theApartment

this is a picture i ripped off from people that i'm guessing was taken, like, today. but don't you think maddox is sick of that mohawk by now?

don't-call-him-a-designer philippe starck strikes again with, believe it or not, his first line of outdoor funiture by sutherland. and it's actually pretty funny how he modeled his shapes and materials after the story of robin wood, complete with an origin story comic book. the line's not that great with its backstory but it'll do my my backyard.

if i had time to read the history of visual communication i would probably find it both insightful and useful. alas...

the good people at CITIZEN:Citizen strike again! next time you go to the beach and want / need to make statement, bring over the Quilt, bearing 58 name brands handpicked by designers bradley price and joel yatscoff and things should work out fine for you. sure, at $4900 a piece (edition of only 10!) it's a pricey way to comment on your country's obsession with consumerism while getting skin cancer but i think totally worth it.

it always ennerves me when people, especially in creatives arenas, say that they just don't have enough budget to realize their vision. it often is a mechanism set forth by fear that will make you believe that the tools are more important than creativity. yet, not so starngely, ingenuity often wins this battle i find. like in this delightful music video for example, a sublime example of how ideas will always trump means. that's right, i'm looking at you george!

from the overworked mind of theaptFRIEND noah brier comes yet another delicious morsel of usefulness. brand tags is, finally, a way to, well, tag the brand cloud that suffocates us on a daily basis. go ahead, tag your world, this is just the beginning...

so it turns out that eve, wall-e's robocrush, does NOT owe her name to the alleged first woman as i once assumed but was apparently named after its rightful creator, a handsome and talented man with a proclibity for staring blankly into your soul! at least they got that look right.

well, we try anyway... so here it is again, the icff is 20 years old this year and we're celebrating again (remember last year?...) but this year, we're doing things a bit differently. you see, in the past, we have entertained the masses using, alternatively, the promise of alcohol, sex and heaven to get you over here and you have answered by the busload. but we have finally come to our senses and realized that we could do more with this power, use for good as opposed to frivolity... that is why we stormed our collective brain and have come up with a way to solve those pesky environmental problems the earth seems to have. i say, and have always said, that humans are the problem and humans have to be the solution. and that's exactly what we've come up with. a way to finally manufacture products with zero carbon footprint, zero byproduct. i know, it's pretty amazing. can't wait to see you there: saturday may 17th 6:30 60 10pm at the apartment: 101 crosby street between spring and prince.

tyler stout produces new posters for old movies that are better than the new posters for ner movies. or the old posters for old movies. want one... sold out. dammit.

art and music being made together? at the same time? sounds like a novel idea. now, does that mean pitchfork will have to send an art critic to review the show, as well?

just imagine all those tweenage boys hanging pictures of tokio hotel all over their walls. gazing into the beautiful lead singer's eyes. imagining that she's singing just to them. that only she knows their inner pain. their angst. their true feelings... wait. what now?

new mexico has an official state cookie?! alright, why wasn't i informed? if new mexico can have an official state cookie, then i will have an official cookie. my official cookie will be the... will be... um... shit. this website is dangerous. gonna have to get back to you.

at first glance, a quick scroll says they're all real, and they're all fantastic.

i'm not sure... should we do this before or after cocktails?

have you ever wondered what a billion dollar house might look like? now that you know, do you wonder what kind of idiot would spend that kind of money in a country where most children still die from dysentry? now that you know, do you still believe in god?

maybe i'm pure evil, but after watching the comments scroll by for a few minutes all i can think is: this looks like a good place for some advertisements. fake twitters? i LOVE goldenfiddle i LOVE goldenfiddle i LOVE goldenfiddle i LOVE goldenfiddle i LOVE goldenfiddle subtle, right?

spencer hasn't deigned speak of the vogue italia shoot of eva mendes yet and i wonder why... i believe he would be a lot more eloquent than i could be about the, well, art on display here. shot by steven meisel, he of some of the most imaginative fashion features of the last decade, the mendes spread truly succeeds where most have failed in trying to recreate the mood of laura antonelli sexiness at its height. 1973's malicia (a personal favorite since puberty) comes to mind as an influence. whatever the goal, eva's stature as someone will to take risks is now cemented regardless of the fact that the same i-don't-give-a-fuck-what-my-agent-says madness that made her do this probably also plunged her intorehab. well done all around. and thank you.

