Wednesday, July 22, 2009

brooklyn design lab


I'm full of news today. Amy of brooklyn design lab in park slope contacted me recently about teaching an adult class. she started the school in april as a design lab for kids, taking them through the process of sketching and making models. I personally think this is really cool. I suggested a class where people bring in their old, broken and vintage jewelry to repurpose into new designs. and what do you know- a week later and the class is scheduled and up on her site. it's a two-part class, and i'll be teaching November 16 and 18, 7:30-9:30 pm. it's a little ways off, but Amy says the classes fill up fast. so register soon if you're interested!

the class is now scheduled on a sign-up basis. check the bdl site for details.

ebmerc and molliedash at brooklyn flea


save the date, kids. SUNDAY, AUGUST 9 will be the official premiere of Everbrite Mercantile Co. we're taking some of our great summer merchandise outdoors to the brooklyn flea in DUMBO. we might not have the website up yet, but the world needs to see what we have to offer! well, brooklyn anyway.

and of course molliedash jewelry will be selling in the ebmerc shop.

if you haven't visited this part of brooklyn yet, this would be a great opportunity for a sunday outing. DUMBO is a great industrial/residential district to explore with a few shops and restaurants, art galleries and performance venues. the brooklyn waterfront, as I mentioned in the previous post, is something to see. and if you have a little extra energy after seeing DUMBO, keep walking south along the water, crossing Old Fulton St, and you'll hit the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

nyc weekend



our weekend started on friday, as all summer weekends should. we started off exploring the easternmost end of bed-stuy, where the neighborhood tapers down to a point at broadway and fulton st. this area is known as broadway junction, where the L subway line crosses the A/C and the J lines. I had not seen this end of fulton before. I was surprised at how cleaned up this end is getting. there are a number of renovated buildings that have available store fronts, and parks all along the street. at 2037 fulton, in the triangle created by rockaway ave. and somers st. is an enormous community garden which is in the process of a major renovation. b said he saw people months back cleaning up the lot and preparing it. from the fence we could see tomatoes, cabbage, corn and other crops, as well as many varieties of flowers and bushes. birds and butterflies flew all around. from there we hopped on the A train and headed over to the west village. b had seen a post on worship worthy about sucre boutique on bleecker, and thought it might be a good shop for my jewelry. but before we did, lunch was in order. I wanted to eat at the Bus Stop diner, but we had a hard time finding it. after circling around and heading south on 8th ave. from 14th st., we ran into la bonbonniere, a place I've always wanted to stop at. so we did, and it was great, and cheap. as we headed further south on 8th, we passed the bus stop. now we know! then onto bleecker, to find sucre. wow, was it a beautiful little shop. some of the coolest jewelry I've seen in a while. while we were on bleecker, I figured we'd go by porto rico and pick up some freshly roasted and ground coffee. at $6.99 a pound, you can't beat it. when we had gotten off the train at west 4th, walking north on 6th ave. we passed the path train station. I asked b if he would like to take it over to jersey city. with a $1.75 metro card swipe, we were on our way across the hudson into jersey.

I had only been to jersey city once, and it was at night, to go drinking with my old roommate marshall, who lives there. b and I took the path to grove st., in the middle of j.c.'s gentrified old town. we walked by little bodegas and sidewalk cafes. b said it looked like new york lite. I told him it looked like new york clean. streets lined with row houses were amazingly well-maintained and quiet. I reminded b that several years back jersey city, like bedford-stuyvesant, was the place where you did not want to go. this is more obvious as you head east towards the waterfront. like downtown phoenix, arizona, it looks like the city was razed and replanted some time in the 1980's. citibank, bank of america and chase all have gigantuan office towers, alongside- what's this? a residential trump tower! but in between all this affluence are vacant lots, broken-down industrial buildings from the turn of the century, and oddly suburban-like big box stores. we walked along the waterfront and enjoyed seeing manhattan from this vantage point, then circled back to the old part of town. of course we were getting hungry again, and happened upon a vietnamese restaurant! by the time we finished dinner it had started raining and we walked our exhausted little butts back to the path station.

on saturday i was eager to visit bed-stuy's new farmer's market at malcom x and chauncey. although the market is tiny, union square power vendor migliorelli farms' booth has enough of a selection to fill your fridge for the week. we walked home with peaches, apricots, apples, lettuce, rapini, radishes and corn. on the way back, we noticed a new-looking store stocking natural health and beauty products and a few food items. so we stopped in to ecodermis to check it out. the owners (mother and son?) couldn't have been nicer, telling us to mention any products we'd like them to carry. b got an an acai juice and I got a burt's bees lip balm. malcom x is really coming up.

