Wednesday, October 31, 2012

two new way to find percent jewelry + a new rue

[Happy Halloween!]
I have three sweet treats today. Monday I spent the morning visiting various city and state government buildings in order to officially secure my business license for both jewelry and design services. This step has been a long time coming and I'm thrilled to finally take on clients for design consulting and also be able to sell my jewelry in stores. But don't worry, you can still always visit my Etsy shop.

In fact, I've already accepted my first store! 5th Stitch Collective is a great boutique with a mix of handcrafted and curated clothing, jewelry and gifts. It's located at 2352 Market in the Castro in San Francisco. I'm honored to be part of their collection.

Plus, I'll be selling this Friday at Art Murmur/First Fridays in Oakland. You can find me at Uptown Fenders (401 26th Street) from 6-10pm. I haven't done a craft fair since this summer so I'm thrilled to get to interact with shoppers and hear feedback on all the new pieces. Stop by and say hello!

Finally, see the spooky cover up there? The newest Rue came out today. So many great stories in there, including the Halloween fashion shoot that gave us our cover image.

Monday, October 29, 2012

weathering Sandy together

I spent the night working on another post about some exciting news, but kept returning to news of Sandy and the devastation wrought on the East Coast. Reading Facebook and Twitter to check on friends, I saw several posts asking why New York City, in particular, was not better prepared. The answers to that are myriad, but it got me thinking what could be done better in the future. Sadly, storms like Sandy are only becoming more frequent. No single weather incident can be directly linked to climate change, but Sandy fit all the checkboxes, including that the sea level rise was far greater than predicted.

So what can be done to better prepare? Beyond the macro-level of major construction renovations and government programs, there are many small scale possibilities. 

Code for America developed Prepared.ly to help citizens in Austin prepare for wildfires, including checklists and the ability to track your progress securing your home, real time information on risk, and direct connection to fire safety professionals. Imagine an app that helped local residents prepare for a storm including checklists for grocery shopping and prepping the home, tips on safety in case of power and water outage, up-to-date storm information, and the ability to send information to emergency responders. 

Much of the concern for safety in a storm like Sandy is the ability to either evacuate safely or prepare to wait out the storm. With the rise of the collaborative consumption economy, what are the possibilities for collaborative evacuations and storm preparedness? Imagine Lyft, Zipcar, and RideShare all coordinating drivers with passengers. Less cars on the road makes a quicker evacuations and helps ensure those without wheels have a way out. Airbnb users in safe areas could post emergency availability at affordable rates so cost wouldn't be a hinderance. For those in affected areas who do not need to evacuate, what are the collaborative possibilities for buying supplies instead of grocery stores being flooded with panicked shoppers hoarding water? 

Clearly, these are only a small part of the solution. For instance, many of those most at risk are elderly, and less likely to be utilizing these forms of technology. But what if, from the West Coast, I could secure a safe ride for a family member in New York online or if, through an app, could find someone in her apartment building to check in once the power and thus, her phone line, went out? 

There are better ways for us to design our cities to deal with changing conditions, but there are also ways for us to design around our changing society to build better communities that are able to weather storms together. Let's figure them out. Fast.

Until then, please consider donating $10 or how ever much you are compelled to the Red Cross for the Disaster Relief fund. It truly all makes a difference. 

tumblights 10/28

Clockwise from top right: 

Enjoy these? Find more daily at percentblog.tumblr.com. And even more stunning images on my pintrest.  

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

new percent jewelry


What's this? Oh yes- new jewelry on percent.etsy.com! As you can see, I've been very inspired by crystals and natural stones, as well as playing with new textile materials. There are even more new items than I've shown here, so hop on over and take a look.

Plus, this is only the start of my new collection so I have more pieces that aren't listed or that are still in development. Stay tuned for more percent jewelry news.

Monday, October 15, 2012

tumblights 10/15

Note: Tumblights will be moving to Mondays, to better fit in my work schedule, until further notice. This move will help posting be more reliable and, hopefully, reliably delightful. 

I've been playing with crystals and other stones lately in finishing my fall collection (to be launched on Etsy tomorrow!) so it's not surprise they've leaked into other areas of my life, including dominating my tumblr stream. 


Clockwise from top:


Enjoy these? Find more daily at percentblog.tumblr.com. And even more stunning images on my pintrest.  

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

read more: technological momentum

"According to Hughes’s theory, the technologies we end up using aren’t determined by any objective measure of quality. In fact, the tools we choose are often deeply flawed. They just happened to meet our particular social needs at a particular time and then became embedded in our culture." 

- "Why Your Car Isn't Electric," New York Times

Monday, October 8, 2012

museum spotlight: field connections

[Photo by Matt Millman/ SF Moma website.]

A few weeks ago, I visited the SF Moma with the goal of seeing the Cindy Sherman exhibit that has been getting press left and right. Deservedly so, but the exhibit that made me gasp upon entering was a different one, Field Connections. 

"Can there be architecture without buildings? What if a wall or a floor went on forever? What happens when people move through a room? From immersive installations to intricate drawings, The works in Field Conditions pose provocative questions about the construction, experience, and representation of space." 

Most dramatic was the dual installation above, but even smaller drawings done in graphite on beige paper were complex and visually perplexing. Anyone interested in modern art or architecture should put this on their SF to-do list before it closes on January 6. 

Quote and image from the SF Moma website. 

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

read more: ronen kadushin

"The world is changing if you want it or not, it’s about understanding where it is going, and what you can do about it in a very serious and responsible way, and it’s not about the making money side of it. It’s more about basically putting out or suggesting a way where the troubles, or the catastrophes that are coming to us will be handled, how they will be met. And part of the solution – in the minds of makers and other open-source communities – is the network. The network is a central part of a proposed solution to this." 

Ronen Kadushin interview via Dezeen

furnishly your home

[Furnishly homescreen for Chicago]

Last week a good friend was in town for the 3% Conference (which sounded positively wonderful) and  I got to spend some time catching up on the news of her new job. Diana recently moved to Chicago to be the Marketing head of Furnishly. She describes Furnishly as "Ebay meets Craigslist meets Pintrest." According to Furnishly, their mission is "to create the first ever digital consumer marketplace dedicated to the sale of local furnishings for your home or office." I poked around on the San Francisco Furnishly page and here a few of my favorites*.



Furnishly is a place where individuals and stores can list furniture, both new and quality secondhand/ vintage. The photo-filled layout makes it easy to browse quickly by furniture type or you can visit the page of your favorite local furniture shop. Sadly, the biggest market currently is Chicago, but for the 33 other cities on the site, Furnishly curates your Craigslist experience for you. I love shopping locally and secondhand, so Furnishly is a great resource for me. Plus, I can definitely see myself selling items there next time I'm moving.

*I didn't link to these because they are probably sold but since Furnishly pulls from Craiglist in cities other than Chicago, there are constantly new items at a range of prices. And if you are in Chicago, you have all sorts of options! 

Monday, October 1, 2012

tumblights 10/1

We measure our days by the cycle of light and darkness, broken down into artificial segments and extending our days with artificial light. This weekend my time moved too quickly, and thus, this post is late. Perhaps these clocks would have kept me on time.




Clockwise, from top right:

Enjoy these? Find more daily at percentblog.tumblr.com. And even more stunning images on my pintrest.