such instance was the Hearwear exhibition where she worked with fifteen top designers to rethink the future of hearing. The results kickstarted a wave of innovation in mobile phone companies as well as audio and hearing aid manufacturers.  In a similar vein, after observing that more people are opting to stay in and entertain at home, she challenged designers to create elements that turn a home into a great nightlife space, a feature that appeared in Wallpaper. One whimsical design (whose company Kiwi and Pom is directed by a woman, Emma Young) was a disco chair; when the lights go down the electroluminescent wires fire up. (pictured)

Now she’s working on two new projects, both of which are under wraps but I can hint that one involves an approach to architecture that I’ve never quite seen before – one that genuinely made my jaw drop when she told me about it – and the other is with a web-based business that encourages a more interactive approach to consuming design.

While working on her mission to make design accessible to a wider audience she also has the goal to make a wider audience more accessible to designers. She says that designers are often frustrated. They have incredible ideas and could supply innovation for so many avenues but too often they get stuck in the styling side of the business – “making furniture and home accessories that only a very small proportion of the world’s population buy into”, and, she adds, “very few actually need.” But due to increased awareness toward a social agenda, she says that priorities in the industry are definitely shifting. If you look at the way the music, film, and art worlds have been transformed by the Internet, it’s only natural that design should follow suit.  Open source means sky’s the limit. She mentioned Nina Tolstrup whose project allows people in developing countries to download patterns to make chairs out of shipping pallets (a.k.a. wood crates for us Americans), and which is as popular with design collectors as it is in developing countries – where charities are using the blueprints to create new employment and economic opportunities.  We also discussed made.com, a site that works similarly to print on demand in the book business. Designs are shown on the site and furniture is made as orders come in. The convergent innovation is endless and she acts as a connector of sorts between the different worlds.

Nina Tolstrup, Pallet Project

I asked her how she envisioned the future of design and she said:  “Form and function are pretty much standard these days, so I’d like to see designers put more emphasis on beauty: products that are a genuine pleasure to use. And on the other side of the coin, I’d like to see designers apply their considerable skills to solving real problems, taking more of an interest in social issues.” She also renounced the superfluousness of the luxury industry. “I really think people are bored with ‘design’ in that sense. There are so many problems in the world. I want the ‘problems in the world’ and the design industry to together.”  She added that a lot of people just don’t get what design and architecture can be, and as a result can be very suspicious of it. “I want to engage people in the process a bit more.”

On a different note, though based in London, Henrietta has a second home here in Barcelona. She is absolutely mad about this city and sees a lot of potential for its design future even in the wake of the lingering economic crisis. She gave me a list of her favorite design firms.  I sorted through them and ‘favorited’ my own within the list.  Here’s that slideshow:

Henrietta’s Barcelona Designers You Should Know

Apparatu
Emiliana Design
Vasava and their gallery, Vallery
Lagranja
Brosmind
Diego Fortunato
Ramos Bassols
Lazaro Rosa-Violan
Cuaderno Bandada
Mariscal
Nani Marquina
Bd Barcelona
EMBT

My Barcelona Favorites Plucked From Henrietta’s Picks

A few final questions

What are some of your interests outside design?

I travel a huge amount, if that counts as an interest. I like yoga. I also like rock climbing, fashion, art, dance – especially contemporary dance but I love ballet and Flamenco. I just bought a guitar but I can’t play it yet. I like cooking but I don’t do enough of it. And I like cocktails, particularly martinis.

What’s your writing routine?

I write after I’ve done absolutely everything else. I procrastinate massively but I’m a very productive procrastinator. It helps for me to talk to others about the thing I’m going to write about so when I do get to writing I’m clearer about what I’m trying to say.

Do you do any other kind of writing ?

I wrote a children’s book. It is about a penguin. It was for my nephew. I don’t know that I would ever do that professionally but it was fun.

Why are there so few female players in the design world.? After this interview, she pointed out an article in the New York Times that came out then reporting that 68% of the student body of the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) are female.

I’ve spent quite a lot of time in Scandinavia recently, and I’ve noticed that you do seem to find more women in Scandinavia designing than you do in London. I think this is true of the workplace in general in Scandinavia though – they have systems in place to make it easier when it comes to maternity leave, and generally attitudes to professional women are a lot healthier. It’s interesting – many of the talented women I can think of off the top of my head in London are part of a husband and wife team or part of a collective.

