After graduating with an art degree from UC Santa Barbara in 2003, for one reason or another, she pretty much put down the paintbrush for a while. For a few years, her art practice was mostly about lovingly crafted correspondences mailed to far away friends, drawings for herself, for the garden, and so on.

She has always loved drawing letters, crafting new handwriting styles, and old signage, so when she stumbled upon New Bohemia Signs, she was blown away. Caitlyn started as an apprentice there in 2007, which eventually turned into regular paid work in the following year. She loves working there and is happy to be learning lettering and gilding techniques that have been used for generations.

These days, Caityn is primarily occupied, along with Brook Budner, with working on Little City Gardens, an urban farm here in the Mission. Caitlyn and Brook are growing artisinal salad mix, braising mix, and culinary herbs, offering educational workshops, and providing a working model of urban food production.

Well, nobody stopped me from getting that exact same haircut at the advanced age of 25, only I didn’t have the hutzpah to go for the full dye job. Auntie Debra, would you like a job tending shop? And thanxxx Nicky.

In addition to the astonishing YSL nugget that I can’t honestly picture and then I can, Lauren Collins advances the radical Laura Ashley as “Marimekko for the Home Counties” claim (too true!) and shares a few tantalizing fragments of the Ashleys’ beginnings and their impact on the universe. For example, the cozy floral Laura Ashley jet. It’s wonderful imagine that the holy mother brand of all things granny/girly that meant so much to so many twelve year old girls was once just a mom and pop screenprinting operation out of the Ashley kitchen table. 

The old, big tag Laura Ashley dresses have a been an inspiration for a long while now. I admire their extra thick cottons and hand printed, bordering on psychedelic, prints which feel really different from their home decorating fabrics. Not that I discount the billowing flannel Anne of Green Gables, nice teacher pinafores. Those are really nice. But what does it for me are the ones that seem hyperbolically throw back, with low down scoop necks, or in the case of a high collar, lace bits strategically placed over private bits and noooooooo slip running underneath. Their weight and swing make them great for walking, even if its just down 18th Street and not some hither highland or yonder heath.

I’ve forced myself to put this one up for sale at the shop, though it fits and would feel like such a great antidote to “sexy” at many a formal occasion. I don’t know….hoping somebody will just come in and buy it before I have a change of heart. 

Mark Gravel (no relation) stopped by this afternoon and was kind enough to model our newest treasure in the shop—a heavy, super bling cast bronze necklace from Hunter Gatherer(er). We’re also offering them for sale online. Check it out!

And, if you’re neighborhood, come on by the shop this evening. Mark has elected to set up his Spotted Rooster bean set up here at the shop. He’s doing the $1 bean tacos and we’re handing out the free fancy beer. That’s right.

The necklaces are cast in bronze and worn low, warmed up & close to the heart, on either a brown or black deerskin leather cord. Both cord options are included, along with a polishing cloth to keep the stones shiny and oxidization-free. To change the cord, just untie the slipknot at the stone and switch it up.

As you can see, this look flatters Mark’s T-shirt like nobody’s business. Now just imagine how boss it must look on the lady friends….Makes me feel like the most gangster beachcomber ever. So heavy.

Ashley is working with her mom Hermine, a Los Angeles-based jeweler, to create the Hunter Gatherer(er) jewelry collection. After years of sending inspirational objects back and forth to one another in the post, they’re making treasures for all to enjoy.

Michele studied conservation in college, and so bookbinding has been a natural extension of her interest in archival practices and materials. Nave, the self-designated Romantic among them, learned bookbinding at the John C. Campbell Folk School. He takes great pleasure in providing beautiful objects that become very private treasures for their owners. Together, they use traditional materials and techniques to make journals intended to be used, abused, and loved all the more for it.

I always like a vessel that matches the color of the foodstuff it serves, which in my case is darkest black tea with too much honey, please. This Betty brews 6 cups at a time, and will do its best to keep your tea warm while you work your way through. Just don’t forget to pre-warm the pot!