you know, i was going to talk about something profound this morning, like philology or the art of leak prevetion but as i bid my guests farewell for the night yesterday, after catching up on last week's lost (krazee jakob!), i could hear some gershwin coming from the old telly. turning towards the pianilistic harmonies, i saw the unmistakable silhouettes characterized by the cinematography of one prince of darkness... manhattan was on. needless to say, there was no way a pile of dirty dishes, as attractive as that actually is to me, could tear me away from the screen. and in hd no less. watching a vivacious allen and keaton fall in love in black and white took me straight back to 1989 (10 years after the movie was hatched), the year i arrived in new york city from france. at the time, i had two visions of the big apple, both lent by movies to my overactive imagination: manhattan and well, highlander. do you remember that loft?! i do and i swore that i would someday live like that, all in one gigantic room. since that couldn't be done in france, i decided to move. anyway, when my plane touched down, on a lovely may afternoon in 1989, i felt that i was landing in woody allen's playground. the ride from the airport was spent with my head out the window and my tongue flailing in the wind like a dog in need of air. upon arrival, the driver, whom i thought was my first american friend by then, was hustling me for "extra baggage fees," which i was only too happy to give him, in addition to the $10 tip he had assured me was customary. that first week after leaving my native city for a country crush, all i did was look up, look far, look ahead. i was amazed that, just like in the movie, compositions were perfect wherever you looked. of course, it didn't hurt that i was coming to parsons to study photography which made it inevitable to have perfect framing on the brain. i soon discovered that here, you didn't have to pretend to be someone you're not in order to feel valuable, you didn't have to know the customs in order to be accepted, you didn't have to be of a particular group to belong. that was then. that was when people were getting knifed on park avenue the same night jerome robbins was celebrating his 70th, that was the exact month when the last graffiti-covered subway car was removed from service as keith haring was fighting to secure remembrance of his message. that was then... now, all we have are memories, and gerswhin, thankfully. apologies for the nostalgia but every single frame of manhattan, the movie, much like each one of its streets, even now, fills me with such glee that i managed to come, that i managed to stay, so far, that it is hard, impossible in fact, for me to remain unemotional at the sight of the city i chose... i often feel like sam krichinsky in barry levinson's avalon whose yiddish-accented words ring out at the onset of the film: ''i came to america in 1914, by way of philadelphia.'' not quite that old yet, but that's how i felt last night and i just needed to share, hope you don't mind. have a great week!

fyi, krystal's reese's peanut butter cup milkquake is the greatest thing in the whole world. btw, krsytal has a blog! omg, that is increds!

fyi, mcdonalds' caramel iced coffee is the most disgusting thing in the whole world. btw, that chill site? omg. that is terribs!

100% italian, periodically habitual, collector of receipts, interested in unimportant particulars. when I was a little girl i spent more time playing with legos than with barbie, and i wanted to become a wizard. as soon as i learned that it wasn't enough to close my eyes and wish for something to appear, i left my fairy-tale hometown of urbino and went to university in florence so that i could learn how to make things appear in a more rational manner. after four years of full immersion in the dynamic world of italian design i decided to take my bachelors degree in interior and industrial design and move to new york to broaden my horizons. just like that, in january, i found myself here with my suitcase and an uncontrollable desire to meet new people and learn new things... and luckily i found a place in the (most creative) apartment in new york!

what do you get when you mix blade runner, a sexy advertising mogul and 200 bits of silver origami paper? 200 invites to the hottest birthday bash in town. our lovely lindsay aquired 43 paper cuts but managed to get the job done.

check out the latest issue of cookie magazine to view "MIX MASTERS," an article featuring stefan and gina's abode.

when we were told we had ten days to raise a tent in the middle of bryant park to promote tourism to alberta, canada we were stumped - literally. going on the theme of an apres ski lodge, we called every firewood vendor in the area to see who would delivery 2,000 pounds of wood into midtown manhattan. luckily, we found the people to help us out and after an epic day and night of furniture assembly, culminating in a midnight venture out onto the skating rink, our urban ski lodge came to life.

kathrin grew up in the very beautiful but also very deep odenwald in germany. lucky for her, she comes from a family of extreme-globetrotters and got many glimpses of the colorful and big world from an early age on. after finishing school, she worked as a carpenter for 3 years, which she still declares her best preparation for life and her profession so far. her passion for designing and building lead her to the school of the art institute of chicago. from there, she went to beloved rome, to eat a lot of pasta, study even more and work with roman architects. since 2004 she lives in the big apple. the pasta is not as good there, but the influence from this city on design outweighs in her opinion this disadvantage. kathrin loves making crazy ideas come true and is a really good swimmer (also against the current).

