TGIF

We always throw a picture of our resident shop dog, Bogey, into our annual catalog. As I was looking through files to pick one out, I came across one where he had somehow cajoled a customer into allowing him to perch on her lap. Luckily she (and her adorable baby) were very amendable! If you've been to the shop, you may have encountered Bogey. Part Boston Terrier and part human, he is a bit of a drama queen...on any given day you can find him hogging the chairs, snorting from trying to eat dust bunnies and crying for his "girlfriend" Lucy, the Australian Heeler who lives next door.



This is the TGIF picture that we are going to put in the catalog. Have a great weekend and make sure you snooze in at least one of the days!

Ptolemy Mann

I was working on sketches with sunset colors and was reminded of artist and designer Ptolemy Mann's work. Hand woven and colored materials are stretched over forms that are then displayed in their environment (for Ptolemy this is also a corporate or public space). Her aim is to "apply colour and form to a space in a clean structural way that brings warmth to the environment."



Her work resembles framed sunsets and I absolutely love the concept and idea of containing the impossible. Below, Ptolemy posing with some of her work with my thwarted sunset sketches in the background.

Alexander Wang

Three words come to mind about Alexander Wang's work:
femininity . strength . playfulness.
He is a native to San Francisco and I can hardly believe he is only 24 years old! His eye and editing of shape, color and style are so exquisite that it's easy imagining how wearing one of his dresses and blouses can empower your mood.




I have fallen in love with each and every one of his pieces. The colors and delicate fabrics remind me of the ephemereal, gorgeous but deadly fins and tails of a fighting fish. After I spied the shimmery blue top I was so entranced by the color I went home and sketched the blues (see my Fighting Fish sketch above).

Support Your Independent Shops

You're coming right? This Thursday (November 29th) is the annual Polk Street Holiday Fete where the shops stay open until 9pm. We'll all have little goodies to sip and munch on too as you make your way down the block. Help support your independent shops this holiday season!

Missing Peace

Missing Peace

The Missing Peace Project is an international exhibition titled, The Missing Peace: Artists Consider the Dalai Lama with over 88 of the best artists around the globe contributing their work towards the effort. Together, the Committee of 100 for Tibet and the Dalai Lama Foundation wanted a “unique opportunity to explore the idea of art as an interpretation of, and a catalyst for, peace.”

Now that's what I call a mission statement.

above: if you can't make it to the exhibit, purchase the book.

Shop Friend Gary and director, Darlene, stopped in recently to say hello and their warmth and passion for this project could not be more inspiring. Our shop is participating on the opening day of the exhibit at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. Sharon Stone will be master of ceremonies at the Gala and participating shops will donate 10% of all purchases Friday, November 30th. So please stop by our boutique and contribute some of your shopping karma!

Tibetan inspiration: Below, a Domino styled room in ode of the book, Tibet Style, by Hippolyte and Yann Romain. Tibet chair by Andrei Munteanu. Tibet shoe by Cynthia Rowley.

The Long and Short of it...

With impending rain, the SF oil spill and memories of Thanksgiving turkey, it's tempting to want to stay under the covers. But the holidays are in gear and there's nothing like a good coat to get us all out and about again. Here are three short and three long ones to ponder.

All of these coats are $200 and under at the shop. Please email for availability.

Go Team, Go

I couldn't properly introduce ShopFriends without giving a brief introduction to my team. We get asked a lot about how we work which is actually something that changes constantly. Every week is a “week"...we have print week, album week, pre-show week, holiday week and inventory week(s) with many of them overlapping…it can be quite chaotic but we aspire for organized chaos! I am lucky that they are not only full of creativity, but are industrious and genuinely/madly dedicated. Below are some of the things in our shop which they feel most akin to:

Welcome!

Welcome to ShopFriends.

For those of you who might not be familiar with us, our shop is Cat Seto Boutique|Studio located in San Francisco. You can find us making and selling "things" here--a display wall basically divides the space from where we greet and mingle with our customers and design and produce the products which we wholesale to beloved retailers around the country. Our boutique carries a variety of clothing, housewares and accessories--we only carry what we truly love and are suckers for a great print! Colors, fashion, print and our 'hood all help to inspire our design and way of life and we hope it offers you some of the same.




We can’t tell you how excited we are to transition our newsletter to this blog space to showcase the talented designers we’ve come to know, our awesome customers, and all of our other “shop friends.” And by that I mean: shops that we love and adore, designers, restaurants, artists with their own businesses and of course our own shop that lives within this vibrant community. We hope you stop by often and we'd love to hear from you!