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Pop by Quitokeeto for delicacies and delight
How lucky are we to have stumbled upon the lovely little shop Quitokeeto?! I’m itching to try the white peach maple soda and L’Effet Papillon Honeydew, and am putting the linen bento bags on my wish list: perfect to transport bulk grains, take to the farmers market, or pack snacks (goodbye, plastic). Stocked with unique finds, each click reveals a new treasure…but you better catch ‘em while they last. As the online pop-up shop proclaims, it’s “open now & then, when the stars align, and the products are just right.” Clockwise from top left: linen bento bags, Frazer Parfum, white marble mortar & pestle, Pallarès Solsona Navaja folding knife.
by benay 
@Everlane: totes, scarves, and everyday goodness
Clean, crisp, classic style at a lower mark-up? Yes, please! Everlane prides itself on knowing its factories and knowing its costs, so it can offer its well-curated apparel and accessories at an honest price. I’m loving the scarves, totes, and the descriptions and photo tours of Everlane’s factories and manufacturing process. Look for the “Join Now” button at the bottom of the site to get the scoop on the next collection launch.
by benay Unique textiles made in New York
I stumbled across the lovely textiles of Rebecca Atwood the other day while shopping around the city. I’m crazy about her one-of-a-kind hand painted textiles. I’m all about the details, so I thought the subtle (but slightly flashy) zipper on the pillows was the perfect touch. Rebecca grew up in Cape Cod — no wonder her pillows remind me of sitting by the ocean in the summer breeze! Be sure to check out her beautiful lookbook.
by kirby Finding beauty in the broken
How beautiful are these examples of kintsugi, the ancient Japanese art of repairing broken porcelain with gold lacquer? I love the concept that something broken can be made more beautiful than its original form. How great would it be if all of our flaws could be fixed with gold?! With New kintsugi by humade, you can even try out a modern version of the art form yourself.
by kirby Well-designed delivery for the caffeine fix
Sometimes you need just one good, quick cup of joe. Drip On by Key Coffee offers just that, with its no-fuss single-serve package that functions like a glorified tea bag. As with so much Japanese design, the packaging delivers flawless functionality (no mess!) and is fun to unpack. Many Asian grocery stores carry Drip On if you want to check it out!
by benay Furniture with a nod to nature
Humidity and temperatures are up today; summer has landed in New York! We love this time of year, when warm weather calls us outside and close to nature. In their first major husband-and-wife design collaboration, furniture designer Chris Lehrecke and jewelry designer Gabriella Kiss bring nature one step further, into the indoors. I just love the mushroom-shaped cast-bronze pulls on this chest of drawers, part of the “After the Storm” collection debuting Monday at Ralph Pucci International.
by benay Walking through a child’s mind
What a wonderful treat to see the work of Oliver Jeffers up close, in large scale! Thanks to experimental gallery/performance space Invisible Dog for hosting The Exploded Mind of Mulholland Hwang, a collaboration between children’s book author-illustrator Oliver Jeffers and jewelry designer Aaron Ruff. Such wonderful textures, colors, and figures surrounded us as we walked through the world of a ficticious 12-year-old infatuated by animals. How lucky we are to be inspired by this talented artist, living just miles away in our Brooklyn backyard!
by benay Crafting a one-of-a-kind fragrance
Few luxuries surpass having something designed especially for you. We came upon that realization last week under the wise direction of Julia Zangrilli, founder of NOVA custom fragrance company and mastermind of our soon-to-be-born Petite Alma fragrance! There in Julia’s enchanting studio, shared with floral designer Amy Merrick, we learned about olfactive classifications and gave our noses a workout smelling countless scents to blend into our very own custom fragrance. Surprises came with each new sniff; while I thought the beach bum in me would love the oceanic notes, wow was I wrong! And the four of us preferred very different scents, with only one scent overlapping across each of our top choices. Still, as we narrowed our picks and combined elements from each of our favorites, our different tastes somehow blended into one harmonious final fragrance. We can’t wait to receive it! Julia will also soon launch a line of NOVA eau de parfums and layerable oils, if you want to snag a piece of her scent art. Stay tuned!
by benay Color, color everywhere
Fellow color-lovers, an exciting update: Pantone has expanded its empire to paint. Head to Lowe’s during your next home decorating project to choose from the 100 hues in the new collection, a partnership with Valspar. Thank you to our friends at Design Milk for spreading the news!
by benay Where to find clothes for petite fashionistas
Oh, to be a kid again! What lucky little ones who get to wear these sweet, sophisticated pieces from the Chloé spring/summer 2013 children’s line. Adult sizes, please?
by benay Thanks to mom, seeing anew
On May 12 we celebrate mothers, a single title encompassing countless roles. Among the usual teacher, writer, chef, plumber, healer, philosopher, juggler, designer, my mom masters another art: champion gift-giver. For my birthday, my mother gave me a surprise gift subscription to Poetry magazine. I didn’t think much of it until the first issue arrived and the spare words slowed me into total focus; a space of quiet, images and sounds. As it happened, my mother knew what I didn’t: That I’d somehow forgotten to pick up a poem since college. That I’d become rushed and missed this immersion.
