Small Business Charleston... and San Francisco

Last week I found out people actually read this blog. (I'm never sure if it's just my family members who are reading it, because for whatever reason the only person who has ever commented on any post is my good brother-in-law Eric.) I guess I'd better update it more frequently!

The way I found out that people were reading it is this: on Thursday I visited my dentist, the excellent Dr. Yon, for a sudden pain in one of my teeth (which he handily diagnosed and is correcting), and found out that at least two new patients have come to him as a result of seeing my recommendation for him as Charleston's best dentist. Hoorah! I'm certain they're being treated very well and will continue to gladly enjoy Dr. Yon's services for many years to come.

So... that means I should update this blog more often, which I am happy to do since I now know it's not languishing in obscurity!

I'm actually about to embark on an e-newsletter project with several other professionals, so this blog will remain more personal and lighthearted. The professional topics I'd been storing up for it will now appear in the e-newsletter, which will come out every month and is tentatively titled Small Business Charleston. Not surprisingly given that title, it's for small businesses in Charleston specifically, with short columns of a few paragraphs each filled with practical tips you can actually use... from a local business strategy expert, local public relations expert, local small business attorney, local graphic designer (yours truly), local web designer (also yours truly), local benefits expert, and even a local parenting expert for the small business professional's "off" hours... well, as many of "off hours" as a small business pro can muster! Many or most of the columns will be about Charleston's business environment specifically, but there will also be some with national or even international reach, too, for those Charleston-based businesses who serve customers all over the nation or world.

If you'd like to sign up to receive it, shoot me an email at tiffany@aiodesign.us. (It's free, of course. You can unsubscribe at any time, no one else will see your email address, and we won't share your email address with anyone else, with the exception of the email service we'll use---who will also not share your email address with anyone.) Our target launch date is the first week of May.

And if there's a particular topic you'd like to see covered, send that my way too! Nancy (Aio's newest graphic designer) and I are the founders and informal editors-in-chief of the e-newsletter, so we'll share your idea with the columnist who would be best suited to address it. But don't feel like you have to go through us; you can email each columnist directly as well, as their contact information will be included with each edition.

One last word, which I write as a person who moved to Charleston and started a business here: please know that you don't have to reside in Charleston to subscribe the newsletter. If you're located elsewhere in South Carolina or the Southeastern coast, or if you have a dream to move to Charleston and start a business, by all means, sign up! In the case of the former, much of the content will be applicable to cities and towns in this beautiful region; in the case of the latter, it can give you a head start on the Charleston market.

Upcoming events: don't miss the semi-annual Design Walk on upper King Street the evening of Thursday the 17th! I try never to miss it, and each walk has gotten better: more participating shops, more lavish hors d'oeuvres, etc. Patrick is still exclaiming over the free icy bottles of Heineken given out at the last walk. Last time I came away with a fabulously soft terrycloth robe in celery green from Nancy Koltes at Home and a couple of designer items for Monty at Three Dog Bakery... plus you already know, from my previous post, of the great steal we obtained from Leigh at Dwelling! (Unnnghh... someone at Dwelling please contact me about designing a website for you! My repeated searches on Google for your website have all come up empty. It's frustrating because you have such a beautiful store!)

Anyway, enough about that for now... for more details, scroll down to see a more complete review of the first such walk I attended.

Other upcoming events: the week after next, I'm flying out to San Francisco to attend the Web 2.0 Expo. It's next door to Silicon Valley, and it's all about the cutting edge in terms of web design, development, strategy, web-based social marketing, etc. There are people flying in from all over the world: so far I've spotted folks from Switzerland, Japan, South Korea, China, Canada, the United Kingdom, Eastern Europe, Central and South America, etc. I'm already slated to hook up with several attendees, thanks to the conference's innovative CrowdVine site, and can't wait!

Strangely, so far I'm not only the only graphic/web designer from Charleston who will be attending but the only *person* from Charleston... I know of one other person in the state of South Carolina who's coming, actually, but he's from Greenville. Hopefully the other folks in our good state are simply holding out for the New York edition of the conference, which takes place later this year. I picked San Francisco because I figured that's going to be where the real action is, and so far that looks to be true!

