Chalk

Two weeks old ! Chalk is moving right along, getting the into the nuances of a studio apt. retail space!

Newbury St. teams with life as the travelers and locals, cross paths with the ka zillion wonderful students moving in daily.

Big Boston event coming up, mark your calendars for Boston Fashion Week [bostonfashionweek.com] a  week long array of runway shows, films, projects, receptions, talks, and a nightly party series. Log on to choose a few events to attend and enjoy this extravaganza created by Jay Calderin, the Boston Fashion Week Founder and Ex. director.

Chalk Home proprietress, Nancy Hart will be included in the panel dialogue: The Evolution of Fashion Ethics, The Revolution of an Industry, at the styleSUMMIT, presented @ The BCAE [Boston Center for Adult Education], 5 Commonwealth Av. : Monday, September 9th @ 6-8 PM .

Also ck out the preview collection of 4March at the event. [designer Amy Ozay]

or call 617.267.4430 for info.  $30. member/$35. nonmember

Thats what they say..

Welcome to my conceptual outpouring into a retail space !

Chalk Home is now up and running @

31 Gloucester St

Boston, Mass 02115

as of July 12th, CHALK has quietly entered the river bed right off Newbury Street

in the heart of Back Bay, my old neighborhood!

We are right under [as in subterrean, not home sick blue] another concept store

OAK , where everything is hand made..

Chalks’ Gallery: artisans this month:/ Karen Davis, photography/ Cathy Mclaurin, Gail Barker & Mark Traughber/ mixed media / Terry Hart , paintings/ Iris Schwarz and Sara Collier/ limited ed. prints.

In the works: Sunday afternoon art openings/ installations, / trunk shows/ new work releases by authors, & talented others, last Sunday of the month, details forthcoming.. [August 31, 2008]

Women’s fashion: a rack of killer pieces, many one of a kind fr Italy, Paris, NYC, San Francisco, Korea, local designers and of course China.

Assortment of shoppers [bags] fr: Switzerland, Eritrea, NYC, Africa, England, and local folks.

Also: sm. furnishings; French Country by way of Indonesia hand painted cabinets, spectacular dried petal hanging lamps, live plants and their potts, reading & writing matter, curios to add to your growing collections!

Coming up: furniture sourced in all the unusual places, select pieces of desirable epherema and essential accessories, new shipment of pre fall fashion, and so much more!

Hours for August / September 2008..

Sunday/Monday: closed to regroup and SHOP for you

Tuesday/Wednesday: 11- 6

Thursday/Friday/ Saturday: 11-7 …

31 Gloucester Street (at Newbury St.)
Boston, MA 02115

Hours:

Mon & Sun:  closed [ regroup and shop for you]
Tues, Weds: 11a.m. - 6 p.m.
Thurs, Fri, Sat: 11a.m. - 7 p.m….

Chalk Home

atelier studio space

we are a lifestyle shopping experience informed by contemporary and emerging trends in the local and global bazaars. Our mission is to inspire with clothing, furnishings and objects .

The South End Open Market is terrific please come and check it out. I had a blast, the Starbucks truck gave out free mocha frappicinos all day, they had someone walking around with little cups, a few of those and I felt no sleep deprivation what so ever! It was a lovely parade all day, interesting shoppers and I was able to imagine I was in Brooklyn quite easily.

Can’t wait to go back, look for CHALK HOME, Sunday, JUNE 8th!

[every week new and returning vendors]

May 17 opening day @ SOWA

Hey, OK I called the wrong play, it is near noon and beginning to sun out, the van is packed to the roof and still in my drive way….

I was up at 6 this am, checking the weather and weighing my endurance capability for a market in the rain and chill. I see sawed a up and down and decide to bag it. If you went looking fr CHALK HOME @ SOWA today, it’s all still in my van.

Sooo. opening day at SOWA is actually two days, so tomorrow at 6 I am hoping for a big, big rally, in my mind.

Boston, North Shore, in Hamilton on Route 1 a, the store Viola is having a sale in the Wrenham Museum, kewl , sale runs: May 9, 10, 11 Friday 10 - 7, Saturday 8 - 6 , Sunday 8 -4 . [pop up]

Ck out the Sc of The Museum of Fine Arts 230 the Fenway, sidewalk sale this weekend May 9 & 10, 10 - 5 PM affordable and new trends work! support the artists in our future.[pop up]

new cafe: AMBRIEL Cafe on 288 Columbus Ave, South End, Boston, coffees, sandwiches , etc.

in NYC: ck out a sample sale: Showroom Seven, in old Tunnel Club, 269 11th betx 27 & 28 , 10- 7 May 5- 16th. [pop up]

Boston: in The Channel District: Fort Point Art Walk, shop in the artists studios ! maps / signs will be visible : Friday pm 4-7, Saturday & Sunday 12 -5 .

In the climate of free speech…

I cannot contain my joy or expectant celebration for Barak Obama..any longer

He is willing to take on one hell of a mess here, I support him with all my heart and wish it was going to bean easier path, to clean up. I am grateful for his sacrifice of energy, wisdom, youth and more to aid our torn spirits. He is the chosen one!

