Everywhere I go…
I just came back from my son’s lacrosse team barbeque. One of the player’s dads collared me with a conspiratorial look and said, “I have a…
My improbable hero, Mike Rowe
Mike Rowe, star and executive producer of the Discovery Channel show Dirty Jobs, is one of my living heroes. I’ve given up explaining exactly why…well no,…
The ugliest furniture I have ever seen
These three odd items were for sale on a street corner in Pittsburgh: So later in the day I snapped these other shots of contemporary mass-produced…
Places where things get made; Pittsburgh
I like being in places where things get made. I grew up next to a humming Detroit Diesel Allison factory and freight train line. Those noises…
Flipping over Flip acquisition
Cisco bought Pure Digital Technologies, the makers of the Flip video camera yesterday. We featured the Flip story on Grommet a few weeks back, so I…
Grommet Sculpture Four: The Prosperity Hens Edition
I wrote awhile back about the role of art in the office. And about how we fabricate our own sculptures to use as backdrop in our…
How long has this newfangled safety pin been around?
Just curious. Since when has this newfangled safety pin been in existence? I first noticed one in early December, on a sweater made in Italy. I…
Bruce Nussbaum says Innovation is Dead
Bruce Nussbaum is the Design/Innovation guru at BusinessWeek. He doesn’t know me from a hole in the wall, but way back in the ’80’s, I sent…
There is a method to our madness
One of our clear goals at Daily Grommet is to inspire a “Huh??” reaction to some of our product stories. Like, “Did those Grommet guys just…
A brief consumer philosophy
William Morris had it right with the advice he gave in a 1901 lecture: Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be…
Jules Pieri 