rainy weekend

Although it seems like Ohio got hit with some snow, NYC got some rain from mother nature. The temperatures weren't too bad, but the rain kept us in most of the weekend - no complaints here. I was able to see even more best friends from Ohio this week and share some dank pizza (ya I said it) and a lot of laughs. A busy week means cocktails with coworkers and a relaxing weekend with white Mike. I've taken 2 bubble baths, worked out, had some champagne, made chicken and rice soup AND chocolate covered strawberries, hung up some records in frames, watched the blair witch project, had a lovely dinner at the place where we will become regulars (jack and nellies), grocery shopped, planned a trip to boston to see a Redsox game (vs the Indians) at Fenway Park, and watched church via rock city. Overall a pretty amazing weekend of relaxation. Oh! and Fred (R.I.P.) our first house plant has been replaced - meet Frank...

Also, meet our record wall! It took some serious narrowing down and a lot of record listening to create this composition. Shout out to dad five years ago for letting me inherit his record collection - I've been adding to it ever since. From left to right: top: Elton John, Eric Clapton, Cream, and Bad Company. Bottom: Fleetwood Mac, Cat Stevens, Kinks, and The Steve Miller Band

At work I've been prepping all week for the new windows, which will be completed in a few weeks. Although I didn't get to do exactly what I wanted for the windows, its a very similar design so I can't complain too much. Anthro is definitely moving to a more streamlined process of doing things which means less individual store creativity. Although this makes less work for the display coordinator I can probably speak for artists everywhere by saying I'd rather work a lot harder completing something 100 original - BUT such is life. There are perks for working for yourself and perks for working for a larger company and you have to take the good with the bad. Just more motivation to keep making my own original work, like a new huge painting for the living room. Anyway want to see what the finalized interior of our store looks like? Well you're in luck because we took pictures this week.

Ombre bamboo arch with hanging plants, wind chimes, and prayer bells

Detail of ombre bamboo arch with Gregory and Pete - ya I name the plants I spend a lot of time with them.

Fountain made from rocks, bamboo, and found objects that only goes awry about once a week.

Bath area named Lotus.

One of my favorite rooms named "olive". Dried fruit installation hanging with lemons made from paper and masking tape.

Hand painted wood tile wall in Olive

Found object turned dart board in "Francois"

Seating moment in "Indochine"

Bamboo detail in "Indochine"

PVC pipe and masking tape turned into a bamboo tabletop landscape

Skunta original paintings in "Marina" (3 in total) with hanging lotus flower lights.

Painting turned into signage details

You've already met Bernard - but have you seen him from "myspace" angles?

And have you seen his badonkadonk?

Details of Wooden Lily's made by the whole staff and lily pads made from cardboard paper and thread.

Reeds woven together with palms and grass - some have been turned into lamps for the "Talitha" large scale display.

Some of my favorite plants in a glass, sand, and rock setting.

10 holes

After a nice work week finishing up projects, organizing, cleaning, sketching, and ordering supplies for a new spring window, I picked up Mike in Manhattan and we drove to Pittsburgh to meet up with Columbus friends. We chilled at the holiday inn (express), checked out the local markets, and of course sampled the local food and brew. It was really nice to get out of the city and just hang out with no specific plans with a group of 14 friends. We made fun of each other, came up with slogans for the weekend, danced, played games, and nearly lost our voices from how much we screamed the song " turn down for what!?" Overall it was a much needed mini vacation from the traffic center of the world. Even though Pittsburgh is definitely a city it felt more like a town, and they make a mean pepperoni roll. I picked up some inspiration for new small projects, as well as a pizza slicer and some hazelnut syrup. See some pictures below of some fun that was had over the past weekend.

I'm really excited to share my sketches for the new windows with you but as always, they'll be top secret till approval time. Cheers!

Custom furnishings

There is nothing like taking a break from building things at work - to build things at home! Although instead of building displays that last several months, we built a solid tv stand that should last for decades. I sketched up a design for a TV stand, since our current television has been sitting on 4 well places milk crates for the last 4 months, and it finally came to life this weekend. We wrote down all the measurements before we went to the hell that is home depot and after about 2 hours scouring the store for all the little odds and ends we needed we got our wood cut and left! Apologies to our downstairs neighbor as we did a lot of sanding, drilling, and moving this weekend but I'm very happy with the results...and we didn't kill each other in the process!