I’ve just posted a New York design feature. What are your thoughts on design in the U.S. these days?

I think it is slowly picking up steam. There’s a new gallery in Chicago called Volume which is doing some impressive work. Design Miami is having an effect too. I went to ICFF for the first time last year, which I thought had potential There were a few interesting things going on around town. As for designers, I like Paul Loebach, Rich Brilliant and Willing (see the Julie Taraska feature slideshow for my favorite picks from both of those designers) and there are some talented designer-makers in Brooklyn. There’s definitely more of a scene than there has been but it needs to add something new to the mix, something that’s not going on anywhere else. It seems to still be in the catch up stages.

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*Work of textile designer Marit Fujiwara,  graduate of Chelsea College of Art and Design via Behance

I asked a handful of thought leaders about the top women in sustainability.  Answers came from marketing expert and author of “Don’t think Pink” (Andrea Learned), the award-winning social entrepreneur and innovation strategist who launched the Creative Graduate Prize and now New Frontiers (Melissa Sterry), and an agency CEO who left it all to better the world, giving inspiring TED talks and most recently launching a plan of action in the form of ifwerantheworld.com defn worth a look (Cindy Gallop) — Here’s what they said:

First, former head of BBH NY and internationally recognized creative superstar

Cindy Gallop

1) What is your definition of sustainability?

A virtuous circle.

2) Why does it matter?

Because everything should work that way.

3) Name 1-3 women on the forefront of changes in the way we approach business and innovation?

June Cohen, TED
Rosabeth Kanter, Harvard Business School
Ursula Burns, Xerox

4) Name one sustainable product or service that you’ve come across in your research.

SHE, a fabulous example of what I’ve recommended to founder Elizabeth Scharpf which she calls Ragonomics

Elizabeth Scharpf created ingenious sanitary napkins out of banana leaves for women in Africa

Find her at cindygallop.com

Next: U.K.-based social entrepreneur extraordinaire:

Melissa Sterry

1) What is your definition of sustainability?

My definition of sustainability is an approach which acknowledges and addresses both environmental and social challenges using informed, intelligent, innovative, interdisciplinary and inspired solutions. Truly sustainable concepts are developed when the interactions between humans and their environment are fully understood. While many goods and services are labelled ‘sustainable’, ‘green’ or ‘environmentally-friendly’, in reality few actually are, some are the result of deliberate greenwashing, others are the result of a lack of research and due diligence in the design process.

The best design solutions are built on the most robust research, not off the back of cliches and assumptions. But at a time when most investors are focused on ventures that can potentially provide a quick return, significant R&D will be compromised. Until such time as the international investing community acknowledges the fact that stable and ‘sustainable’ future markets will be built engaging pioneering and at times radically innovative ideas that have been carefully crafted to meet both society’s existing and future needs, the world’s most promising sustainable innovators will find the tide is against them.

2) Why does it matter?

It matters because if we don’t act now and act to the very best of our ability, our species may not walk this Earth by 2150. (read the rest of Melissa’s passionate and articulate answer after the jump.)

3) Name 1-3 women on the forefront of this issue?

Naming just one or two is difficult but three inspirational women from the UK are:

1.) Multidisciplinary scientist Dr. Rachel Armstrong , a senior research fellow at University College London exploring the potential of living architecture and self-repairing buildings with their own metabolisms

2.) Joanna Yarrow, one of the UK’s most senior green living experts and a presenter, broadcaster, journalist, writer and founder of sustainability consultancy Beyond Green.

Joanna Yarrow

3.) Servane Mouazan – founder of Ogunte – the UK’s foremost organization for women leading the Social Economy.

All three are working hard to develop a blueprint for a sustainable society – all thinkers and doers with the creativity, commitment and courage to throw out the rulebook and set out on a journey to find the new frontiers. Often facing adversity and opposition to their ideas, these three women innovate their way around the obstacles, no matter how overwhelming or great they may be.

4) An insight on the future and advice for the female creative entrepreneur.

My insight – the future isn’t going to be easy, whichever way you look at it, the challenges are enormous. My advice – never under-estimate the value of the role you have to play in creating a better future.

5) One sustainable product or service you love or that caught your eye

.