since the day was getting nice and hot, we decided to drop off the produce and head to the beach. if you make the decision after noon, the place to hit is brighton beach/ coney island, our best and closest city beach. we laid on the beach a while on the brighton side, amused by the people around us- russians in thongs and speedos, black market vendors selling beers out of coolers. after a while we headed over to brighton beach ave. to have some delicious russian food. we looked for our favorite spot but had a hard time finding it, as it seems most of the restaurants have remodeled. we would have felt weird sitting down to white linen in our beach attire. so we hit the diner-like oceanview cafe, where we had eaten once before. only problem was, they were filling a huge takeout order when we got there, and the service was incredibly slow. but fun nevertheless eavesdropping on the russian families and the adorable children running from table to table. when we finally did get the food it was really good. I always order for the both of us, since the cooking is similar to what I grew up with. we shared the mixed pickle salad of cabbage, watermelon wedges, sliced dill pickles and olives, brought out with a basket of rye and pumpernickel breads. then a chicken shish kabob served with a garlicy fruit chutney and mashed potatoes piped from a pastry bag; potato vareniki (dumplings) nice and peppery, topped with french fried onions; and delicious, slightly sweet cheese pancakes. b was admiring the dessert case, but we were there so long that we lost energy for dessert. in the bottom of the refrigerated case were glass tea cups filled with dark liquid and berries. most of the russians were drinking the tea, and I realized it must have been made with goji berries. next time!

after lunch we headed back to the boardwalk and walked down to the coney island end. we had seen ads for a new flea market down there and went to check it out. wow, was it lame. there was only one vendor selling anything antique-like. all the rest was counterfeit hello kitty crap, incense and plastic jewelry. the syren music festival was being held on two stages, one right by the flea market. despite this, there were three or four vendors with loud, amplified music, competing with the concert going on. as we rounded ocean ave., dodging through the crowds of people on the way back to the train, I vowed not to venture down to coney island again. bleh.

I should mention that in addition to the restaurants along brighton beach ave. there are a number of russian and israeli food markets and produce vendors that are worth visiting, where you can pick up home made pickles, teas, breads and caviar. several of the restaurants also sell a selection of piroshki, fried buns filled with potato, cheese or meat, out on the sidewalk. click here to read some very descriptive yelp reviews of brighton beach.

finally, today we headed out to dumbo to check out the brooklyn flea's newest location, the sunday market under the brooklyn bridge. after selling at the flea their opening weekend and a few after that and attending the market numerous times, including the indoor dumbo flea over the winter, I have to say this was the best flea yet. finally, there was an array of inexpensive goods that you could dig through. like a flea market! while I greatly appreciate the flea's intention to make the market more of a contemporary urban spot with hand made vendors, (such as myself) it had been greatly lacking in the affordability aspect. today we spent a few hours there! and I came home with some jewelry parts, (first time this was possible) a $3 italian brass incense burner shaped like a snail, and a lovely mexican silver ring for $10. the brooklyn waterfront is really coming along, with the new parklands being phased in and the addition of a farmer's market and other community events like yoga classes. can't wait until they complete the southern portion. there are few food vendors at the flea. I had some fish tacos while b had a margherita from the pizza moto guys. man, was it good. after the flea I decided it was time to go home. I was really exhausted, and after writing the story of our adventures this weekend, I understand why!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

facebook has become my blog





honestly, it's so terribly easy to post links on facebook. no coding involved. so anyways, I was thinking, jeez. I should post some of the same content here. so here are some of the cool things I've come across recently.

design*sponge's richmond guide! in case you didn't know, I spent eight great years in richmond, including four years at vcu. most of my family lives there and I have fond thoughts for the little northernmost southern city. I was surprised (but not so surprised) to find out that grace bonney was born there. so go check out the guide. I haven't been down in so long, I might have to use it myself.

next up, MERCE FRIGGIN CUNNINGHAM company is performing FREE at the river to river festival in a few weeks. uh-huh. while visiting his site, check out the mondays with merce video series.

Monday, July 13, 2009

new shop sections

so, we did it! something that's been on my mind for a while, introducing collections to the website, happened this weekend. first up, the classic collection.

the classic collection contains everything you've grown to love from molliedash- vintage pieces incorporated into modern designs.


inspired by fashion's revisiting of african prints this year, I came up with the summer collection. I noticed some stylish folks around nyc throwing raw strands of african glass beads around their necks to compliment the trend. so I thought, why not work those into some new designs? I'll be fleshing the collection out in the next couple of weeks.


then we have the vintage collection. some pieces are simply too good to cut apart and make into something new. they're perfectly good as-is, and make great compliments to my more contemporary designs.


and finally we have everyone's favorite, the sale section. here pieces will be marked 30-50% down from retail.

as soon as I have a chance, I will be adjusting the shipping rates to coincide with some of the lower-priced items on the site. and...while doing the update, b added a second way of navigating the site. click on the little grid to view. and so, enjoy.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

new stuff



I just uploaded a few of the new items I've been teasing you with. they're part of a larger scheme site update, but I figured I'd just get them up there while I'm working on it. the update involves introducing collections- something I've had on my mind for a while. the classic collection of mostly metal jewelry will continue. alongside I will introduce other categories, the first of which is this summer batch of african-inspired work. and to try something new, there will be a section of finished vintage jewelry. I come across so much stuff that is perfectly good as-is, and not in need of being repurposed. I love wearing vintage jewelry in combination with my own work, so maybe you will too. and for you MENS out there, I have a great little stash of things for you: cuff links, tie tacks and rings. oh yeah, don't think you're too cool to wear jewelry, cause you're not. so go on and check out the new stuff and the complete site will be updated in just a few days.