Take a look at the progress photos below.

 Still need to properly merchandise this item so it doesn't look like I live in a college dorm but I'll have updated pictures of that after I put a few coats of sealer on. Anyway I'm off to bed because tomorrow I get to start dreaming up the new windows for Anthropologie!

Great reviews

As I mentioned in my previous post, we had a corporate walk through this past week that went really well. So well in fact that the big BIG wigs are flying in to come see a couple stores on the east coast and my store was recommended for the visit. We had a second walk through with the district managers on Friday just to make sure everything was in order for the big visit and that was splendid. So with almost all of my displays done and looking good I'm feeling very confident about the walk through tomorrow. Fingers crossed they love it as well! I got some great feedback from the staff and customers this week about the way the store looks, and how I complete projects so it felt really good. One coworker even said that I should consider making my goal to work at Rockefeller Center because she knows I'd do an awesome job there. Rock Center as you all know is the mecca of window displays. It was an awesome thing to hear even if she was just being nice. I'm just going to keep working hard and see where it leads me.

Anywho I had a lot of things to celebrate this weekend. Mike getting a new job! Jon Lampley and his gang finally living his dream in NYC and of course kitty Kat's birthday.  Since we wrote down on the 2014 bucket list that we were going to bake a "legit" cake from scratch I thought this would be the perfect occasion to do so.

After drooling for hours on foodgawker.com we picked a nicely decorated and slightly challenging coconut carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. All and all in took us about 3.5 hours of whisking, double boiling, sampling, and baking to make this triple layer beauty but it turned out delicious. See for yourself below

This is how much butter and cream cheese was in the frosting. My insides hurt just thinking about the amount of fat, but at least it was shared with about 20 people. 

Whisking some egg whites...

 The three layers! Inside the cake are carrots, raisins, cranberries, walnuts, and shredded coconut.

The completed project! Those are toasted coconut shavings on the side and shredded coconut on top. 

Eating cake on the rooftop in the Lower East Side was a nice beginning to a fun night that included ski ball, foosball, and meeting lots of new people. Cheers!

Introducing Bernard, the elephant

We have been working really hard at the store to complete the displays and I'm happy to report we are ahead of schedule. We just had a walk through with the corporate office this week and it went very well. I've included some photos below of Bernard the elephant and an orange and lemon screen made out of dehydrated fruit but the final reveal with some high quality pictures including some custom paintings and a rock and bamboo fountain will be coming in 2 more weeks when all the projects are 100% finished.

 I have had to assemble a lot of the display directly on the floor (or ceiling) while customers are in the store so I've had a lot more interaction with people interested in the work I do. Some just want to stop and watch for a little bit while others have asked for custom works for their homes. It definitely makes it easier to pick up side projects if I feel like doing some extra work on the weekends - the only downside is the lack of power tools that are able to fit in a NYC apartment. The most exciting customer I've talked to recently is in the process of writing a book on creativity and asked if she could contact me for an interview so I'm looking forward to that. Another great part of my job is that I'm learning more about plants! I have been setting the tone for each store concept with a lot of plant life and some of my favorites are these braided stump trees with hand crafted lemons made by the whole staff and the dreadlock looking plants seen in the picture below. 

 Other than work, I checked out "queens comfort" which was showcased on diners, drive ins, and dives with some friends from out of town. It didn't live up to the expectations but it was still a fun experience with friends. The Chicken and Waffles from Southside Grill in Cleveland is still the best I've had so far. BUT I was very impressed with "the Astor Room" in Astoria - We stopped by for a happy hour before queens comfort where we got 2 for 1 fancy cocktails made the old fashioned way complete with orange peels being set on fire for a garnish. We also got to enjoy a Ukrainian couple's 50th wedding anniversary festivities as we sipped. Overall a great weekend. Happy New York City Restaurant week to all!