I’m writing this on a Wednesday, about 24 hours before Lucy McCall releases her latest collection of cowgirl mugs. The U.K.-based ceramicist drops a handful of new pieces every 6-8 weeks or so, which means they go quickly, as they should. Each cowgirl mug is handmade from earthenware, then painted and glazed with an individual horse and rider in a rich rainbow of colors. I don’t want to toot my own horn, but I have gotten pretty good at sniping fast-moving, one-of-a-kind ceramics these days, so hopefully by the time you read this, one of these mugs will be mine.
-VvP
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You already got an email about this on Thursday, but this week we added the infused beverage brand Artet to our shop. In a sea of questionable THC drinks, Artet is a company that really stands out for their commitment to quality, taste, and being good people—something that matters dearly to us. We tend to have a bottle of their Aperitif lying around at all times (I’ve delivered many as housewarming gifts or alcohol alternatives for barbecues and dinner parties), but their canned cocktail versions would also be a good place to start. For logistical and other reasons, it’s our first foray into carrying a beverage, and I’m very excited to see how it resonates with you all. If you give it a shot (literally and/or figuratively), please let us know what you think—the feedback would be invaluable for both us and the team at Artet.
-DW
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We’re firmly a bowl household, and I’m not referring to the smoking accessory. Rather, I’d say at least 75% of the meals I prepare for my wife and son are served in dinner bowls. They are simply superior to plates in every way (even the experts at Food & Wine agree). What really converted us to the wonders of bowls was receiving a secondhand set of big, beautiful black ones made by Heath Ceramics. Not a day goes by that we don’t use them and we’ve since added some other color variations to the mix. I tell you all this for two reasons: the first is that right now through June 11th, Heath is having a special in-person sale at their showrooms in Sausalito, San Francisco, and Los Angeles where you can trade in any “pre-loved,” chipped, or straight up broken piece of dinnerware (or other ceramics) for a gift card on the spot. (We have one broken bowl that I wish I could hand deliver but alas, California is too far.) The second reason is that Heath is also hosting The Good Flea, an “elevated take on the classic vintage market concept,” in San Francisco next Saturday and Sunday (the 14th and 15th). Based on the vendors involved, it seems like a great place to do some gift shopping and stocking up for the home.
-DW
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If you’re feeling a little bit bleak about the state of the world these days (hi, hello, welcome to the club), this piece by Norwegian author Karl Ove Knausgaard left me unexpectedly optimistic. Knausgaard deftly and hypnotically charts the way technology has obliterated the act of experience, while also making the case that the problem isn’t the systems themselves, but the people who create and control them. (Which, yes, seems very obvious when stated that way.) The more we shift our perspective to broadening access and creation, the more we’re (re)introducing the opportunity for mystery and surprise. What if we could build artificial intelligence and computing systems that more closely mirrored the networks of the natural world, like trees or mushrooms? We all complain about being too connected, but maybe we’re just not connected enough.
-VvP
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I went to a party this week at Kissa Kissa in Crown Heights, where I fell in love with the split-flap display above the bar. It wasn’t until looking back through photos that I saw that it was actually a high-tech take on the old-school signage. Vestaboards, as they’re called and which I can attest look very cool in real life, unfortunately run upwards of $3K, which means my hunt for a vintage one has officially begun. So far, my search has turned up Oat Foundry out of Philadelphia which makes both custom split and picture-flap displays to order, but if you know where I might be able to get my hands on a ready-made option that costs less than either of these, please reply to this email. I’d be forever grateful.
-VvP
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I’ve been sitting on this for a bit, for no other reason than that it keeps getting pushed down my list of things to write up for High Praise. Published last month in Longreads, “Well Without Water” by Michael Fischer is an essay that combines two causes that I care about greatly: prison conditions and climate change. Fischer volleys back and forth between his lived experience as an incarcerated individual in upstate New York whose OCD and the constantly running water in the prison bathroom led him to delve deep into the ongoing climate tragedy affecting our world. It’s an interesting piece on personal responsibility in the face of global catastrophe, and what happens when moral gestures come up against the reality of human existence. I know this hasn’t been the most descriptive recommendation, so let me leave you with these three lines, as I think they might hook the type of person who’d want to read the whole thing: “The COs used to tell us inmates that if we simply didn’t exist, the world would be a better place. Now the science—to my suggestible, sputtering mind—seemed to support that. My death would be good for the earth, the one thing I could offer that might be considered useful.”
-DW
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