you are completely welcome to stop by anytime you want to, but in case you can't make it over to our soho offices, check out these pics. the secretly naughty wallpaper is by paper voyeur, and the bed was custom made by hive mind design. as you can see, we really make ourselves at home here.

a first time developer entered our offices a while back and said: "i just bought six buildings in brooklyn, what should i do with them?" our answer was, after having carefully studied the demographic information for the building and the surrounding areas, "why not take advantage of the social network movement that is sweeping the world?" the entire planet it seems is in front of the computers, logging in to make new friends. but what was the original social network? that's right, neighbors. together with aguayo & heubener, the property's exclusive marketing and sales agent, we set on creating a community, a place where one would easily share a cup of sugar and more. with each amenity belonging to one building or another, one has to travel next door or across the street in order to engage in the various activities offered. and when time came to choose a name for this community, it rolled off the tongue as the first thing we say when we meet new people: hello. since this property was directly offered to people who most likely were already involved in the online social network scene, we focused our marketing efforts where we knew they would find us. each building got its own mySpacepage (austin, dakota, hudson, madison, montana and sydney) each with their particular likes, dislikes and centered around the amenity featured within. we also wanted to peel away the curtain to unveil the process behind the creation of such a project by making some really short films and giving it a flickr stream documenting the journey.

yelo's brand, much like its interiors, needed to come from a non-confrontational point of view so that customers could interact with the seamless integration of the two when they came to seek refuge. yelo was chosen as a name in part because of the association people, and color therapists, have with the color as one of being a sensory stimulant identified with wisdom and clarity. spelled this way, one could assign any meaning to the word once used to it. the mark has been described as a butterfly but it is, in fact, two yeloCabs unified in symbiosis. everything about this brand and interior needed to invite the customer in and make them feel comfortable. the result has spoken for itself through hundreds of healed new yorkers. visit yelonyc.com

suite sixteen refers to the fact that this new condominium project resides on sixteenth street in brooklyn's park slope. the challenge here was a facade that did not let you guess that the apartments inside were actually quite spacious and well laid out (by karl fisher architects.) when we came in, we, once again, wanted to change the game of how real estate is usually marketed. when we opened newspapers' real estate sections, we realized every single property branded itself as the best or the ultimate in some category or another. boring! we thought: why not do exactly the opposite, tell people not to live here, that the ceiling height would give you vertigo, that the view of new york harbor would get really tiresome after a while, etc... and so we did.

branding for a QSR (quick service restaurant) can be tricky because there are literally dozens of items to be designed. this is a sample for the work we did for swich, the pressed sandwich chain we had the pleasure of creating for the daring client.

hands-down one of our absolute favorite projects! the client was cindy gallop, international woman of mystery inspiration, who didn't exactly have much time, as the chairwoman of advertising giant BBH, to lay out her new apartment in the converted locker rooms of the first ymca in the u.s. but she did have time to inspire us... her brief was simple: "at night, i want to feel like i'm in a shanghai nightclub..." and so our proposal was equally simple: "what if you lived inside a lacquered chinese box?..." to our amazement, she was game so we knew our next idea would pass as well, no demising walls whatsoever, just a network of two-track curtains (1 translucent and 1 sound-dampening) which could be used to make rooms on-the-fly. of course, there was the matter of the 300 pairs of heels that ms. gallop cherishes as art and so they were treated as such, displayed in the own light box, all along the width of the apartment. this project was conceptual in nature at first but yielded results beyond our wildest dreams in terms of comfort of living and luxury. visit the madness at cindygallop.com.

the producer of riverdance asked us to give a shot at something we had never done before (it's becoming quite a habit...). and that was to design the identity of their new broadway show, the pirate queen, created by the team behind les misérables and miss saigon. it would be the dramatized true story of the historical struggle between queen elizabeth the 1st and grace o'malley who wanted to secure ireland's independence; in other words, our cup of tea. the woman in the wave concept came out right out of the box and after having gone far and wide to find if other boat-centric ideas might work, they came back and signed on for this one. we are very pleased to also be involved in the marketing of this girl-power drama to schools all over new york city

sometimes, we end up getting hired by partners, as it was with lacina heitler architects, a medium-size firm with oversized talent. they had arrived at a point in their history where needed a change and where attracting a different kind of clientele became a priority. one of their primary qualities is their honesty and transparency; and we wanted to express that through their identity. we created a logo that put the name of the firm upfront but cut out the qualifier in both physical and digital incarnations so that you could always see through it. the website also became an exercise in flexibility, where one is able to drag, drop and fold the navigation--reflecting their flexibility as architects. website

the daily habits of the owner of this 900 square-foot one-bedroom, located in new york's flatiron district, had to be carefully studied in order the transform the claustrophobic space into a spacious loft. by taking out every wall, hiding the bedroom behind a curtain thereby transforming it into a light box and nudging the bathroom behind the kitchen, we were able to engineer a magic trick; one that is perfectly complimented by the owner's 20th century modern furniture choices.

