July 7, 2009 by julespieri
Last summer, I bought two Adirondack chairs. My husband had been talking about wanting this kind of chair for at least ten years. He’d routinely stop the car to test out Adirondack chairs we saw displayed in front of garden centers and furniture stores. He had very precise expectations for the curve of the back, the materials, the construction, and the ergonomics of the chairs. He knew where the chairs would go (on the little empty deck that gets great morning sunlight).
This went on for many, many years. The discussion. The casual shopping. And the rejection every time, on one basis or another: “too expensive, uncomfortable, we can’t afford them, we don’t need them, we can’t get these home today, let’s think about it a little more.”
Last summer I was delighted when I saw a 40% off sign, in the peak of the season, at the very store my husband had previously declared to have the best Adirondack chairs. I turned the car around, went straight to the cash register, and snapped two up, anticipating my husband’s happiness at the good deal. But as I talked to the owner of the store, I began to feel a little different about the “steal.” His shop was struggling. Sales were down 50%. He’d bought his inventory before the economy started unraveling. He had a cash flow problem.
I began to regret the purchase, Continue Reading »
Posted in American culture, Design, e-commerce | Tagged Adirondack Chairs, Amazon, WalMart | 2 Comments »
July 4, 2009 by julespieri
I just spent six blissful, unplugged days in Italy. Too short, but deeply precious to me and my family. We were near Sansepolcro–a fairly untouristed section of eastern Tuscany. Nice. We didn’t shop, or buy anything much, beyond masses of food and wine for immediate consumption. But I assembled a few random things to bring home. When I looked at them all together, they pleased me for collectively capturing different aspects of the beautiful place I was in.
Bringing home fond reminders of a trip is nothing new. Travel souvenirs are an ancient tradition. Hannibal probably decorated his elephants and Carthaginian battle tents with trappings of his travels. These are mine:
Style: the design of this belt--juxtaposing colorful grommets on an unexpected fabric pattern--delighted me. It's a little more subtle in real life than in this photo. I appreciate experiences and products that have a couple layers of discovery, as do some Italian leather goods. This belt has that. I thought it was tooled brown leather when I first saw it. The colors on the fabric were pretty quiet on the shop shelves.
Taste. Of course we had to bring back some Italian wine. It's so fun to buy the world-famous Brunello at the local Italian grocery store. There were shelves full of it, at prices which allowed some serious experimentation. I was worried about the distinctive bottle shape being a magnet for bag security scanner thieves. Phew. The wine stashed in our various suitcases all made it safely stateside.
Utility. I always bring home ordinary (but foreign feeling) things that will give me daily pleasure. Vietnamese toothpase. Miniature wooden clothespins from Barcelona. Czech paper clips. I loved this Italian twine for its thick, uneven girth, and its slightly waxy/polished quality.
A helpful gadget. This Swedish map measurer lets you add and display distances to the scale of your choosing. Great for hikes and winding scenic drives, no? It has nothing to do with Italy, other than I will always remember the town and cool gear shop where I found it.
Craft. A wonderful ancient textile manufacturer, Busatti, is in the town where we stayed. I surely bought the most touristy item from their line. But I loved the hand-embroidery and I know that I will use this towel until it wears out. Linens are one of my favorite travel purchases--because I really use them. And they pack so well.
Silly. No big story here. I was just running short of socks. But I like the idea of these "Italia"ones making me smile every time I put them on for a run.
Craft. Utility. Style. Taste. And occasionally just a laugh.
Finally, I shot three of these photos while in Tuscany, and three in the US. Can you tell which is which?
Posted in Cultural anthropology, Design, Food porn | Tagged Brunello, Busatti, Sansepolcro | Leave a Comment »
July 3, 2009 by julespieri
In a world where homogenization is spreading apace, it was fun for me last week to experience a visceral, totally American, reaction to this Italian product. The scene was poolside, in Tuscany. Every time one of my sons brandished this bottle I thought, “What is he doing with that French’s mustard?” I KNEW this was Italian sunscreen, but the colors, general type layout, and bottle design shouted “bring out the Ball Park franks” every time I saw it. I guess French’s did a good job, huh?
Posted in Design | Tagged French's mustard | 2 Comments »
June 22, 2009 by julespieri
I’ve heard people quip that IKEA makes more profits on startups than venture capitalists do. In our first week at Daily Grommet I, too, took a trip to the flat- pack behemoth–and bought a couple tables and lamps. It felt like a necessary rite of passage. A visiting Irish college student friend volunteered to assemble them, and we were off and running.
