Five Fine Things, No. 18
Fish knobs, leaf art, grocery lists, fake flowers, and prep trays
Hi there! I am writing to you from a pool cabana at Esperanza, the hotel where Rich and I are staying for the next few days for a quick little babymoon! I feel lucky to be chiming in from here on a Monday afternoon and to have made the time to take this trip during an otherwise busy summer.
The way I write this newsletter is by keeping a running list in my phone of things I want to share and then, about weekly, I like to put something together - often just a general list, and sometimes with a specific topic, like the most opened and clicked letter I ever sent: Favorite Things (I Bought), March, or my guide to New Baby Gifts. Maybe it’s because I’m only six months into writing this, but more likely its because I just love to share things I’m passionate about, I’m never having to come up with the final fourth or fifth thing - I’m much more often saving things for the next letter or narrowing them down.
So, that’s why I wanted to write you from here, where I feel I have an abundance of time, no Lover Boy (aka my son Richie) to hang with, no work to do, and a notes app full of things to tell you about. What I hope you know to count on me for is genuine recommendations and reviews of things I think are worth you knowing about, a discerning eye for quality and a considered approach to how I fill my time, my home, and my closet!
Last week was a busy one at Fewer Finer. On Tuesday, we had a photoshoot with my friend Bo McKinley, a very talented photographer who we love working with. If you have a brand or business or even need personal shots, he’s amazing! Then, on Wednesday, we had a Quarterly Team Meeting, followed by a fun pilates class at Good Day. We are also planning an event in two weeks for a pop up with a just-launched bag brand, Le Sac Sulpice, so if you’re local to NYC, I’d love you to come! They’ll be doing complimentary embroidery on any bag purchased - RSVP here!
Oh! And one more FF related thing - we finally got to share about this incredible engagement ring we’d been working on for the cutest couple. He was totally surprising her with it and I haven’t gotten to meet her yet, but I was so happy to see their proposal photos and I could not love the unique style of the ring more!
Now, onto the Five Fine Things I wanted to share:
To me, these are perfect, and I’ll find a good place for them! I don’t have a spot for these fish knobs just yet, but I’m obsessed with them and bought two because I know I’ll find a space! They also have a fish hook and a fish swing arm hook! I love this brand and have a few pieces from them at our house and the Fewer Finer showroom! The shipping costs 22 GBP, so it’s a bit more worth it if you’re buying a few things. Others I’d suggest that are on my wishlist: these colorful knobs, this colorful table lamp (I love the pinhole lampshade, sold separately), and this narrow, elongated doormat - a shape and quality I think is hard to find!
Other things I love from here! My Newest Piece of Art
This is from the artist just before it shipped to me from the UK. I’ll include a photo of it hung in our house as soon as they are up! I was so excited to share with you my newest piece of art - two giant framed gunnera leaves. It’s by Tom Berington of House of Herbaria, in the UK. I discovered his work through my friend Georgia who writes I Look, You Buy. I had seen this style of artwork in an Architectural Digest feature and had pinned it in my mind but had never gone searching for where to find it. Then, just when I was in need of a new piece for above our dining table, I discovered Georgia’s writing (she has since become a real life friend) and read her piece - “The very specific art that I am obsessed with.” From there, I reached out and started a commission. The process is cool because I was able to tell him things I liked, like the richness of the color on the leaves, the specific size I was hoping for (the leaves only come in certain sizes), and the fact thatI wanted a diptych, or two frames that matched together. It took about three months to make, and another month or so to ship, but the wait, of course, was well worth it! I wanted to show it to you hung up in our house but it was hung incorrectly (with no spacing between the frames) so needs an adjustment before it’s ready. I love it so much and am incredibly thankful for the kismet timing of learning about his work!
AI Grocery List
I am embarrassingly inept at using AI in a way that I’m sure could be productive for me as a business owner and just a person in the world. I mostly still use it just as a glorified search engine, but I did recently task it with something I thought was worth sharing: Inspired by my friend Dana, whose husband owns a grocery store and brings home what she requests from a grocery list almost daily, I did what she told me she does for him… I put the list of things I wanted Rich to pick up into ChatGPT, and asked it to sort it into a list, organized by section, with an emoji for each item. I thought it was so fun and Rich said it was seriously so useful! Don’t count on me for anything more sophisticated in the category of AI tips, though :)
These still need a little arranging, but it’s the only pic I have! Typically I really only like fresh florals and luckily someone in our office makes beautiful arrangements for our showroom each week! But, we have this one cool vintage vase that sits on a pedestal and looks great with branches. Unfortunately, those can really only be found in the flower district and having someone run up there every week or two was getting to be too much for our small team. So, I bought this large arrangement from Apartment387, a NYC company that’s kind of the leader in much nicer looking silk flowers. I was really happy with the quality, but the arrangement wasn’t right for the space and vase (and they happily let us return it!) Instead, I just bought 4 bunches of artificial cherry blossoms from AFloral and I’m really happy with them!
Catch me cooking alongside these next week! I am so excited for my new prep trays to arrive! I ordered them last week after watching so many of Maximillian Baroni’s videos on Instagram. When I was sick, I discovered his content and went back into his archive watching his cooking Reels. Turns out, he used to chef at one of my favorite Brooklyn restaurants, The Four Horseman! He’s so cute and makes all kinds of great looking food. These prep trays caught my eye because he uses them for everything from just setting his ingredients out, to roasting things on them, using them to flour/egg/breadcrumb drench, and much more. I was able to track down what look to be identical and bought them in the small size. I love that they also come with tops so you can use them as storage containers too!
That’s all for today!
Chat soon, Madison
these fish knobs..... hope you are having the best trip away!! plus, you know how we feel about the apartment387 flowers!! simply the best, sad they didnt work but the afloral ones so good too!
thank you for informing me that i now NEED FISH KNOBS.