A couple years ago, I took a photo of a small oil painting on the wall at a newly-opened restaurant in Fort Greene. It was of a fisherman in a yellow cap and slicker, and set in a rounded light oak frame. Most notably, the painting itself had been segmented into jigsaw puzzle pieces. I loved it. Just a few months later, I walked into BDDW, a gallery and design showroom on Crosby Street, and came face to face with a similar jigsaw-style painting in the exact same frame—this one several feet tall and featuring a nude woman bathing in a sea of deep teals and blues. Turns out that both are the work of artist Tyler Hays, who opened BDDW as a home for all his creations. I now visit BDDW regularly when I need a little dose of creative inspiration, even though I can’t afford a single thing in it. (Truly, even the mugs are $500.) That said, BDDW also runs a weekly auction (download the app here) featuring goods from the showroom and archive, many of which go for well below marked price. I have yet to move on anything, though I’m certain one day I’ll be the proud owner of one of Hays’ puzzle paintings—and maybe a couch or coat, too.
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Just a gentle reminder that summer is the season for Little Strong Drink. I put a bottle of Big Island Punch in my purse for almost any sunny day excursion, including last weekend’s local crawfish boil, where a half-capful made a totally unnecessary 90-minute line go by like a breeze.
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One of my favorite ways to shop is by interest. I like to brainstorm things I love—movies, people, places, books, characters, restaurants, etc.—and then poke around for vintage merch or objects related to the subject. Intramural Shop is a Brooklyn-based vintage store that categorizes its collection similarly, allowing you to search their stock of clothing, accessories, home goods, and objects by category, like “Institutions/Venues” (I need that Magic Castle baseball hat), “Food/Beverage,” or “New York.” If any of you remember the frenzy over the NYCB hat Timothee Chalamet wore to film himself dancing to Edith Piaf on a rooftop in Paris, well, his stylist found it at Intramural. I highly suggest also following them on Instagram, where they post some of their more one-of-a-kind items. I recently snagged a friend’s birthday present after seeing Intramural Shop’s post about it, and I’m pretty pleased with the get.
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I was recently on a trip with a couple friends where we shared a hotel room. While we all had white noise machines (or Lofties) at home, none of us had thought to pack one. The first night, we tried one of the free options on myNoise, a soundscape app. I’m sure the paid version solves for this, but every soundscape available to us had jarring track changes and wild volume modulation. The next night, determined to find a solution, I scrubbed through hours of colored noise playlists on Spotify for one that we all agreed on: Pink Noise Sleep Sound, 12 hours of blissful, sound-smothering static. Save it now—your future self will thank you.
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I spend a lot of time thinking about design, mostly for Gossamer but increasingly just while out in the world. Design as a system is one of those things that the more you pay attention to it, the more you see it: in the products you buy, the spaces you inhabit, the pages you read, the processes you complete in everyday actions. The Invention of Design, a forthcoming book by designer and cultural historian Maggie Gram (whom I am both honored and also obligated to tell you is a friend of mine), explores how capitalist forces over the last century shaped and redefined our idea of “design” from an aesthetic practice to a functional one that powers almost every aspect of the modern world—and our hopes for a better one. Gram is, quite genuinely, one of the smartest people I know, so if you have even a passing interest in the topic, you should pre-order this book now.
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David’s out this week which means I had to write all six of these, so things were bound to get a little weird. I love McDonald’s and I also love a menu modification, which is why I’m here to tell you that the next time you go to McDonald’s and you’re in the mood for a lighter or pescatarian option, you should order the Filet-O-Fish, but with the addition of lettuce, onions, lots of pickles, and a side of Spicy Buffalo Sauce. (You’ll also be pleased to know that you can, should you want to, order a Big Mac and ask them to sub fish for the meat patties and tartar sauce for the Mac sauce, though the final product isn’t necessarily better than just getting two Filet-O-Fishes, garden-style.) Feel free to reply to this email for other off-menu McDonald’s suggestions, including my personal favorite: a classic cheeseburger, add Mac sauce.
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