Sail on sailor…

OMG, can’t make it to London’s Portobello Road or Brooklyn’s Green Point market ? Then on any given Sunday slide on down to SOWA, the South End Open Market and visit the, CHALKHOME POP UP STORE!

Come and shop out side! [rain or shine]

540 Harrison Ave, right before the galleries, big open air parking space

dates we’ll be there:

OPENING DAY [s] May 16 & 17 10 -5 PM open late..

June 8 & 22 [10 - 4 PM]

July 13 & 27 [10 - 4 PM]

August 3 & 17 [10 -4 PM]

“This is Boston’s version of London’s Portobello market, with vintage clothes sellers and young fashion and jewelry designers rubbing elbows with artists and cheese makers and antiques dealers. What’s exciting about this market is that it changes each week. So, some Sundays you’ll discover a local artist who is there only that day. Everyone sells from tables beneath white tents.”
-New York Times

“The South End Open Market has been called a Manhattan-style shopping experience, but we like to believe it is Boston-style, uniquely ours. Do the outdoor markets in New York boast a spread of Brookline’s own Clear Flour Bread? Do they sell Fort Point designer Marie Galvin’s exotic hats? Hanging baskets from North Shore farms? We didn’t think so….”
- Meredith Anderson - Boston Globe

At this energetic four-year-old market, a sea of tents brings new life to a nondescript parking lot in the heart of Boston’s hip South End neighborhood. An eclectic mix of antique collectors, emerging designers, local jewelers, artisanal bakers, greengrocers, and painters all sell their wares in a lively environment that provides a great excuse to stay in the city on a summer weekend.
- Lucky Magazine

This trend has been around as long as the caravans snaked into town. A temporary retail manifestation. The name touts planned spontaneity, a fresh, unannounced [sort of], exclusive retail concept and exhibition that showcases, one off-hard to find- exclusive-limited- products and a temporary marketing blast. I love this idea. On a daily see saw I think, could chalkhome do this first, then settle in some where? It intrigues me, because I love going a good show, a performance or any shopping expedition. And the idea of shopping guerrilla style sets my heart on fire.

One of my favorite designers, Comme de Garcons has an ongoing guerrilla pop up concept circling the globe, the new one is set up in Düsseldorf, Germany for a year. As long ago as 2003 Target housed a temporary floating store on the Hudson River for [only] the Christmas season. Issac Mizrahi did a temporary in the Hampton’s for five weeks, at an Inn. [ www.trendwatching.com] Currently in NYC there is another that just popped up, its called made in HK, they will be open for a month May 2 - May 31st. [2008] on 181 Lafayette St. NYC, hours are 12:30/ 7:00 PM [my kind of store hours..to allow regroup fr a bad nights sleep], cash only, featuring Hong Kong independent based labels clothes accessories and objects.

I can’t wait to go.

[Maybe one can only do this with a trunk of money?]. Still it makes me think with the economy tanking, and there are so many store fronts vacant…

[ coincidentally the temporary, turned long term formula is actually an exclusive retail concept store called Vacant, who open spaces for a month in all the major cities London, Tokyo, Berlin, NYC etc.. showcasing one off, strictly limited edition products.]

So this brings me to cash flow and energy: can one store up on a range exclusive, new [for now] products, get some press on line, print up some enticing ads, flyer’s and postcards to announce this elusive one time only “idea” store and fall into an empty front and open the doors with a bang ? I guess, with a little help, probably a lot of help and a tank full of coffee and some major rest before hand. Its a thought that mingles with head, a need for a jump start and a real nest.

Kas, Turkey is on the coast, small town and harbor scooped out of the towering mountains, steep cobbled streets, whitewashed houses with wooden balconies, all smothered in bougainvillia, perfect weather,very scenic. We found a good old rug here, so life is sweet. Getting here was scary, it’s all up and down sheer mountainside on hairpin bends. At one point, the bus stopped at the highest bend, sheer drop on one side, steep cliff on the other. I’d had my eyes closed, and thought he stopped to let us take in the view, and was praying oh don’t stop here, but the driver gets out and starts rummaging under the hood, so after a while the passengers get off (gingerly, so’s not to tip the bus over the edge), and we see the driver wrapping something in the engine with scotch tape, the regular old clear kind. I’m not kidding, that tape got us through the rest of the trip and all the way down into Kas.

The people continue to be outstanding. We were playing backgammon in a cafe, and the dice jumped off the table. Well, practically everyone in the cafe helped search for it.

Rented a car last week and explored the back roads, tiny mountain villages, looking for old rugs, but the villagers would just shrug and smile, rugs all gone. On the other hand, ruins everywhere, Lycian, Hellenic and Roman, some amazingly preserved, and no tourists, we could clamber all over them to our heart’s content. In a couple of days we’ll head towards Konya, the religious heart of Turkey.

love C+M