The Aptera epitomizes what sustainable innovation is all about. The Aptera is uber efficient – achieving 300 miles or more to the gallon through minimized air resistance and drag, as a result of having a bullet-shaped body and three wheels, not four. The vehicle has interior and exterior LED lighting and a solar assisted climate control system. The Aptera also features recycled materials and comes in both electric and hybrid versions, achieving a top speed of 90mph and 0-60 in around 10 seconds. While it’s the most sustainable vehicle coming to market in the foreseeable future, it’s founders have pledged to continuously improve the sustainability of the vehicle as more innovations become available to them. Beyond it’s environmental credentials the vehicle is iconically beautiful and a design classic destined for the history books. My only regret about The Aptera is I wont be able to drive one in the UK any time soon.

Find Melissa Sterry at About Me.

Next Expert in Female Insights and Marketing:

Andrea Learned

1) What is your definition of sustainability?

To pursue a state of life/work in ways that mean what you do now will flourish and develop without taking away the resources that others, in future generations, will need to do the same.  I love the awareness raised by something Paul Hawken wrote – there is a difference between “growing” and “developing.”  Developing/development is the sustainable approach.

2) Why does it matter?

It matters because we’ve hit a brick wall – the perfect storm of bad economy, huge environmental problems due to waste of resources, and an emerging more relational, less linear (all about me) way of thinking by citizens.  People are starting to face the facts that endless growth and consumerism for the sake of it doesn’t really feed and nourish our daily lives – and greatly harms the environment.  If it continues, we will actually leave hugely negative effects for our children and grandchildren to deal with.  Now – that’s a realization to contend with!

3) Women on the forefront:

Eileen Fisher – Fisher and the women’s apparel company she launched in 1984 have been successfully (and fairly quietly) operating with a sustainable approach.  The materials and supply chains used in manufacturing her clothing and the way the company treats employees and contributes more broadly to women’s empowerment has become what I’d call “best practices” long before “sustainable” or “socially responsible” were trendy terms.

Joyce LaValle – Some have heard or read about Ray C. Anderson, CEO of Interface Inc., and his evolution toward sustainability (he is now considered a pioneer in the “movement”).  LaValle is the former Senior Vice President of that company and is credited for originally inspiring Anderson’s vision on the topic.  She also co-founded the Women’s Network for a Sustainable Future, which should get more notice (in my opinion) because it brings sustainability thought leaders and best cases to light so conventional businesses might learn (and it is not just about and “for women”).

Kira Gould – By way of the interviews conducted and synthesized in Women in Green, the book she co-authored with Lance Hosey, Gould’s influence has been key in my personal move to study and promote the concepts of sustainable business development.  She is an architect and the director of communications for McDonough + Partners (founded by another quite recognized sustainability pioneer/author, Bill McDonough).

4) An insight on the future and advice for the female creative entrepreneur

Businesses can do well and still “do good” with regard to people, planet and profit – the oft-mentioned socially responsible, “triple bottom line.”   The future is already here in that consumers have become very savvy and are much more intentional/deliberate in their buying.  Businesses, however, have been slow to catch on to that.  So, entrepreneurs that authentically believe and commit to the journey toward more sustainable business practices – in materials, supply chain, human resources, community support, energy use and so on – will have a significant advantage.  Women, in particular, have a natural tendency toward a more holistic perspective.  “Just business” really doesn’t exist, because they naturally know there’s a lot more to it.

Find Andrea at http://www.learnedon.com/

Continuation of Melissa Sterry’s answer on ‘why it matters’:

Professor John Beddington – Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK Government, summed up the situation when he said we are facing ‘The Perfect Storm’. Dr. Richard Leakey – one of the world’s foremost experts on mass extinction events, said of the environmental challenges facing humankind that it would be complacement to assume that humans are not on the ‘extinction list’. We are currently in the midst of a man-made worldwide mass extinction event, having already destroyed an estimated 1/3 of all biodiversity on Earth since 1970 (source WWF).

It took 65 million years for the planet to recover from the last mass extinction event, yet within one generation humans have put such strain on the world’s ecosystems that many are starting to collapse, some possibly beyond the point at which they could ever fully recover. Simultaneously the world’s natural resources are fast dwindling, as many in the west consume several times the level of resources that our planet can sustain – the average American citizen consumes so much that if everyone on the planet did the same it would take 5 Earth’s to supply the natural resources required to meet the level of consumption.

