Teroforma in Accent on Design

August 14, 2008

We’ve been racing around for the past few days getting everything set for our debut at the NYIGF Show at the Javits Center in NYC which starts on 8/17 and runs through 8/21.

We’re showing with our reps Keena and are really excited to have been included in the Accent on Design division of the show. For those lucky (…) enough to be attending (or even for those forced to attend by an evil senior buyer), we hope you stop by and check us out in Booth 3954.

The show’s not open to the public (so far as we know), but we’re hoping to catch up with a few new designers we’ve had our eye on and will keep you posted!

Our cup runneth over

August 12, 2008

Sorry if this is a bit too close to our trumpeting about a recent mention in Wallpaper, but we’re surfing a wave of pure delight having recently spoken to NY Times columnist Linda Lee. Talk about someone who knows their stuff and seems generally curious and interested! In fact, she politely listened to Andrew go on and on about Teroforma for more than an hour - which really must be a record of some kind. We’d love to say a huge thank you to her and the NY Times for taking an interest in what we are doing and making the decision to tell their readers.

Effortless is anything but…

August 01, 2008

Anna and I just got back from the Indigo6 studio here in Norwalk, CT. Charles Silverman and Ryan Jennings helped us with a marathon photo shoot for our upcoming catalogue.

As usual, Anna and I had our sleeves rolled up, but all the serious credit is due to Charles and Ryan for their tremendous efforts on our behalf. We’ll post the new catalogue on the website in the next couple of weeks and you can see for yourself.

In the meantime, checkout Charles’s other photo work on his Flickr feed.

Moments

July 23, 2008

Some moments are worth savoring.

Apparently, Sting knew he had “made it” when he happened to hear a window washer outside his hotel room humming Walking on the Moon. Maybe he actually did breath a sigh of relief and take comfort from that kind of happy coincidence knowing that his future success was assured. More likely, that moment became significant only in retrospect, when, from a position of actual fame, he was able to identify a specific point that held within it the symbolism of something greater to come. No doubt that small moments take on greater meaning as we find ways to link them to other events and read in the connections that satisfy our view of the way we want to be.

All this came to mind this morning as we were thumbing through an advance copy of the August edition of Wallpaper magazine (one of our favorites). It’s their annual Design Directory Edition where they gather all their favorite stuff together for a whos-who of the design world. Imagine our delight and surpirse to see Teroforma included (p109 for those of you who are interested)!

Looking across the room at our whiteboard, where a bunch of our latest ideas are taking shape, I am not saying that I see the tableware equivalent of Walking on the Moon. But for now, we are going to breath deeply, feel proud and enjoy the moment.

And then get right back to work.

Welcome to the Table (Flickr)!

July 19, 2008

Hello! We just set up a Flickr group called Welcome to the Table!

The idea is simple: to capture life as it happens on or around the table. Composition, smomposition - we want life in all its chaotic glory! We’ve just started to add pics, so it’s a bit bear right now, but there are loads more on the way…so enjoy and feel free to add some of your own.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/welcometothetable/

Hello Dallas!

June 17, 2008

Teroforma will make its Texas debut at the Dallas Total Home & Gift Show starting tomorrow (show runs from 18th-24th).

Our new friends Jeanette and Meg at William M Lamont have kindly included Teroforma as part of their collection and will be showing our full line in their permanent showroom - Suite 2400.

If you’re in the neighborhood, feel free to drop by.

This is all wrong

May 09, 2008

Let me preface this rather long post by reassuring you of a few things: I believe in competition; I believe that generally fast and smart should get rewarded and that slow and dumb should not; I believe mostly in sinking or swimming; I believe in the marketplace and in the power of the individual to determine the fate of ideas when presented on a fair field of play.

But, even with all of that in mind, with the recent announcement that Nau - the world-friendly activewear brand - is closing its doors, it seems appropriate to share some thoughts on why sometimes market forces are wrong and why every once in a while, we must act to preserve strong ideas which are, temporarily, at risk of being overtaken by stronger forces.