on a cold december night in late 18th century amsterdam... those were the first words read by the first potential buyers of a new condominium project in hoboken, new jersey. why? because on this project for remi companies, a growing developer in the garden state, we had inherited a building that had to adhere to community architectural standards, which meant that this large, 128-unit behemoth looked like an anachronistic aberration for a new construction. the name had also been chosen by the developer. so instead of fighting our hand, we took advantage of it. we invented a mythology that revolved around a fictional idealist dutch architect named joost van der rohr who, on a cold december, feverishly took to his drafting table and, in a fit of inspiration, drew the plans for a utopian society he would come to call velocitus. centuries later, his american descendants razed his house in amsterdam and found those plans buried underground. ecstatic, they decided to build their great-great-great grandfather's dreams, where else but in new jersey. and they would search far and wide for more of joost's heirs to inhabit it. a poster was then sent to prospective buyers asking them if they were part of the family followed by a telegram two weeks later making them aware that they were and inviting them to the groundbreaking of the project. what happened is that people did not feel pressured to buy real estate, they did not feel like they were in the usual square footage race, they simply belonged. and by the time the offer was made clear, they were already hooked. they could also continue the experience online and in a motion graphic piece on the site. this project is a study of a client taking a risk with an unconventional approach, and it paying off! website

with over 300 albums recorded in his lifetime franck pourcel is dubbed as the father of orchestral lounge music, yet he is barely known in the u.s.! we were tasked with making his enormous catalog searchable as well as appealing to younger generations. by unifying his identity on his latest 4-cd boxset as well as a brand new website and a european television ad campaign, we were able to make him and his music more reachable. and this is just the beginning, there is much more to come from franck in the future, stay tuned! visit franckpourcel.com website

it's not everyday you get the call to furnish a church for living. we jumped on a plane to london and dedicated ourselves to the task at hand by first looking at the fact that a family with two children would live here. this needed to be a friendly house as well as mindful of the once-sacred ground. by bringing in a lot of modern pieces of art, we subdued the seriousness while at the same time leaving the old stained glass windows intact so as to consider them as art objects as well. a color code was assigned to each room by way of solid rugs. simple furnishings were brought in as not to compete with the incredibly detailed shell.

we were commissioned by halstead to brand and market this conversion in harlem. we decided to name and design this brand in a way that would appeal to the customers with a pioneering spirit. by not making outlandish claims of 'best-of-class,' we simply called this development 'fitzgerald, lodging' in keeping with the many inns in the neighborhood. the minimal design coupled with natural iconic icons furthered the idea that people lived here, not just wallets. "you were never one to follow the herd" was one tagline that made people feel unique in a market of copycats.

do anything you like, we just want it to be sexy. and have a buddha statue... and so, armed with that seemingly contradictory brief, we set on designing a new kind of thai restaurant. we were tasked with the naming, interior design, branding and marketing as well as uniform design. but what did sexy mean anyway? we didn't want it to mean velvet banquettes and dim lighting, we needed to reach down and assign a historic value to the subject in order to find an anchor, to find something that customers would recognize, even if subliminally. we found that anchor in the visual language of new york city's peep shows of the late 70s and 80s. since a restaurant these days seems to be more about seeing and be seen than eating, it was fitting to design one built around voyeurism... this place would be all about peeping, we had our name. and the inside would be clad in mirror-polished stainless steel on the floor and ceiling so that reflections would reveal all the hidden bits, the intricate custom-designs screens would let you peer in, even the bar stools has a sado-masochist slant. but the piece de resistance would be the bathrooms, stationed in the middle of the place; we decided to build them out of one-way mirrors so that the eating guests could look at themselves while the toilet dwellers would find themselves looking at the entire dining room from inside, prompting many a shy moment. under buddha's watchful eye of course...

remi companies, for whom we had successfully branded the velocity project, came to us to re-think their corporate identity and brand their new eco-friendly direction. remi is a multi-faceted company that comprises elements of real estate development, brokerage as well as loans and construction. since it seemed to expand in many directions--each time unveiling a new initiative--we thought that the ancient japanese art of paper folding was a perfect metaphor for the growing company. we decided on a system of icons born from different arrangements of the same triangular shape to reflect a single minded leadership that can take many forms. we then tackled the eco-friendly initiative that the company wanted to continue to innovate with and saw that a lot of companies in that space used vocabulary that foolishly tried to indicate that they had done it, they were saving the planet. we were of the belief that the so-called green building was, and would be for the foreseeable future, a work-in-progress. therefore, it is not yet possible to be the best, only to try and be, well, better. and that started a new approach of setting their goals, as we indicated in their collateral, a beginning.