An estimated one in three in people on the planet live on or below the poverty line. The governments of developing world nations, such as China, understandably want to improve the living conditions for their citizens and those nations that can, are developing their infrastructures and economies to try and ensure that they eradicate poverty within one generation. Additionally, the world’s population is fast rising and, assuming no major multinational disaster occurs, such as the outbreak of a life-threatening pandemic for which there was no cure, or a super volcanic eruption, or an asteroid impact, we can expect to hit a global population of 10 billion or so by 2050. Somehow humankind has to make a lot less go a lot further, because if we cannot achieve this, in coming decades we will see suffering on a scale not yet witnessed in human history. Many of the basic commodities which we rely on to exit and which we take for granted are either running out or in increasingly short supply – there isn’t enough to go round. It’s life or death for humankind and for many other species at our mercy.

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Persephone Books is a female-run publishing house and London bookstore that publishes out of print 20th century female authors. It’s a quintessential example of the kind of business built of passion, intellect and saleability that inspired Girl on the street and What Women Make.

On my way from Brompton to Bloomsbury to interview Nicola Beauman, Persephone’s founder, I had to quickly change gears from innovation and novelty-seeking to the section of my brain that strikes even closer to my heart,  creative writing and its hopeful end product, publishing.

When I walked into the store, I further detached from the streamlined design arena and took in the intimate, cluttered and well-lighted store stacked sky high with books in gray and floral print covers.  There I was ushered toward the back to a room that was even more cluttered and more charming, filled with the smell of new paper from boxes of books.

I tripped down a step, a graceful entrance, and took a seat opposite Ms. Bauman and settled into a worn leather chair adjusting my bags and jacket around me.  When I looked up, she was smiling and unaffectedly curious, not a word or sneer of disapproval about my clumsiness.  An hour later, after her urging me to move to London, listing all of its charms and scholarly offerings, my blossoming crush on the city and it elegant restraint had cemented itself. Not to mention that the part of me that perennially wishes for the mentor / teacher / editor I never had had been piqued.  Here are outtakes from my conversation with the smart and funny-as-hell woman who started and runs Persephone Books. Without her, Miss Pettigrew would literally not have lived to see another day.

How did you get started?

I didn’t know that much about publishing but one can learn these things really.

Why mid-20th century women?

Nowadays, women who could be writing are doing a million and one other things but in the mid-20th century, women stayed home and took to writing.  Also, there isn’t the same sense of tragedy now because we don’t have the same moral conflicts do we? Today everything goes. These books have plot. They’re page turners. Now a novel like this would have to be set against a historical background.  This is a chance to see what really went on during that time.

When did you start Persephone Books?

1998.

How did you start your career?

I had children young. At 26, I secured a contract to write a book on female authors. A Very Great Profession: The Woman’s Novel 1914-39.  I was writing and reviewing books for the Observer in my twenties.

And your children?

They are about your age I’d say.  I have three sons and two daughters, all in the arts. My oldest son is a children’s book writer. Another son just wrote a cultural history of the pineapple.

Wishes, regrets?

I wish I was more techie.  I’m a little late getting to the party.  (She has an amazing blogging concept and a great website. For her blog, she sends out an image every day that is historically relevant to her titles. I’d say she’s got quite a handle on the medium..)

Can you touch type? (I answer in the affirmative.) Oh good! It’s very important to be able to touch type!

Wisdom?

I tell my son, find a stable of people who can help you. An electrician, a handyman, a type setter, people who you like who won’t be offended if you call up for a last minute request, people that you don’t have to explain yourself to.  I’ve had the same delivery man the whole time, the same accountant, the same bank but I do have a new printer. (She considers this.)

What are your plans for the future?

Well, we’ll just continue as we are! We put out 6 books a year. We have 3 new books coming out next month. 80% of our business is mail order. Ms. Pettigrew is our best seller. You know there are 30M women in this country. We have 20k on our mailing list. You know only 3% of London buys books?

I love these prints. I told a pattern designer I was meeting with you and she told me she had tried to reach you about using her designs in your books.

We are quite ruthless about requests. I just get so many requests and I can’t answer them all. Most of the books are gray though.  They have to have a uniform look you see because they are coming by mail and then they know what they are getting when they open the package.  The books we sell to stores have a print pattern because it catches the reader’s eye. They expect that. For those, we use prints from fabrics produced the year the book was written.

Who are some women you find inspiring, from any field?

Lucienne Day, fabric designer. She’s 95 years old. Marjorie Scardino who runs Pearsons which owns the Financial Times. She’s gone very far in a man’s world.  Sarah Waters who was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. She’s a very very nice person. She just gets on with it. I admire her. Jane Brocket. She’s in the domestic arts and lives in Windsor. She bakes a lot. She writes about tapestry. She’s interesting without being annoying.

