Real Deal Road Trip No. 5: Princeton Record Exchange
Princeton Record Exchange, Princeton, New Jersey On our annual Thanksgiving visit to Princeton, we always make a detour to this shop. There’s just something about handling…
Best quote of the day
I was at the Wellesley Holiday Marketplace today. One unexpectedly exciting takeaway from the outing was not a physical object. It was something a stranger said…
Real Deal Road Trip No. 3: Nesting on Main
Nesting on Maine. Concord, Massachusetts Four years ago, as my boys were getting older and Christmas morning was losing some sparkle, I had a brainstorm. I…
Tinkering Makes Comeback Amid Crisis
When we lived in Ireland, the secondary school system had a brilliant sophomore year program called “Transition Year.” Tenth grade was only 50% academic. The rest…
Real Deal Road Trip No. 2 — Maria’s Tree
I’m in New York. Last night I took a little field trip to see the tree in Rockefeller Center. Why? I loved that it came from…
Real Deal Road Trip No. 1: Dave’s Fresh Pasta
At Grommet we get to give a name and face to businesses that would otherwise likely be depersonalized in a “normal” commerce experience. As a companion…
Five examples why “discount culture” is killing our economy
Everyone loves a good deal, right? What’s wrong with that? Alas, if you care about fostering real product innovation, if you care about building vibrant American…
What was–or is–your favorite toy?
The current issue of ID (International Design) magazine has an article in which famous designers describe their favorite toy. Most picked items from their childhood. The…
Good interview on Xconomy
I had a very long sit-down with the journalist Wade Roush of Xconomy last month. Here’s the interview, just published today. I have to admit, the…
Retracing Thoreau’s steps
My oldest son is a minimalist. He lives very frugally both by choice and necessity. So it is no wonder that he has spent part of…
Jules Pieri 