Nau is a brand that started out of Portland, Oregon and really first rose to national attention at the end of last summer. They are a bunch of ex- Nike and Patagonia guys who were acting on the vision of a guy from Colorado who had an idea that businesses should set social considerations equal to those of shareholders and returns on investment. Going beyond the token 1% contribution of revenue to social causes (nothing against Patagonia and their saintly work with 1% for the Planet), Nau dedicated 5% of every sale to charities that their customers could select - almost $250K in their short life span. They used verifiably eco-friendly materials for all their designs and made the sourcing open to the rest of the industry (it’s usually a huge trade secret). They developed a new way of thinking about shops, where customers who decided to order from the shop for home delivery - thereby reducing emissions related to inventory jockeying - got a 10% discount (thanks BWJ!).

Say what you want about the design style, take a less active stance on what businesses must do to “do their share,” even shout at them for fiddling a bit with the way that people shop for apparel…

But when, on the same day, the newspaper tells us that the price of oil is going to reach $200/bl AND Exxon Mobil posts the second largest Q2 profit in its history AND a company that set out to do the right thing in a way that improves life and living for us all is folding because it can’t get some funding to keep the lights on through a recessionary period - IT MEANS THERE IS SOMETHING REALLY, REALLY WRONG!!!

So here’s an idea for the guys at Nau:

Set up a website called www.savenau.com - I just reserved it and you can have it for free.

Post a letter on the site indicating what it will take financially to keep things going for another 12 months - about 90 days after the election…

Offer a single special share in the company to customers, suppliers, vendors and utility providers who work with you - they contribute what they can.

They get to own a % in that share equal to their contribution so long as the sum gets you near the money you need.

Perhaps your investors will make up the rest knowing that so many people are behind you.

Good luck!

FYI - for a full obit, or for a reason to help them take up the challenge of surviving, check out this piece at Treehugger

Great minds…

April 25, 2008

Patagonia launched the Footprint Chronicles back in October but has just recently added some new products. Basically, the site shows you the origin of 10 of their products and gives an indication of the ecological impact of their sourcing. It’s really well done and very much worth the time exploring it in full, so check it out!

Our own approach is somewhat similar but, maybe because we’re a lot smaller, we’ve been able to show you where every single one of our 300 objects come from and who they’re designed and manufactured by. Not so much because of the ecological impact (although that consideration is part of everything we make), but just because we feel like knowing the story behind what you own means you end up appreciating it even more.

Don’t get us wrong, it’s not a race or a contest (although our map is obviously much more appealing and I believe they may have tried to save money with their puny map pins…). Straight up, the peeps at Patagonia are a bit god-like to us in terms of what they do and how they do it. Let My People Go Surfing is required reading around here. If we could some day be half as effective in terms of leaving things better than we found them, we would think that was just fine.

Just a little poke in the ribs from a much smaller distant cousin because there’s nothing like a little friendly competition and, even if it were a race, they can’t say they don’t have the shoes for it!

Happy Earth Day

April 22, 2008

We take the responsibility of being “makers” very seriously. Our focus on quality craftsmanship means that a lot of the waste inherent in higher-volume production can be eliminated. That said, our manufacturing partners focus on constant improvement in their craft and in the way it effects their employees, the community and the wider world.

Our linens are a perfect example. We work with Linas Nordic in Panevezys, Lithuania, a member of the Masters of Linen Guild and a recipient of certifications from both OEKO-Tex and ISO for ecologically-responsible production and socially-responsible management.

Their commitment to excellence is part of their philosophy and a real part of the work they do. Linen is an amazing material. Highly absorbent, linen will withstand and actually improve with use and cleaning while holding its shape. It also takes far less active cultivation than cotton, thus minimizing the amount of fertilizer required to return an adequate yield, and produces a number of useful by-products in the refining process - linseed oil and pulp (actually used in the making of US dollars) to name a few.

Poetically, as if to call attention to its practical and metaphorical beauty, the flax plant blooms only one day a year. In case you missed it, we hope our Spring/Summer linens do a good job of capturing the essence.

Todo El Mundo

April 11, 2008

We have gotten a number of requests for international shipping since our launch last month. In fact, when we switched on our web analytics a few weeks ago, we were astounded to see that our site had been viewed by people in 1,345 cities in 77 countries around the world.

After some fairly long hours and a lot of phone calls, we’ve figured out a way to ship to you wherever you happen to be. It’s tough. Most companies won’t do it because of the hassle. But, given the fact that our designers and artisans are themselves from about 14 different countries (at last count), it seemed only sensible to extend the same approach to people who want to be customers.