-Chauncey Zalkin

*See some Lucienne Day Converse sneakers here.

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Recent design school grad Freya Godwin-Brown clutches one of her resin and fabric sculptures after we chatted for thirty minutes about everything from her upcoming move to Australia to the skies of Shanghai which inspired this body of work.

Eleanor Young, textile designer, shows an exciting juxtaposition with her dainty vintage furniture pieces that she’s upholstered with her bold asymmetric geometric patterns, creating something entirely feminine out of shapes ordinarily associated with masculinity or 80s pop ‘topshop’ style youth wear. What she’s created here feels fresh and sophisticated at the same time. She also tries out digital printing for the first time as seen on the pillow on top of the small bench which worked really well with the embroidery. The way she matched  her dress to her collection was also a nice touch.

Camilla Meijer is not a recent grad.  I didn’t even get a chance to stop and talk to her  – but I love her patterns (see Abigail Borg, a rising star as well).

Eadadin Dempsey sits in her final project after she talked excitedly about her first show.  Simple construction, nothing extraneous, inspired by thatched roofs in her native Ireland. She’s a graduate from Dublin Institute of Technology.

Aimee Louise Hartshorn who came from Dublin with Eadadin sits on her twelve-legged rocking stool.

Yura Kim from South Korea made these resin light fixtures by hand but don’t ask her how she did it because she won’t tell you. She said, “sorry, I took a long time to figure out how to do it.” Fair enough and she’s done a beautiful job.   They are even more impressive in person. The one behind her in pink looks like a fragile shell or a birds nest.

These three women make up Rooms Design, an interior and product design company from Georgia (the country, not the state). Quite an interesting trio. The woman in the middle is the business side and the two women on the ends are the designers. They also worked in collaboration with a fashion designer who dressed chairs in military uniforms. This collection was a inspired by the recent Russian invasion and communist occupation of Georgia during the cold war.  The fear is that ‘things will become drab again if freedom is threatened;.  The lamp in metal represents the Soviet Union and the wooden lamp is modeled after an American 50s desk lamp, a bold expression of designs potential to communicate political sentiments, something you might not expect from a commodity.

Holly Palmer creates whimsical furniture that doesn’t overpower. I want that  table and the teacup  behind her.  More Alice in Wonderland charming than boutique hotel showy, these struck me as great for small spaces.

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The week transcended all expectations.  With a day’s distance from my time at the fair, I see the trends as follows: Reality skewing shapes, new world order inventions for sustainability rocketing us into better mousetraps, intellectual pursuit, bold against black, color and selfassuredness. Here I recount my path of discovery:

9/19

The day of my arrival in London was spent gearing up for a week of design immersion. I went to Sainsbury’s to get cereal and yogurt so I wouldn’t be slowed down by morning hunger and was wowed by the convenience of automatic check out. A system that dispenses bills no less. Much easier than Ikea’s system. Do we (America) have that anywhere? Easy, clear, convenient and fast. My good branding and service loving side was in heaven. (I’ve been living in Paris and Barcelona for the past three years.)

Then I went to W.H. Smith and browsed the London city guides looking for something that wasn’t going to consider Big Ben the vital destination and ended up with just an A-Z mini map because everything from Time Out to Not For Tourists felt too commercial or too broad.

9/20

Ceramics in the City

It was only when I got to the beautiful, green and tranquil Geffrye museum for Ceramics and the City that I found Max Fraser’s London Design Guide which as it turns out had just been published and would be all over the place within days. It has clear maps by neighborhood and covers everything from big commercial design stores and hotels to the small and independent but it doesn’t consider fashion to be design other than a few biggies like Paul Smith and Dover Street Market and therefore misses the design worthy independents like No-one on Kingsland Road which I found to be a bit of a shame.

Geffrye Museum

At Ceramics in the City, a one day sale of local work, the big winner for me was Hitomi McKenize. Her pieces are a refined snapshot of the spinning ceramic wheel in motion. (F) The museum itself is like a hidden oasis in East London. Along the back there is a hall with small wooden benches and a wall of windows facing fluttering green leaves and dappled sunlight. A great place to sit and read or write.

