Kristen Loves Design

So it’s hard for me to believe that there was a time in my life when I wasn’t obsessed with design, but there was. Looking back on my life, I was interested in design (I was always a little too eager to rearrange my friends’ rooms and window shop at the mall while taking notes), but I hadn’t yet become obsessed. And then I met Crate and Barrel in 1996. At the time I was living an entirely different life than I am now, and I was living in Northern California (ironically where I met my Carl – I say ironically because I am from NJ and he is from NY, but we met in CA). Right where I lived there was a beautiful mall and it had a Crate and Barrel, close to the back door, with it’s entrance close to the mall stairs. If I close my eyes, I can actually picture the store in my mind, where everything was, and the way it smelled. I think I went there every single weekend just to walk around and dream. Later on, I found another even nicer mall that was about 20 minutes away, but outside amongst beautiful flowers. The store even had 2 stories and its own dedicated parking lot! I would always spend Saturday morning getting a coffee (a super treat since I had no money) and walking around and dreaming, again.

In 2003 we moved to where we live now, and the closest Crate and Barrel is at least 45 minutes away and I’m kind of embarrassed to say I’ve never been there. Between 1996 and now the world changed. There are so many stores, so many catalogs, the Internet in general and design blogs in specific. Now I get (almost) all the information I need in those ways. I’m not sure exactly what made me miss Crate and Barrel, but the other day I was thinking how I got “here” (with a design blog) and suddenly felt very nostalgic. I jumped on their website and added myself to the mailing list (looking at their website doesn’t have the same feel for me).

All images courtesy of Crate and Barrel (clockwise): Marimekko Puutarha Napkin, Chickadee Yellow Plate, Coffee Mug, Candied Orange French Toast Seasoning-Drizzle, Bodum Chambord French Press, Marimekko Kaiku Tray.

Yesterday I got their latest catalog in the mail. I picked out a few things from there and some items I could only see on their website (Marimekko patterns, I’m looking at you) I really liked. Things I would like to have for a delightful Sunday morning brunch with the Sunday New York Times, fresh, strong coffee, and my sweetheart. It’s funny though. Is it groundbreaking design? Nope. But it did remind me how I got here. And sometimes just a simple reminder of how a passion started is all you need to push you to continue on, knowing that you’ve been on the right path, all along.