As of today, Teroforma is happy to say that no matter where you are, no matter what language you speak, what currency you keep, which timezone you’re in, we can ship to you.

Welcome to the table!

Back Home

April 10, 2008

The shot above is of our booth at the Boston Gift Show (and of Paul girding up for another day of retail battle).

All in all, the Gift Show was…interesting.

We fit right in next to the guy selling wooden parrots and signs for the Pirate Baaarrr (get it?).

We did manage to have a couple of chats with some really great people at some really great shops in Boston and will hopefully have news for you soon on where you can stop in to see our stuff in the flesh when you are next in town.

FYI - bypassing Fenway on opening day on your way out of Boston is not a great idea.

Booth 515

April 01, 2008

Teroforma is setting off to exhibit at its first trade show. We will be in booth 515 at the Boston Gift Show between Thursday and next Tuesday.

Unfortunately, it’s trade only.

So sneak in. Come see us. Say hello.

We mocked up our booth in the warehouse today. I know we’re biased, but we thought it looked pretty good! We’re excited, so what we lack in polish we’ll make up for in enthusiasm.

We’ll put up a few posts about our adventure - not least being a report on what looks like the worst hotel in Boston. Aahhh, the rich rewards of success…

Our Spring/Summer 2008 Catalog

March 30, 2008

Just a quick post after a few hectic post-launch weeks to let you know that our Spring/Summer 2008 Catalog will be available next week. It will give you a great overview of the product range with loads of hi-res images and stories about our artisans and designers. Use it together with the web store to get the best of both worlds or simply pick up the phone (+1 877 899 1190) and talk to one of us about any orders you have in mind. If you would like to receive a pdf copy via email, just drop us a line at ask@teroforma.com. We aren’t doing a print version just yet (it’s kind of wasteful and cramming another unwanted catalog into your mailbox is not really our approach to customer service). But if we get enough requests, we’ll do a small run for those who ask.

Unsung Hero

March 07, 2008

Karen Day is a writer.

One who has an intense curiosity about the world and an insatiable desire to know more about it. She has lived all over the place - from Hawaii to Tuscany. She has visited 94 cities in 11 countries and recently mentioned that she hoped for more travel “asap.” Her approach to the world around her is seasoned with the confidence that comes only from having been blindly sure about things at one time and then finding reason to breakdown and rebuild those absolutes. It was this kind of maturity that immediately attracted us to Karen.

Before writing anything - and by that I mean all of the content on our website and some stuff you haven’t seen yet - she asked if she might spend some time getting to know our designers and artisans. Not one at a time, but all of them. Before writing a word. “It’s not the fastest way to do it, but it’s the right one,” she said.

“Teroforma is the hub but it connects to people all around the world trying to do something worth doing and even if they are not all in the same place, their objects will speak as a whole. I need to understand the parts to present the whole.”

And so, through a series of interviews, Karen got to know all of Teroforma’s design and artisan partners. She labored over getting the nuance right – and all the time in the changing dynamics of the website and the constraints it presents.

Creativity needs inspiration and constant motion. Karen has passed through and now back out of the Teroforma orbit - other projects beckon and perhaps she will now have some time to put the finishing touches on a book she is writing at the moment.

We can’t wait for our next project with Karen, but in the mean time, wanted to make sure we gave credit where it’s due.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

February 06, 2008

With National Day of Men Being Held to High Romantic Standards just around the corner, Teroforma thought we would help soothe those apprehension blues many men struggle with every February 14th.

Our mouth blown crystal champagne glasses are a great way to warm up before dinner, arrive with these and a bottle of Veuve Clicquot and you’re sure to start the night off right.

The carafe & tumbler is not only a great item aesthetically, but will probably come in handy when you’re hanging out bedside with your Valentine. Fill it with flowers and you’ve got twice the gift!

For a modern twist, forget the traditional flowers and fill our red-rimmed stoneware mugs with matching red rose petals. The oversized mugs will remind your loved one of you every use and the petals can be thrown in the bath or on the bed. This will probably lead to needing the bedside carafe though, just forewarning.

We hope you have a happy Valentine’s Day and remember no matter what you choose, however you imagine it is how it should be.

Older Posts »