View my portfolio at www.curtisflanagan.com

I am Melody. I make precious things. I am a graphic designer. www.melodyandthings.com

Aloha. I am a designer animator dj human. Looking for work in New York City. Check out my oasis at www.republicofsynesthesia.com. Have fun.

Extra: Hottest new Graphic Designer to enter the New York City design scene. Scoop her up before someone else does. www.callmegabi.com

http://notsocommon.net/ Smith is a NYC Graphic Designer, specializing in branding and conceptual problem solving. His insightful designs are often characterized by wit and humble charm. His most recent experiences with both Chiat\Day and Cutwater in San Francisco afforded him the opportunity to focus on exciting projects with historically and culturally important brands such as adidas, Jeep, The North Face, Persol, and Ray-Ban.

hi! we are Massimiliano and Sonia, a creative duo from Rome - Italy. WE WOULD LIKE TO COLLABORATE with INTERIOR DESIGNER and FANCY ARCHITECTS. dolceQ is our personal project and we work across a huge range of projects, from music videos, art shows, designer forniture through to designer toys. please have a look at our portfolio: www.dolceQ.com or drop us an emailfor further info: info@dolceQ.com cheers!

Hi guys! Just wanted to share with you some of my latest work in Portugal. I´m a 28 year old designer eager to tell you that YOU ROCK!, and that if somewhere in time you feel that I should be a part of your team, just ring the bell and I´m there! IN ORDER: . GLAM RESTAURANT (Chiado, Lisbon) . SANDEMAN CELLARS (Gaia, Porto) . GRIFFE HAIRSTYLE (Saldanha, Lisbon) . PHARMACY AVENIDA (Leiria) . PHARMACY GREEN-LINE (Somewhere in my spare time) . ORANGE RESTAURANT (") . WALL PANELS (") . CASE TABLE (") . CILKA TABLE (Designed for GLAM REST.) For you a huge round of applause! Cheers Frederico Monte Correia fredericomontecorreia.com

I see myself in a firm with a strong sense of community and innovative multimedia design. I would like to work on holistic design strategies developing images, branding and marketing tools, and designing spaces. I have a passion for graphic design and the technical skills of interior design and hope to use these for a multidisciplinary creative future.

My name is Nicole and I will be graduating in April- I am looking for a dynamic firm where I can embark on my design career! View my work @ www.coroflot.com/nas04c

then again he is just my dog...anyways here is some of my work

Designer in San Francisco heading to the Big Apple in June for a real challenge. Eager to impress an awesome studio to take me as part of their team. The apartment has wonderful work which I'd really love an opportunity to be apart of!

WILLING AND MOTIVATED looking for some post-graduation plans... check out my website: http://www.spain-strombom.com/

Hello People in there. Looking for a chance to contribute and collaborate! Pls do check out www.jointhebusride.com Do u work with designers from across time zones?? How ?? How?? How?? Knock knock!

Take me take me take me.

HOLA GOOD PEOPLE, |||||||| I CONSIDER MYSELF A GOOD PEOPLE TOO |||||||||| THIS IS MY WORK, THIS IS MY THINKING: http://www.artplugsdesign.com/ |||||||| I SEE WHAT YOU CAN DO AND I WOULD LOVE TO BE PART OF IT |||||||| +++++++ Download my DOSSIER for further info +++++++

