Still Life Mercantile

I’m in the planning stages of some major styling changes in my living and store environments.  The store is getting a mini-makeover in the next few weeks.  Nothing that involves hiring a contractor or anything, but some additional display areas and a few decorative/installation ideas that I’m playing around with.  The “bones” of the store are all there, now its time to start styling her up a little bit.

As far as my home environment goes, we’ve been mid-kitchen renovation for pretty much the entire summer so a major goal is to get the finishing touches on that.  I’ve decided that its also time to shake things up a bit.  We’ve had pretty much the same furniture/layout/color scheme going on since we bought our house 7 years ago and while I love certain elements, its definitely time for some updating.  New changes, new energy, new ideas.

SO, with all those thoughts and ideas floating around in my head, not to mention the tear sheets I pull for inspiration and little trial layouts and sketches I jot down furiously in a fit of inspiration, I need a place to put them all.  My Moleskine notebooks that I’ve been keeping in my bag for the last year or so have been my favorite in an endless string of journals and notebooks I’ve kept for who knows how long.  I started selling Moleskine’s in the store when I opened in the new location.  I love how happy it makes fellow Moleskine users when they see the little selection of them in the store.  A new journal of any kind holds with it the promise of endless possibilities, but a new Moleskine is somehow a little extra magical.

The hardcover style have a pocket in the back for stashing little bits of ephemera (I also use the pocket to stash business cards which at trade shows is a life-saver), a bookmark ribbon and an elastic strap to keep everything contained.  I also have the softcover version which come 2 to a pack and in those lovely pinks and blues and greens you see in that picture right up there.

This line from the insert that comes in every Moleskine and tells the story of the notebook’s place in the creative make up of society as well as the history of its manufacture for the past two centuries really summed up the sentiment nicely:

“To capture reality on the move, pin down details, impress upon paper unique aspects of experience: Moleskine is a reservoir of ideas and feelings, a battery that stores discoveries and perceptions, and whose energy can be tapped over time.”

Well said, little black notebook makers, well said.

And don’t even get me started on the calendars they make (I’ve got some pretty awesome 2010 ones in the store as well).