I looked through all the Brick Lane and market stall stores stopping on my way back to talk with the owner of semi permanent pop up shop, Marsh-mellow, a store dedicated to festival goers in the UK. No longer just the one-off viral marketing stunts they started out as, pop up stores are now the norm for testing the marketplace before leaping. The vibe in London was palpably one of moving forward in creative, thoughtful and innovative ways though. I didn’t get a sense of doom and gloom or the impression creative types were holding onto a safety raft.

Next was dinner with a Japanese exporter who showed meticulously crafted leather goods at Maison & Objet in Paris for the first time and was only in London on his way out of town. We discussed a shared passion for the dying ancient traditional crafts of Japan at Sake No Hana in Mayfair which only made me long for the real thing. When I asked him why the Japanese always eat Japanese food when they’re abroad he said he can do with a few days of European food or Chinese but then he just finds anything but Japanese too greasy.

9/21

In the morning I went to pick up my press card and looked through the V&A Telling Tales exhibition of expressionistic escapist furniture and design.

I am trying my hand at agent as well as brand strategist to female led projects so I checked out a handful of recommended stores supporting independent designers. One of these was Beyond the Valley off Carnaby street where I met the affable but fashion week rushed buyer and had a chat.

Then I made my way to the famed “b store” on Saville Road which left me markedly underwhelmed. It’s one of those concept stores that are dark, cold, housing a paltry collection of overpriced garments exalted way beyond their level of originality or interest – with the requisite shelf of independent handmade magazines, “Me” magazine, the newspaper format magazines focusing on one very specific banal obsession, in this case ‘light’, and a self-involved sales staff that never looked up to say hello. There are one or three of these in every fashionable city.

me at Skandium

This was a surprise because everywhere I’d been in until now, the friendliness and charm had been total which I think is way more modern than aloof unfounded snobbery of past years (or of Paris in general) so with b store, I really could not see what all of the fuss was about.

Here’s a regret. On the other end of the humanist spectrum, I missed the ‘Reclaim’ exhibit at Eco Age. It was just too out of the way of everything else. I had really wanted to meet Orsola de Castro who with partner John Teal made art out of unclaimed luggage. I hope to catch up with them via email. I thought of them when my eyes landed on a quilt made from dolls and baby toys at 100% Design. They made a similar quilt out of the contents of the luggage.

9/22

Tuesday the pace increased exponentially. I missed Responsible Design – and not because I was irresponsible! – but because the website said the talk was at 9:30 and it was actually at 8:30 but I recovered from the glitch while perusing the Brompton Design district. The Knit Wit exhibit at Skandium was lovely though I wouldn’t say terribly unique. The store itself is a joy, especially Klaus Haapaniemi’s Iittila cups. Afterwards, I sat down with the striking Priscilla Carluccio, owner of Few and Far and of brother Terence Conran and Habitat fame (F) and then went around the corner to Mint, a gallery shop that sits on the border of design and art, cherishing concept and metaphor over strict functionality. The staff were knowledgeable, unpretentious and welcoming and the content, strangely beautiful. The highlight was the “At One” couch made from ash, latex, crushed velvet, and foam by Charlotte Kingsnorth who was influenced by rising obesity and the paintings of Jenny Saville. The work is a comment on  the relationship between a human being and their furniture “which has been devoured by its obese occupier.” This bulbous melting structure was actually pretty comfortable.

lunch at Portobello Dock

Next I went to interview Dieneke Ferguson, founder of Hidden Art. For the duration of the London Design Festival, Hidden Art took up residence at Tom Dixon’s temporary exhibition and showroom space at Portobello Dock which also housed nascent designer projects. Dieneke who is Dutch, has been a kind of fairy godmother for independent designers and artisans in the UK for the past twenty years, eleven of which under Hidden Art (F). It was day one in the space for her and we took some time trying to figure out the process for ordering lunch. She had the rabbit. I’d eaten a sandwich in transit and had my third cup of coffee of the day which didn’t hinder my sleep one iota by the time I went to bed.

I ended the working day with an interview with Danish designer Nina Tolstrup whose Pallet Project created a second life for “pallets” (wooden crates) as chairs. She commissioned artists Gavin Turk and Cornelia Parker to paint a chair each. The chairs were auctioned off for a charitable organization where women in poor neighborhoods in Buenos Aires come together to make pallet chairs for their community. The woman who set up the foundation approached Nina with her idea after seeing her chairs online. (F).