I'll be writing about what I've picked up in the above-mentioned Small Business Charleston, and while I'm gone, Nancy and Amy will be holding down the fort. I'll be checking in with them at least once each day to answer any questions they can't, so don't worry, if this is the case when you call, they'll call you back within 24 hours with the goods. I fly out on Monday the 21st and return very early in the morning on Saturday the 26th---I'm flying AirTran overnight.

Then, first thing the following Monday morning... jury duty. Hoorah! Hopefully it will be a short case or will be dismissed. I'm tempted to plead that as a small business owner returning after a week away, my presence is pretty crucial at work, but I need to do my civic duty, and there will always be some reason not to do it, so I must keep a stiff upper lip. Bless all those people who have done jury duty in the past!

Next time... another of Charleston's best firms.

A walk down Charleston's design district

I've missed another weekend of posting, but better late than never! Things have been crazy busy here; I've taken on my first employee and am in the process of rebranding my graphic design business to reflect that it's transitioning from a single practitioner operation to a firm. In a few weeks it should all be sorted out, but it's meant about 12/7 (as opposed to 24/7--mercy) for the past several days!

I made myself break away from the desk on Thursday evening, though, for the much-anticipated (at least by me) spring design walk on upper King. For those who don't live in Charleston, King Street is a rather cosmopolitan shopping boulevard in historic downtown Charleston; CNN has called it the "Rodeo Drive of the Southeast". A bit north of Calhoun Street (a major downtown thoroughfare), though, King Street has seemed rather downtrodden in the past. During the past few years there has been a revival of sorts, with lofts and hip new restaurants going in... and even better for the likes of someone like me, design shops of various stripes: lighting, furniture, home decor, commercial decor, etc. Now it's quickly becoming known as Charleston's design district.

(For more on the revitalization of upper King, read Caroline Fossi's tidy, very good article in the Post & Courier. Unfortunately I believe the Post & Courier now charges for its archived stories, but you may be able to locate the article elsewhere.)

Likely based on the highly successful French Quarter Art Walk a bit to the south on Charleston's peninsula, the design walk opened the shops up to attendees without any unwanted sales pressure, whether real or imagined, accompanied by some rather upscale refreshments... very nicely done! No plastic wine glasses here.

So, without further ado, here are some of my favorite items from the evening...

Interior design shop Dwelling made the top of my list Thursday evening. It's hard to choose favorites here, but the sight that greeted my delighted eye as I first entered the shop is to the right: a modern little living room vignette. Coffee tables can often be boring but this one, with its Asian-inspired curves and dark lines, is pure elegance. I'm confident Carisa (Bravo's Top Design) would love the retro green pillows.

Another from Dwelling: this bedroom vignette was *much* more striking in person. It has all the right elements, which can be distilled down to two words: comfort and style. I especially liked the padded headboard and stainless steel desk lamp used on the bedside table.

Just one more from Dwelling! Unlike the bedroom above, it's not high on comfort... but it's definitely high on style. I imagine it can be difficult to pull off the equivalent of a bus stop bench with flair, but this designer has done it. I'd love to have that in my bedroom or foyer.

This scene, from restaurant Chai's Tapas, wasn't on the design walk's list of participating venues, and indeed Patrick shot this picture through a wrought iron gate/fence since the restaurant was closed at the time, but the fountain and modern courtyard decor caught our eye as we walked by. The camera angle (necessitated by the fence) perhaps do it justice, but in person it was quite striking.

Two displays of teas caught my eye at the French Hare. (www.frenchhare.com) Elegantly designed, each silken tea bag was housed in a paper pyramid stretched tall, with a single paper leaf atop a flexible wire stem extending from the tip. Each pyramid even had its own little square ceramic serving platters shaped perfectly to its base. I was sorely tempted and may go back for these.

I'm hoping I have the name of the shop right in this case, since we came home with quite a collection of photos and only our memories to match them up with the proper locales... but I believe this sophisticated little table set for two resides in the rear of Lesesne. (www.shoplesesne.com) The wood and the craftsmanship of the table itself was stunning.

Besides memories of all the eye candy and a determination to come back to many of the shops on a more regular basis, strangely enough I came home with a hefty bar book from Maine Cottage. (www.mainecottage.com) Can't wait to try out some of those recipes! Though I don't take time away from my business often enough to indulge, an interesting cocktail is one of my favorite things. When my schedule becomes sane again (stop laughing), it's off to Total Wine for whatever ingredients I'm missing.