First day of business, and last time anyone put their feet up at Grommet
But as we grew, we began to source all our ragtag furniture from either our basements, or shrinking startups. Here are a few prime examples:
"Spineless" --the chair with no back
"Inferiority Complex" --the stool that is too high for a desk
"If this chair could talk" -- a specimen hanging around from my husband's bachelor days
Finally, Joanne said quietly,
Jules we could use some chairs with backs, and the office gets really dark. How about some lamps?
Coincidentally, my husband’s company was selling off a bunch of decent office gear. We had access to a friend’s convertible car, and so off we went on a Sunday, to “shop” at the downtown office. Alas, we did not plan on a heavy downpour on our endless highway travels back…the folks who got these chairs suffered kind of wet bums on the following Monday. But I didn’t hear anyone complaining….anything was an improvement over the crazy chair that couldn’t hold its height (not photographed)–it slowly sank as you worked.
We get a lot of credit for “capital efficiency” but sometimes we can take it a little too far.
How we got our nice new/used chairs to the office
Posted in Start-ups | Tagged capital efficiency, IKEA | 5 Comments »
June 20, 2009 by julespieri
This is Julia Kemp, our summer intern. She’s an MBA student at Simmons College. She is also an industrial designer…in fact, Julia designed the fitness line at Target–her former employer. She’s astute, engaged, bright, composed, articulate, and very special. For her first Grommet video, she only had about a half hour warning and she handled the situation like a pro. Take a look at how she did! We hope she decides startups are fun and not just crazy, and returns to us soon.
She recently made an observation about leaving a big company to work at Daily Grommet:
“I can’t believe the range of things you each cover. You have to be super heroes!”
That made me feel great. IT does feel insane sometimes to hop from a spreadsheet, to doing a video, to negotiating a deal, to testing a pineapple peeling tool. But I can’t imagine working in a job ever again where my role is to simply improve on the performance of the person I replaced. How dull would that be?
Anyway, it’s fun to see our work through Julia’s very observant eyes.
Posted in Start-ups, Uncategorized | Tagged Julia Kemp, Target | 2 Comments »
June 18, 2009 by julespieri
We’re pretty crowded in our office space. We have five rooms, if you include the sacrosanct and incredibly neat space maintained by our developers Gary and Eric. (Their code is as impeccable as their bookshelves.)
The rest of us (five full-time, five part-time) live in three rather chaotic (at times) rooms. We try to keep the fourth room open for video shoots and a conference table. So, it’s pretty typical for us to take a phone call outdoors–just to be able to hear the person on the other end. (Aside: we also have squeaky doors. On a recent call, a person said to me, “Do you have parrots there?” Jeanne suggested trying the KINeSYS sunscreen as a hinge lubricant. It worked! The doors are silenced.)
Lately, our meetings have been spilling outside too. Barbara snapped this shot–our visitors for this particular meeting were really good sports about it. Especially Meg, in the white pants, sitting on our well-trafficked stairs.
- Where we take our overflow meetings at 6 Wallis Court
Posted in Start-ups | Tagged KINeSYS | 2 Comments »
June 17, 2009 by julespieri
A very nice freelance photographer, Aram Boghosian, shot this photo at Daily Grommet. It’s running in the Globe today. We were a little worried about how it would turn out. The poor man was hit with a strong case of the hiccups just before he started shooting. We tried a bunch of old-home remedies, to no avail. So….we are grateful he got off a pretty clear shot between hiccups.
Joanne Domeniconi (left) and Jeanne Connon tested a SodaStream product for the Daily Grommet. (Aram Boghosian for The Boston Globe)
But even funnier, after we tested the fizz-making power of the SodaStream, we added some grapefruit flavor to make soda. I shook the bottle a little too enthusiastically, and the just-mixed pink concoction exploded out of the bottle when opened. At the loud fire-off, our poor photographer hit the deck. As Aram picked himself off the ground he good-naturedly quipped,
I think I just failed the first test of photo journalism. Imagine what I would have done if real bullets were flying!
Posted in Start-ups | Tagged Aram Boghosian, Soda Stream | 5 Comments »
June 13, 2009 by julespieri
Two people sent me a link to this photo. (Thanks Carol Cohen, and Heidi Hofer!) It ran in the NYT, in an article about the Vienna Biennale. But the reason they shared was, as Carol wrote; “ Did you see today’s NYT? GROMMET ART!!!!!
