Jan/ 3/07new year/new stuff
hello...today is jan. 3rd , the day that i start my stray dog designs blog....how exciting! this blog is, of course, a forum for me to spew what i would have to call "nonsense" at you about design, decorating ideas....basically whatever comes into my head that i think might interest you. i feel sort of shy and silly about this...but, i'm thinking i might learn to love it...maybe it will be like having a really cheap shrink!
because it's the start of a new year, my mind is on purge(that's normal, right?)..
billy and i took the week after christmas off and stayed home with the children. there's nothing like a week at home with 3 small children, all their brand new christmas booty, and the mountains of packaging that the new booty came in, to make you want to throw out everything you ever owned.
it is truly astonishing how much stuff we accumulate..and how much stuff is produced for our society to accumulate...how many of the toys that children get for christmas or hanukah or whatever, do they actually play with? i'm thinking the ratio at my house is something like 7:2(and 2, i'm afraid is the number they actually use, not visa versa)
naturally, my horror at our world's excessiveness ,brought my mind around to what we do at stray dog, and ,i thought, oh dear god, is this is what i do for a living , too? do i produce useless nonsense for people to clutter up their lives and houses with?? and the answer, of course, is a resounding YES!
but, here's the thing, i think and i hope that the frivolous items that we make fall into the 2 toys you actually play with category. my intention is that our product actually makes you happy. that it seems unique, and sparkly and fun and that it doesn't look exactly like the 5 million other lamps(or whatever) that you see everyday. and that you enjoy using it and looking at it and that it brightens your house a bit. and i hope that you appreciate that it was made by artisans, say, in a beautiful mexican town where they go home to their house and families when they are done, and not in some humongous factory in china where all the workers go back to their dormitories at night. in other words, i really hope-no, i think i really BELIEVE- that what we are doing is right..and i hope that you like it..and that you feel it is a good way to try and make a living...
goodness, who knew a blog could be so long and so revealing? i promise my next one will be much shorter and far less self agonizing. have a happy new year and let's all try to only buy the things we really love(oh, but that's so hard ,isn't it?)
By Stray Dog 5:00 PM
Comments
I sit here researching the companies that most impressed me at AmericasMart (yours being the most impressive) and find that I am further intrigued by your "dogma" and blog. It is encouraging that you are willing to expose yourselves so and that you have such optimistic hopes. I know from my personal experience that it is difficult to do in business. Capitalism is such creative distruction. However, I find myself inspired by your vision, for I too share such visions. I import from Mexico, because i love it, I believe in it, and I hope that the items that I import bring vicacios life to hum drum houses reminding people that art is everywhere and that we can support it and in my case, the beautiful families that produce it.
saw your stuff in person at the Atlanta Gift Show and was thoroughly excited, especially after seeing your items in various magazines for the past couple of months...keep up the great work!
Posted by: Raoul at January 17, 2007 12:25 PM