9/23

Wednesday: the actual fair now a day away, I had a packed schedule. I attended the book launch of “Discovering Women in Polish Design: Interviews and Conversations” which to date was the most eye opening and relevant to What Women Make’s global / local female focus (F).

glass house at Wapping Project

At night I ended up missing Lee Broom’s opening that I’d RSVPd to as well as the London Design Medal which I do regret, but I made a new friend who creates textiles and innovates design processes, one of which will be used to ornament hospital ceiling tiles. I was introduced to her by the Blueprint Magazine product editor, Luca Amadei, who led and wrote the Polish Design book project. I’d met him the night bfore at Nina’s party and we hit it off right away. Ana Aranjo, who moved to London from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, teaches at Oxford when she’s not running her company, Atelier Domino. She invited me to a talk at the Wapping Project. We had dinner in the converted factory and she filled me in on London creative entrepreneur life as I considered a move there.

around the corner from Persephone Books near Russell Square

The highlight of my week was between breakfast and dinner. It was my interview with Nicola Beauman of Persephone Books. It had nothing to do with design. After all, What Women Make is not just about design but about creative women and female leaders leading creative businesses. Ten years ago after stints at the Financial Times and the Observer, and a book of her own under her belt about women writers, Nicola founded her publishing house and bookshop in Bloomsbury. Persephone Books publishes out-of-print female authors from the 19th century that she personally loves. I won’t say any more. You’ll have to wait for the interview to post. (F)

9/24

The fair arrived. I started with Designers Block where I stopped four or five women designers whose work caught my eye, from recent grads to new entries, to the hugely successful founder of Ella Doran. The rest of the day was spent walking a maze of delight around 100% Design, definitely concentrating on the back center and right quadrant for new and experimental design and concepts dealing with sustainability. (F)

9/25

Reluctant to admit this is my last day, I was slower than the rest to make it out the door. When I did, I headed right to Brick Lane’s Truman Building for Tent thinking its at least a half-day event but I ended up seeing only one or two items of note and finish the single floor in forty minutes including a chat with a woman who upholsters beautiful antique trunks with her hand printed textiles.

All in all, my evenings this week were spent mostly with friends and not at parties, save one. That might bore you, but on my last evening dead tired and unable to make it back to East London for the festivities, I spent it gathered at a bottle of wine with a new New York acquaintance lamenting our city’s dwindling steam, both of us for the first time considering moves to the dynamic, engaging, poised, diverse, and somehow seemingly more intellectual and daring, London.

And that’s my trip. Please follow me on twitter and my RSS feed to be alerted to the interviews and features as they post. A selection of photos of women and their work will post next and a video of the week will be coming shortly after.

-Chauncey Zalkin

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from ffffound, work of Roland Tiang Co

The apt definition of designer-maker given on the hidden art website is worth repeating here:

“Designer-Makers design and make their own unique work, on a small or large scale. Hidden Art promotes and supports designer-makers who design and make functional items in three main categories:

1. Designer-Makers who produce hand-made items. For example, a potter whose work does not involve mass production.
2. Designer-Makers who design and then in some or all instances sub-contract out the turning of the design into a product. They may oversee the making of the product, but they do not produce it themselves.
3. Designer-Makers most possibly with a degree in product design, who develop a new design or concept, and then look for a manufacturer to produce it. Their ultimate aim is to become a pure designer and they themselves do not ‘make’ their designs into tangible products.”

Marie Langaa - teapot cast from textile. Doorknob handle. Danish Crafts on DesignBoom

Here are some things that I’ve run across and twittered about but haven’t had time, preparing and presenting my ethnography seminar and now my trip tomorrow to London to confront the onslaught of design euphoria, to share — but as I make way for more, here I give you a “check it out” rundown of all I’ve starred over the past weeks.

1. Narrative Identities by Nadia Troeman, on dezeen.com. She’s created a color wheel identity and branding system that shifts and changes based on the culture of the student body.  She’s a graduate student at Central Saint Martins.
2. A retrospective of the work of Croatian artist Sanja Ivekovi.
3. The Cardinal Club. Somehow eating in the private backyard of someone’s East Village apartment seems like the freshest idea. Not about a woman maker but, well, partly. Caitlin Zaino reports.
4. Supermarket Sarah, creative female entrepreneur. Like the Cardinal Club she’s opened up her home, a welcome respite from the maddening crowds of overwrought luxury stores and fast fashion stampedes. She moves between her Portobello Market stall and her home as Swiss Miss reports, “offering teas and cakes” to shoppers of her eclectic collection.
5. Repurpose. Weed through Margo‘s slapdash crafts page to find some real gems and inspiration. I can see someone re-imagining, for example, some of her work with china wreaths and swags.
   