Now the rainbow titles rest on my desk, ready to offer a place of retreat and source of inspiration. Just reading the word “poetry” reminds me to pause, look away from my computer and see my grandmother’s vase, feel the sun on my ankles, hear my colleague hum. Many thanks to my mom and mothers the world over for helping us to see with new eyes. Happy Mother’s Day, all!
by benay Need to get organized? Start with @teuxdeux
The clouds are just gushing rain today, creating the perfect setting in which to hunker down and get things done. Where to begin? We recommend TeuxDeux, the minimalist to-do app and brainchild of design superstar Tina Roth Eisenberg. To explain TeuxDeux seems silly; it does what you want it to do, leaving finished tasks checked off in the past, moving forward unfinished tasks automatically, and offering custom lists for keeping track of gift ideas, book recs, etc. It’s simple, and that’s the point; but it’s also cleaner and more helpful than Post-it Notes or digital notepads. Trust us, and give it a try! We were skeptics once, too, but now we’re hooked.
by benay Elevated design for your Everyday Needs
With gorgeous weather upon us, we’re evermore drawn to light, delicate, pretty tools and trinkets like those from New Zealand shop Everyday Needs. The natural materials and gentle colors of the collection remind us of the outdoors, easing us through the antsy hours when we must be inside. I’m particularly fond of these six soothing pieces: 1. Fort Standard white oak vessels, 2. Chigo children’s dinner set, 3. Gamper coaster, 4. Hang-it pegs, 5. Postalco Snap Pad (which secures loose pieces of scrap paper into a note pad), 6. Yunomi vessel. Happy May and happy browsing, everyone!
by benay Blue Hill is now catering!
So, my all time favorite restaurant in NYC, Blue Hill, has just announced they will be offering catering services through their new division called On the Road. Not that I’m going to throw a big party and hire them any time soon, but I’m just hoping that I might be l invited to a party they are catering! They are big proponents of organic, local and seasonal food and supporting local farmers. One of my favorite things about Blue Hill is that they are very accommodating to those with allergies. I can’t eat gluten, but rather than just taking the gluten portion out of my meal, they always seem to find a replacement for it that is just as, if not more, delicious. And, they don’t act like it’s a problem at all. I’m still dying to visit their farm upstate and the restaurant there called Blue Hill at Stone Barns.
by kirby Discovering a calm, culinary respite in Chelsea
While Sixth Avenue clamors with car horns and cell phone banter, turn the corner and enjoy the happy sounds of coffee sipping, radish peeling, and dough kneading at 109 West 17th Street. This is Haven’s Kitchen, living up to its name. Cooking classes, champagne tastings, and café chatter fill this glowing space where the Petite Alma studio celebrated our team’s April birthdays. At a Sweet and Salty Snacks class, we learned how to make a variation on Cheez-It crackers, chili lime popcorn, beet chips, roasted garlic bean dip, quinoa blondies, profiteroles, and our favorite: hand-rolled soft pretzels. Check out the upcoming class schedule. They’re all on our wish list!
by benay The hidden, sweet world of @ChocolatModerne
If we may say so ourselves, the Petite Alma studio occupies a stellar location with tall windows, brilliant views, and a particularly unexpected delight: Chocolat Moderne. This incredible chocolate laboratory crafts its magic just five buildings down from us. Never would you expect to find this hidden treasure riding up nine floors, past cubicle-filled ad agencies and casting studios! There, Chocolatier and Chocolat Moderne Founder Joan Coukos-Todd hand creates her artisanal chocolates – a craft she’s honed in the 13 years since she took a fortuitous vacation to Brussels, bought an antique chocolate mold, and swapped her career in banking for a sweet new start.
We sampled a few delicious treats, including the inventive green tea bonbon (white ganache with macha green tea and a splash of Poire Williams pear purée) from the beautiful Kimono Collection. Suffice it to say, it takes all our willpower not to pop back over to the laboratory for hourly visits! You can find the chocolates online, at Whole Foods, Dean & DeLuca, and other specialty stores, but we suggest you stop into 27 West 20th Street for a glimpse into one enchanting world.
by benay How to walk on top of the world
Ever want to suspend gravity and walk astronaut-like on the ceiling? Here’s your chance — at least to see what it would look like! Foster + Partners built the Vieux Port pavilion, a stainless steel canopy on Marseille’s harbor, to provide shade and shelter and, quite literally, reflect its surroundings. What fun!
by benay Embroidered book covers
How incredible are these embroidered book covers by Reed?
by kirby New materials, new treasures
It’s so much fun to get a behind-the-scenes look into a company, especially one as inventive and cool as Graypants. I fell in love with the story Seth, Jon, and Alan tell in their video about testing assumptions, running with ideas, and crafting their signature light fixtures from salvaged corrugated cardboard. They also sell a popular chair made from a single piece of plywood. Brilliant and beautiful! Next up on my travel wish list: a Graypants studio visit in Seattle.
by benay Petite Alma is hiring!
Petite Alma is looking for a production artist! This is a paid, part-time (can turn to full-time), technical position for someone who’s a pro at the Creative Suite (CS6), has an eye for layout, and enjoys detail and organization (and the work of Petite Alma, of course!). Illustration skills are a definite bonus. If you or someone you know may be interested, please email info@petitealma.com and we’ll send along the details.
by benay 
