Haviland transports us into one of the richest historical styles of its era, "the Renaissance", with the Stanislas table and interior decoration collection. Available in gold or grey blue, this elegant pattern on the pieces brings about a certain dynamism to the collection. Stop in at the Shadyside store to see both the blue and the gold.
While drinking Athletic, a non-alcoholic (fake!) beer, I noticed that its box proclaims that it gives back 2% to local trails. I love walking trails, and I thought: the next time I venture to have a sober night, I’ll pick up another box of Athletic. (Thanks, Athletic, for giving out $2.5m in trail grants.) Warby Parker gives a pair of eyeglasses for each pair bought (they've given 10m pairs!), while Bombas does this for socks. Bookshop.org gives a percent back to small ...
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The famed, influential Medicis ruled Florence during the Renaissance, which was a time of prosperity in Florence. The traditional Medici coat of arms is beautiful and ornate. Vietri's new Medici collection takes a modern spin on it by highlighting one of it's components: the golden palle. At once historic and contemporary, Vietri's Medici Gold Dinnerware honors Italian heritage while also exuding fresh inspiration. Swing by the Shadyside store to see the collection.
I don’t own a car, yet I have a strange desire to read Dan Neil's car column each weekend in The Wall St. Journal. Why would someone who doesn’t own a car, won’t be buying one soon, and hasn’t owned one in 25 years read a car column? It's a mix of enjoying the design and technology of automobiles, wanting to know what Dwayne Johnson may be buying next, loving Dan’s witty writing style, and, confession, simply being 13-years old at heart. Cars are ...
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An East Village Artist’s Death Prompts a Reflection on the State of Indie Retailers Today
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While thumbing through the Times, I noticed a smiling young woman’s picture in the obituaries. In the black and white photograph, she's standing on a fire escape with a historic building and a bridge in the distance. I was initially attracted to Ronni Solbert’s 1959 picture, yet I was even more drawn in by what I noticed next to her photo: a children&...
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The next book our Bridge team may read is John List’s book The Voltage Effect. List, who is a behavioral economist at the University of Chicago, shares a variety of suggestions to grow a business. He warns us about false positives, such as what the “Just Say No” drug campaign experienced. He suggests we look for businesses with scalable ingredients. (People are not scalable, but good news for Bridge: software is!)
I'd add to List's advice this simple maxim: show ...
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Father's Day is in 10 days! Visit Glassworks in Shadyside to find a gift for Dad. Perfect for paleontologists, dinosaur lovers, or Jurassic movie fans: Artel's breathtakingly detailed DINOSAUR I Collection features six different prehistoric creatures that are available either individually or as a set of six glasses. ๐ฆ Includes: Parasaurolophus, Triceratops, Brontosaurus, T-Rex, Pterodactyl, and Stegosaurus. Artel's sea motif collection also available.
Stop in for more gift ideas!
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Today’s Times shares that Amazon Prime members often spend twice as much compared to those that aren’t members. This led to me ponder: What if a first step to reducing Amazon’s monopolies is just canceling a $119/year ‘membership’? Prime may be Amazon’s strength—as well as its achilles. If we can find a way to undermine it, I believe one can save money and our communities.
Inspired by the historic quatrefoil design—a decorative element utilized in architecture and the arts for millennia. Gold finished radial-textured pewter, adorned with hand-set clear European crystals.
At Mottahedeh, we choose to be colorful. That is for dinnerware or decorative objects for your home.
The historical story is important to us, because it represents the best of a culture of the past. For our reproductions and adaptations of designs, we try to understand the perspective of someone in those times and be true to their idea. For instance, if we are making an adaptation of a dinner plate from the 1750’s we would not take one motif that is repeated six times around the plate and...
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Yes, our trays are not historic, but the story of the Sandwich is. The sandwich has come a long way from a hunk of beef and cheese between bread.
“The sandwich as we know it was popularized in England in 1762 by John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich. Legend has it, and most food historians agree, that Montagu had a substantial gambling problem that led him to spend hours on end at the card table. During a particularly long binge, he asked the house cook to bring him something he ...
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Historically, a young tech company like ours would go out and get a seed investor, then build up to venture capital (VC) money, do a few rounds of that, and then go public—and then down the road, take some private equity money. In sum, at various points, we’d need to fill our tank with funds from different sources.
That’s changing. In today’s market, everyone wants to invest and be a part of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) revolution (our space!). Private ...
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Bridge's ability to process retail purchases using credit cards on Authorize.net was suspended today through approximately 4 pm EST. The issue is fixed now.
The reason for this is early this AM Authorize.net changed its processing location to Singapore and did not alert us. They updated their API domain to a Singapore-based IP. Since that city state is a hotbed for hacker activity, Bridge historically has blocked all traffic all incoming (and outgoing) traffic to Singapore as a ...
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We are pleased to announce an historic collaboration between the prestigious Meissen porcelain brand and Adidas corporation in introducing what is sure to become a highly sought after pair of iconic tennis shoes. Art meets the street. Stay tuned for pricing and availability. Sipping champagne from a lady's slipper is now passe'.
Holidays and family meals are better with gravy, say we. It can be a cocunut milk and curry sauce, or something to go with the poultry or beef to name a few types. Our grandmother used to kid us and say "Please pass the grease." This is not your grandmothers's dinnerware, however, because Indigo Wave was created by Mottahedeh in 2003 by using an antique rim soup bowl collected by Mrs. Mottahedeh as inspiration and then the various elements of the plates were adapted ...
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Our indie retailers are being hunted by four major forces:
Amazon
Big-box stores
Brands (selling direct)
Zola
While we've known about Amazon and big-box stores for some time, they are becoming more sophisticated. Amazon is so powerful now that it's the focus of anti-trust inquiries by the government. Big-box stores are spending millions on their digital operations.
Bridge's goal is to give indie stores great software that reverses the gains being made by these forces.
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How do you celebrate Halloween without getting all ugly and scary? Serve up orange and black. Here we present orange and white and gold reflecting the changing colors of nature. Sacred Bird and Butterfly, in transparent oranges and sparkling gold accents, is a licensed product of Historic Charleston Foundation and can be seen in the famed Nathaniel Russel House. While it arrived in America when America was colonial, it has endured for more than 200 years. Serve a hot soup or ...
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Today’s Times shares how Amazon sends out plenty of press releases announcing innovative services but actually invests the vast majority of its resources into very old-fashioned techniques.
I believe the business world often gives too much attention to innovation. I imagine this is due to many business people consuming news, books, and other media that laud innovation. I believe the reason these outlets overpromote innovation that one can’t sell a book promising: boring. &...
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At Mottahedeh we generally opt for lots of bold color with a style that is not shy. On the opposite end of the spectrum, white creamware made of faience, or soft paste porcelain, is our other love. Creamware has been in the offering for more than forty years. Many times, the original has been French, and yet we make ours in Italy as the craftsmanship is exceptional and historic. Faience can be made into shapely forms with lots of detail.
Here is our Lewis Tureen. This oval ...
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Many businesses are struggling during the state-mandated shelter-in-place orders. One industry that is weathering the storm well is technology. Technology companies often deliver services digitally, which obviously makes them ideal to side-step these orders--but they often utilize another feature that makes them profitable now and in general: subscriptions.
Scott Galloway, a business leader and host of an online business class called 'The Sprint,' recently brought to my attention the ...
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