6. Paula Wallace, president and co-founder of Savannah College of Art and Design, guestblogging for Fast Company.
7. A piece on the Women’s Monument in Memory.  Female Victims of Political Repression, Santiago, Chile.
8. 

   PIG 05049

   Christien Meindertsma’s book of photographs shows the path of a pig from the day it is slaughtered to all of its disparate uses – and it is the first ever communication design entry to be a finalist at the INDEX:DESIGN awards.

9. Jean Madden’s beds for the homeless, Street Swags, won the Index:Design award. ‘design to improve life.’
10. Lisa Maria Grillos bike bags write up in the New York Times, a feature entitled Plan B about businesses after the pink slip, reminds me of when I was similarly featured in a Daily News article entitled “Meet New York’s Newest Entrepreneurs” after 9/11. My ‘dog hoodies’ and I pictured big on the front. While my hoodies were indeed cute, a big hit, and told the story of my 2003, it takes a lasting passion for a product and its trajectory from homemade to a  full fledged large scale distribution channel to make it work. For me, hoodies weren’t my longtime passion but I had a fun run.  Maris Grillos bike bags show keen insight into a problem and if she can and has the desire to grow big without compromise, she may have more than what  the Times calls ‘accidental entrepreneurship’ on her hands.
    
11. Miranda July,  filmmaker, writer, installation artist of sorts, and now… pillows!
    -Chauncey Zalkin

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Living in Paris has changed everything, the order of my priorities, the sharpness of my values. It’s finally flushed away the detritus, the lovingly worn but ripe for discarding parts of my life – glib, clever, soulless part time players, shopping sprees packaged to my cerebrum as errands, the all-too passionate conversations about vapid pop culture personalities plastered on tabloids, playing along with the deification of brands.  I came here to get some distance from the demands of materialism, to flee the ad world, to stop subjecting myself to the daily charades of office politics, to put a distance between myself and my language, and to question the mindless comprehension that becomes a hum under the surface of everything so blindingly familiar.

I’ve been gone 22 months. Now a new newness is at hand. I’m swapping French for Spanish. I have no foothold in the new land. No job awaits. No program. No new book to start. It’s not a sabbatical. I can’t couch it in any of those terms.  It’s a nose dive hopefully onto a bed of roses on a cloud of honey and spice.  We’re hoping for a little harp action – and a little financial luck.  Because we’re going for broke precisely as we enter the worst economic period since the Depression.

I have to say, I’ve been anxious. I know that in five short days we will know who the president will be and we will either be elated beyond imagination, dancing in the streets (well, I’ll have to do so figuratively and through youtube), or so utterly frightened we’ll be running from the theater of American life like the opening scene of The Blob.

I’ve been watching this campaign so closely that it would be fair to call it an obsession. It’s a comfort to me that America (and its myriad of dreams) is still at arms reach even with all its follies and absurdities.  Nobody on this side of the pond can quite understand the thing that makes us American and love it the way we do. It’s been quite an embarrassment lately and not just because of George Bush’s administration, but because of our insouciance about how out-of-touch we truly are as a nation.  But now, suddenly, we have this person, this clear-talking level headed, comforting presence that has brought out a lot of hope in all of us, a sign that we’re not just crazy when we compare truth to sensationalism, globalization to domestic arrogance.  Finally, someone who everyone can get behind and at the same time will tell us we need to ramp up and pay attention to the innovation going on in the rest of the world. That we should solve problems, not rest on our crumbling laurels.  As chain stores and billionaires take over New York, I see that perhaps all is not lost. From under the economic and cultural rubble, lo and behold, there is a voice of reason.

I’m using the disaster of the economy and Obama’s campaign as a guidepost in my own personal affairs – my business plans, my conflicts about subjecting my creative projects to scrutiny and criticism by a flailing paradigm (the publishing world). A renewed effort to participate in the world of culture making without big compromises to my integrity and passions. And to my love life, which is also in uncharted territory. Never mix love with business? Well, we’re mixing it alright, and with relish. Please stay tuned and take a ride with us on the new adventures and misadventures of Girl on the street. And let us all pray for our futures.

Please check out Peter’s amazing photographs and go to the main site to see our latest Girl on the street coverage of the women at London Design Week, and shortly, The Freize Art Fair.

-Chauncey Zalkin

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