Hi, I am Sejal K Tater, i have a five year professional degree in architecture and a professional work experience of five years in the field ranging from architecture, interiors, exhibiton design toproduct design. I am interested in applying to your firm. Kindly let me know if i email my resume and work samples at a particular email address, also i am interested in visiting your office and knowing more about the type of work done. awaiting your response, sejal k tater email: sejalktater@yahoo.co.in ph: 001 347 272 0677

my portfolio at www.anabenaroya.com

it's only noon and i've already had a crazy friday. i woke up at seven a.m. on day two of a juice cleanse to meet my friends at saved to get tattoos. so there i am, hungry, at 8 a.m. at a tattoo parlor with one of the best tattoo artists around, who is impossible to book an appointment with because he is always traveling. and what do i do? i wimp out. but no regrets (actually, i think there would be more regret if i inked on something permanent without pretty careful consideration). but yeah, i'm giving it some consideration now and i highly recommend if you're in the market to book an appointment at saved. saved 3 hope st. williamsburg, brooklyn

every thursday my sister and i get together for our weekly worship of lost. beforehand she either makes me dinner or we hit up some asian spot. last week we thought it would be a good idea to try a seafood buffet in koreatown. turns out it was not so good of an idea. i guess in theory buffets are good. they're certainly exciting the first time you go up with your plate and this whole smorgasboard of things to choose from. but i suppose inevitably all buffets end up leaving you feeling kind of ick. meanwhile i'm reading a book called the world peace diet (please don't make fun of me), and the whole scene was just no good. todai 6 east 32nd street manhattan

this past weekend i surprised my boyfriend with a trip to the catskills. i told him to pick me at work at 3pm on friday and handed him an envelope with our secret destination. i highly recommend this little trick for either girl or boy because the recipient then has to be nice to you for the entire weekend! we got into town around 6pm and headed directly over to the bear cafe. i was convinced that everything would shut down early in this mid-winter low season leaving us dinnerless. but of course, the manhannites kept rolling in at the usual later hours having just gotten into town. the bear is definitely the place to eat. the town of woodstock is pretty sleepy but there are enough highlights to keep one entertained for the weekend. i loved the sunfrost farms market where i bought local yogurt and all of the ingredients to make an organic potato leek soup. the old hippie stores around there are pretty much just relics and totally unacceptable for shopping with the exception of chez grandmere, a french inspired chocolate and gift shop. i ended up with jasmine perfume powder and giant peanut butter cups! despite it being january and my mom telling me to be careful hiking because my cell phone would stop working and i would freeze in the snow and a man with a knife might come up behind me (oh, mom) my boyfriend and i walked the overlook hike which started at the karma triyana dharmachakra tibetan monastery , which gives tours on sunday afternoons. we walked two miles uphill to a spectacular view of the hudson river and valley. there were no men with knives but we did come across the ruins of a hotel that burned down, where i think they filmed that awful movie freedomland with julianne moore and samuel l. jackson. that was creepy. i recommend the inn on the millstream, room 11 - the only room with a two person spa tub. it's quaint but comfortable and clean. and if you're down for a good laugh, i also recommend stopping in sloatsburg on the way back on the border of new york and new jersey to go to mt. fuji. words cannot express the monstrosity that is this hibachi restaurant...

my lil sis moved to the city recently to become an assistant buyer at mega-retailer bloomingdales (hey, sweet discount), and she's starting to see that far from the party capital she thought this would be, she's actually just an indentured servant at her cubicle. i've actually lost track of where i was going with this and my restaurant experience saturday night... oh yes! so in my experience after living here for about a year or so i started to get into the rythym of things. i see my friends less than i did in my rolling college days and spend almost zero time at the apartment that sucks up most of my paycheck, but i've discovered one of the main activites here that i didn't have in providence - becoming a foodie. where else can you go into an unmarked door on some corner and slip into a japanese sake and tapas bar to eat miso grilled oysters? zenkichi is a funhouse-style maze of private bamboo curtain booths and mirrors, where waitresses come to your booth only if called on the little buzzer on the table. (ok, and i promise next time i'll venture out of my neighborhood.) 77 north 6th street williamsburg, brooklyn

having brunch with my lovely friend diana yesterday, i remembered again that i love roebling tea room. mum was playing softly in the background while i snacked on smoked salmon served with toasted pumpernickel, cream fraiche and beet relish. they serve dozens of different teas and it's super comfortable. 143 roebling at metropolitan ave. williamsburg, brooklyn

last night on my way in to diner i stopped in bittersweets to pick up my sister's christmas present (let's hope she doesn't read this till after!). i originally came across the sweet little engraved 14k gold rings at catbird and snatched up two for myself. i had never been to robin's own shop and studio so was excited to stop by. what i saw was so nice i ended up staying and exploring for half an hour. decorated all herself with second hand furniture and hand-drawn walls, the space was large and luxurious, but in a brooklyn way. i ended up falling in love with the vampire rings, of course. bittersweets 37 broadway williamsburg, brooklyn