Photo by Todd Heisler/The New York Times
Posted in Design | Tagged Carol Cohen, Vienna Biennale | Leave a Comment »
June 6, 2009 by julespieri
One of my biggest adjustments to “real life” (as an industrial designer) post-college was having to be indoors all day. In fact, I’ve never gotten used to it. So, I tell my sons, and their friends, to think hard about that reality when they choose a career. The fact is, most careers are indeed lived and developed within the confines of a building. But it is not for everyone. I manage. But I do–seriously–aspire to being a letter carrier one day.
There’s a new book getting a lot of attention for a similar reason. It’s called Shop Class as Soulcraft. It’s written by Matthew Crawford, a Ph.D. who used to work in a Washington think tank. It makes a brilliant case for the intrinsic value of skilled work. In the author’s case, he abandoned his fluorescent lights for opening a vintage motorcycle repair shop. Here’s a good summary from the Wall Street Journal:
Physical objects and machines, especially those that need fixing, pose cognitive challenges, Mr. Crawford argues, since they resist the application of explicit rules and require instead the use of a craftsman’s hard-earned “tacit knowledge.” By contrast, he says, many white-collar jobs have been reduced to nearly rote tasks, following elaborately devised systems that leave little room for actual thinking.
Another key point of the book is that most skilled hand work cannot be outsourced overseas. You have to do it on site. Think about that when it comes to individual economic security.
So if I don’t become a letter carrier, someday I will likely be a future Grommet supplier. Working with my hands, probably outdoors. For now, though, I can always eat my lunch outside, with my hands. I can live with that.
*Photo from this blog. The author says he is “testing sword blades for the Orchihi store.” Whatever that is.
Posted in American culture, Parenthood | Tagged Matthew Crawford, Shop Class as Soulcraft | Leave a Comment »
June 1, 2009 by julespieri
Jeanne Connon is our newly minted Chief Marketing Officer. Happy days!
Jeanne came to Grommet the very week we launched and I truly believe we could not have effectively executed this business without her. Or, if we did, the rest of us would be wraith-like shadows of human beings. Jeanne is the sheer embodiment of a “STUG”–a startup guy/gal. She was on the founding team of Monster (enough said), and this is her fourth startup. More than anyone, Jeanne knew what this ride was going to look like.
Jeanne effortlessly ranges from the highest level of strategic thinking, to quietly and uncomplainingly spending her weekends catching up on the terribly laborious and tedious tasks that just have to get done. She’s deeply analytical, has no qualms about sharing her point of view, relentlessly focused on the clarity and quality of anything that represents Grommet and our suppliers, and she genuinely rallies around the broader “cause” of Grommet.
When I called one of Jeanne’s references (the one who calls her a dancing machine), he said,
Every startup CEO needs a Jeanne. Nothing falls through the cracks when she is on the job. You are going to need that.
So true. But here are some of my favorite Jeanne moments:
- When Jeanne caught wind of the upcoming publication of Galway Bay, she knew it would be the perfect Grommet for St. Patrick’s Day. But here was the rub–the author was going to be in town just two days later, and Jeanne hadn’t yet made sure the book was good enough to be a Grommet. She rushed to get a copy and stayed up all night to read it.
- Jeanne is–literally–the person who pushes the button at noon to release each day’s Grommet. You should see her in a meeting that goes anywhere past 11:30. She develops a subtle twitch, avidly checking her watch. (She will be passing the baton on this duty, with her new role.)
- When she came to Grommet, both Joanne and I had the sense that Jeanne would just as soon not show up in any videos. But she saw that we needed her, and she has quickly become a steady video presence. I know that when a product has complicated details and there is a rich story to tell, Jeanne will be all over it. Maybe she used to worry about it, but now she just dives in and does a superbly articulate video, on a moment’s notice.
- Hearing Jeanne sing along with a visiting artist, when we shot his (upcoming) Grommet video. The woman has a good voice. She says, “Yeah, I’m the one who is always trying to get someone to play the guitar so we can have a sing-along!”
- Jeanne bonds deeply with many of the Grommet suppliers. One of them, Sian Foster from Ella Georgia, told me she was going to have withdrawal symptoms after her day in the Grommet sun, because she would not be in regular contact with Jeanne.
There are people who just seem “More More” than the rest of us. They get more done. They have more ideas. They are in behind the scenes making sure the enterprise succeeds. They do it for the honor of a job well done and because they care deeply about doing the team’s mission. That’s Jeanne, all day long, every day. We are all the richer, and happier, for her being in our presence.
Posted in Entrepreneurs, Start-ups | Tagged Ella Georgia, Galway Bay, Jeanne Connon, Sian Foster | 8 Comments »
