05. 1.2009

Atsuyo and Akiko Sample Sale

The trees are blossoming in the lovely Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope, or maybe you're headed out to the Cherry Blossom Festival at the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens this weekend. If you're in the neighborhood, consider stopping by the sample sale for children's labels Mor Mor Rita, Golden, and Atsuko and Akiko. Prices are wholesale and below for past season lovelies.

Saturday May 2nd, 10am-2pm at 338 1st Street (bt 5/6 ave) in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Posted by Jenna Category: news/events
Tags: sample saele
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02.20.2009

Happy Birthday to Mahar DryGoods!

One of our favorite shops, Mahar DryGoods, is celebrating its 3rd birthday and they're passing on the celebration to you with a generous 30% off your entire order of $25 or more (excluding furniture or Little Hero Capes. Use promotional code BDAY2009 through Sunday! Happy Birthday!

Posted by Jenna Category: news/events
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12. 2.2008

Holiday sample sale

If you're in NY, be sure to check out this wonderful holiday sample sale in Dumbo featuring designs from kit+lili, Lucky Fish, Nonchalant Mom, Golden New York and Mor Mor Rita. These are all brands that we've blogged about and items will be priced at 40-80% off retail.

Starts this Thursday and Friday, December 4-5th, 11am-7pm at 55 Washington Street (at Front Street) #728 in Dumbo.

Posted by Jenna Category: news/events
Tags: fashion sales
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07. 1.2008

Egg-shaped incubator

egg-shaped incubator

Here's an interesting project from a UK Product Design student that caught my eye: Doug Campbell chose to concentrate on the incubators used in hospitals for newborn babies. We're all used to seeing the box-shaped incubators that have been around since the concept was first introduced, but Campbell has come up with a prototype for the first egg-shaped incubator.

In truth, it sounds like his main innovations are in allowing the incubator to be moved up or down vertically, ensuring that parents and medical staff can both get easy access. For mothers recovering from a birth, this particularly benefits the bonding process.

The shape would appear to be a largely aesthetic choice from Campbell, although it presumably allows a slightly enhanced access - and is apparently easier to clean. He cites Bill Stumpf as a design influence, but in truth, what could be more apt for an incubator than an egg shape?

Posted by Myf Category: news/events
Tags: birth technology
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05.21.2008

A few picks from this year's ICFF

I only had time to do a quick breeze through this year's ICFF, and many of the children's products exhibited were previously written about here before, but there were a few new things I wanted to highlight. Spot On Square has had an amazing first year of business and they were newcomers to ICFF. We were one of the first to write about their wonderful Hiya collection and they've introduced a conversion kit for their crib - a panel with an opening that slides in that extends the life of the crib. Also new is the rocker and chair, shown above. With its cheerfully bright orange exterior, the chair shares the same clean lines as the rest of the collection and has thoughtful details such as the pocket in the back for books and an extra wide seat for sharing with a friend or sibling.

These amusing lights called Milk Gone Bad is a collaboration between Anatomic Factory and Bomboland. Crafted like milk cartons, the lights turned off is a clean white slate, but once turned on, the cartons light up with imaginary illustrations of mold (yes, mold, but cute illustrations of mold). I didn't really get the mold reference till I started reading more about them, but just saw them as colorful illustrations - would make a cute light for a kid's room.

Next is this new bassinet from CasaKids, a new addition to the Ola collection. Like many modern children's designs, the bassinet, which is arguably the most short-lived and disposable piece of furniture in the nursery, converts to another functional piece -this time, a desk when the bassinet is turned upside down, which is an idea I haven't seen before.

And lastly, new collections from Nurseryworks and DucDuc, usually reliable go-to brands for modern children's design, had me scratching my head at their respective booths. No images here, (I think I was too surprised to take pictures) but we'll be covering them, I'm sure, when they become available to the public later in the year.

Posted by Jenna Category: news/events
Tags: design furniture ICFF
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05.11.2008

Happy Mother's Day

Babygadget would like to wish all mothers a wonderful Mother's Day today!

Posted by Jenna Category: news/events
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05. 2.2008

Spring Show & Sell on Sunday

If you're in NYC, come by the Spring Show & Sell hosted by Corduroy Kid and Small Magazine, this Sunday between 3:30-5pm. Do a little shopping with sales from labels like Kit+Lili, Pink Chicken, Baby Bean and Wonderboy, engage in Spring inspired craft activities, and watch a kids' runway show.

The event is held at NYC Explorers at 388 Atlantic Avenue (between Hoyt & Bond) in Brooklyn.

Posted by Jenna Category: news/events
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04. 4.2008

The Brooklyn Flea

If you're in New York, you may have heard some buzz about Brownstoner's Brooklyn Flea, which is set to open for the season, April 6th. Located in a huge school yard in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, the Flea will feature 200 vendors including usual flea fare (vintage items and antiques), but what sets this flea apart from perhaps others, is that the Flea is also giving local artisans, designers and crafters a chance to sell their wares offline.

I'll actually be there with my new company, Whimsy & Spice, selling handmade cookies, biscotti, marshmallows and brownies with Chefdad. If you're in NY this weekend, swing on by. There should be a decent selection of kid-related products and it should be a great time. I'd love to meet some Babygadget readers!

Posted by Jenna Category: news/events
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03.23.2008

Happy Easter

A happy Easter to all. It's a very sunny morning here in NY - still a bit of a chill in the air, but a very pretty day. I don't know about anyone else, but I find it a bit weird to "celebrate Easter" since I haven't been to church in years, so I haven't done Easter baskets for my kids yet. We did, however, go to this farm out on Long Island yesterday for their crazy Easter festival. My dad wanted to take the kids...but man, file that experience under "the things I would do for my family".

My idea of hell might come close to spending 2 hours under a stifling hot greenhouse full of farm animals, kids and their parents. The sun was beating down on the glass roof so there just wasn't any air (with farm animals!), and while there were all sorts of fun things for the kids to do and places to climb and explore, the greenhouse effect, the crowds, and the fact that any extra activity cost money aside from the entrance fee made it very unpleasant. Still, kids don't care about that stuff so they just had a good time.

ps. I want to thank all Babygadget readers who visited my new blog and sent us well wishes. It means a lot. Thanks.

Posted by Jenna Category: news/events
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03.19.2008

A new business, a new blog

As some of you may know, Chefdad is a Pastry Chef, and up until recently worked in the restaurant industry for over 10 years in NY. Late last year he decided to try working in a related, but slightly different environment, which due to some unforeseen circumstances just did not work out. Long story short: he's been home for about a month, which has been great for my freelance work and great for the kids (though they are getting a little too attached to him I have to say), but I'm sure you can understand how stressful it is for anyone not working in this economy, especially when you have kids. We're taking this as a sign of sorts, however, that it's finally time to start our own thing. It's a path that seems to be a natural progression to consider for any chef who's been in the business for awhile, but it's pretty scary when you don't have a lot of savings to fall back on. We live very modestly in a very expensive city, but we've decided to take the risk.

And of course we have a new blog. It's something that we've been wanting to do for awhile - a very photo saturated look at the meals that Chefdad makes every day (we very rarely eat out or take out) and general posts about family life. He's got more time to cook in the kitchen these days, but it's a testament to him that he used to come home from being in the kitchen 10 hours a day at work and start making dinner so that I can start my work. We're already a bit overwhelmed by all the logistics it takes in starting a business. This blog is a document of that too. Take a look if you can.

Posted by Jenna Category: news/events
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