sushi is hands down my favorite food. i eat it like four times a week from dean and deluca, knowing that the supermarket version is a total bastardation of the food. but really, sometimes i just need it to tie me over. in new york i like tomoe. sapporo east has good normal sushi, and nobu has excellent traditional sushi. recently i tried morimoto and blue ribbon, which i found both a little over-rated. tonight i am trying jewel bako which i have heard good things about. my fail safe is bozu (yes, it's in brooklyn). i just cannot get enough of the bombs! little circular sushis that for whatever reason the shape is so exciting to me. the drinks are so yummy too with a shiso leaf mojito and a rich coconut caipirinha. way too easy to drink. the details are very well taken care of. appetizers like the pork betty have just enough fat and cilantro. the wasabi comes pre-mixed into the soy sauce in little bamboo containters. when the place first opened it was pretty quiet but last saturday night i had to wait for a seat at the bar so get goin! bozu 296 grand street brooklyn

i rarely like to go to movies. my thinking is that time is so precious and i'd rather be spending it chit-chatting than mutually staring at a screen. so when i do go to a movie, i typically like to go alone and i wait till there is something i really want to see. on these occasions, i prefer to go to sunshine cinema on houston street. there's a quietness there unlike the more gaudy movie house chains. and when scarlett johansson sat in front of me during an inconvenient truth that pretty much sealed the deal. sunshine cinema 143 east houston street lower east side

i'm going to have to do a post soon on late night eat spots but for now i'll just introduce you to supercore. i went there last night again around midnight with a couple of friends for some japanese comfort food. nothing like a hot chocolate and curry rice to put you to sleep after a long day at the office. electronica music, dim lighting, a bar and a garden in the summer round it out. supercore 305 bedford avenue williamsburg, brooklyn

after a sake-filled evening, being a bit tipsy and a lot bold, i decided to cut my own bangs. like the old days when i used to take hair matters into my own hands (somehow when i was 19 it always looked okay...) but this time the outcome was just a blocky chunk hanging down my forehead. not wanting to spend $80 on my usual gal i decided to try commune which the lovely amber recommended to me. i loved it. haircuts are very reasonable at $40 and you know the all japanese staff is sweet as ever. plus, the decor is soothing and natural and wood and white, which is a big bonus for me. oh yeah, and they have a boutique with great jewelry too. 191 grand street williamsburg, brooklyn

four months ago i booked a ticket to st. martin knowing only vaguely that it is an island somewhere in the caribbean and that i was going with the whole and extended family of my boyfriend. the lovely week of vacation has now come and gone and if any of you are planning a trip to the islands anytime soon, heed my recommendations and warnings. first off, definitely stay on the french side, st. martin, rather than the dutch side, st. maarten. the french side is laid back with croissants (my new obsession!), villas, and secluded beaches - my favorite being baie rouge. topless sunbathing is the norm and after twenty -five years of hiding 'em, they definitely needed it. the dutch side is all casinos and cruise ships, chubby tourists and bad shopping. skip the zoo which was actually terrifying owing to the fact that half the animals are not in cages and that the ostrich is horny and not shy. the butterfly farm, however, is a beautiful little sanctuary worth sitting on the benches and enjoying for a couple of hours. the best food is supposedly in grand case but my preference was for the lolos, the road-side shacks where locals go to get there barbecued chicken and fish with rice and beans, salad and plantains. throw it all back with a carib, the local beer, and a happy woman do make (or something like that). day trips to st. barth and anguilla are easy to make and so fun. i love riding on the back of a scooter and made a day of it on st. barth, the posh but approachable island a ferry's ride away. anguilla is a short ferry ride away also and quiet and beautiful. i have literally never seen a more beautiful beach than shoal bay in the western part of the island. oh, vacation.

i was never into that "oh, bowling is cool again" hipster attitude that included rollerskatingand kickball and other child-like attitudes all played with an ironic enthusiasm that i just couldn't understand.... that said, give me a bowling alley in my neighborhood with a laid-back bar and i don't know, maybe i'll give it a go. happy hour anyone? gutter 200 north 14th street williamsburg/greenpoint

if there's a special glow to my face today, it's because i had an incredible night last night. and it's not what you're thinking. my latest obsession has been korean spas and i told you a while back about king sauna but that is now passe in my book since checking out inspa world last night. news of the 60,000 square foot mega-spa reached my ears through the grape vine. my friend overheard her korean coworkers in a design studio in tribeca saying this was the spot. korean spas are based around saunas and inspa boasts led infrared light rooms, a himalayan salt sauna, a gold room and more. there are baths and heated outdoor pools with jets too. it's no mandarin oriental, but that's kind of the point. inspa is well-kept and clean; somewhere you can go and hang out all day just chillin, taking a bath and sauna, eating, watching tv. there's even a sleeping room with just straw mats on the floor. admission is $30 which includes a clean t-shirt and shorts, towels, a toothbrush, and you can spend as long as you like there. treatments such as massage, body scrubs, manicures, and facials are all available at an additional cost. 11-11 131 Street Queens College Point, NY

a lovely friend just came by and took me to lunch at one of my local faves, rice. she was sweet enough to bring me a little gift of a tiny anime-like cactus plant and some christopher norman chocolates. not until i looked at the card did i see that it was from a store i used to frequent when i worked in that area, utowa. utowa is a concept store designed by hiroshi uemura, son of shu uemura. a floral, fashion, beauty, and music store, there is no fixed furniture. as the seasons change so does the collection of items. for example this season the theme is aquatic flower. the color is moxie-strength-loyalty-gold dust-pale sea-desert night-moody blue. the impact of the interior design is one of serenity, to match the simplicity and beauty of the products. utowa 17 west 18th street nyc

i love me some jewelry, and erie basin in red hook has a great collection of vintage and comtemporary finds. 388 van brunt street red hook, brooklyn

under the williamsburg bridge in brooklyn, on a sparsely populated section of broadway, are two little gems of restaurants - marlow and sons and diner. both restaurants are owned by mark firth and andrew tarlow, who also own nearby bonita. marlow and sons has a storefront that sells specialty cheeses and honey, and local coffee amongst other treats. the back room yields wooden bench tables for diners. at next door's converted diner, on a warm night you can sit outside at somewhat rickety but charming tables. colder nights beg you to go inside and warm up in a cozy interior. the ambiance of both places feels so natural and well-designed without being at all designy. and i've never been disappointed by the food. both restaurants have just a few regular dishes and rely heavily on changing nightly specials such as grilled sesame bread crostini with fresh ricotta and nettle pesto, or braised rabbit leg loin. yum. i know i said freeman's was my favorite restaurant before, but i think i lied. the brooklyn girl in me says these two. marlow and sons, and diner 81 broadway williamsburg, brooklyn

i'm getting a little ahead of ourselves here, but summer is starting to dwindle and so it is that i look forward to november...and the opening of the muji store in soho. fresh from japan come 3,000 square feet of carefully but simply designed home and stationary goods to drool over. wait, i thought of an analogy. if i may: h&m is to uniqlo as ikea is to muji. 455 broadway soho, new york

i'm one of those people who comes up with a different tattoo idea every day but am actually far too chicken and fickle to really ever go get one. but if i ever were to go get one, it would probably be at new york adorned. i used to walk by there a lot when i lived in the east village and admire their jewelry but they also have some really amazing tattoo artists. this fall they are opening up a williamsburg outpost so along with saved, there will be two great spots in the area if i'm ever drunk enough to brave it. 376 bedford ave. williamsburg, brooklyn

ugh, i just don't get it. momofuku is praised left and right for it's ramen but i've been, and honey, that ain't ramen. yes i'm into inovation. i'm not one of those sticklers for the og-only version of a food but they just had the basics all wrong. and by basics, i mean that the "men", or noodle, wasn't the correct ramen noodle. it's very particular, you know. and the broth was so salty i had to pull a move that my sodium-phobic mom would use on me when i was little and we went to ramen shops in tokyo. she would pour whatever was at hand (even tea!) into my bowl. the berkshire pork was tasty and the raw egg was a treat but otherwise...not my cup of tea, er, ramen. rai rai ken is my favorite ramen shop in the city. still need to go and try the recently opened ramen setagaya and i'm very excited for the opening of ichigaya in greenpoint.

new york is the type of place where you can discover someplace really cool, that you see yourself frequenting and making yours, only to learn that a thousand other people are thinking the same thing. hence overcrowding begins and with that the joy can often be sucked out. such was my recent experience with habana outpost. last summer i used to go for sunday night movies, kicking back with a burrito and a frozen margarita while watching the breakfast club, projected onto the concrete side of a building in the yard. maybe it was the press it's gotten, but the chilled out nights on the picnic tables in this entirely solar-powered restaurant sure have changed. i mean, they have a bouncer. and it's standing room only. and the movie isn't really part of the deal anymore, it's just background. and the tomatoes in my burrito were the same ones they put on the hamburgers. like, they weren't chopped up, just sliced, causing my burrito to unravel. 757 fulton street fort greene, brooklyn