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2020. WHAT. A. YEAR. so far…

TFW every month feels like a year.

WHAT a time to be alive. And… to run a small business.

This has been the global moment of taking a breath and taking stock.

Professionally it meant we had to work with clients to make sure we could still support their work without the trade shows they normally participate in. It meant rethinking how assets are made. It meant getting really good at working away from each other, still a team, just with many states between us. It means thinking about how a very small business like ours can continue to be committed to justice. It means taking stock of our impact, our industry’s impact, and where we want to go. If you know me, you know these questions are not new things that I’ve just started pondering- but I’m glad to reexamine, refine, get better. Do the work.

I do want to take some time to talk about the company news, and I will. But first I wanted to unequivocally say that Black Lives Matter. That personally and professionally we will always strive to create equality and representation throughout our overwhelmingly white, male industry. One of the things we’re doing as a company in solidarity is taking this Friday off to observe Juneteenth, and we hope that you do as well. If you want to learn more about what Juneteenth is all about, and why it should be recognized as a national holiday you can click here. We’re developing other ways this small shop can make a bigger impact, so stay tuned for further commitments from me and my team.

Sabai's sustainable sofa

Sabai

This year we started working with Sabai, a new direct to consumer sustainable sofa brand, founded by two young women who in their own words “aim to be the Impossible Burger of furniture!” By that they mean that the sofa looks great and is super comfortable (much like an impossible burger tastes great) without sacrificing sustainability. 

The BIPOC founders, Caitlin Ellen and Phantila Phataraprasit consider environmental sustainability in all aspects of their designs, from the frame to the fabric to the packaging. The two became experts on sustainable material manufacturers both domestically and abroad for each of the components needed, including wood, fabrics, fibers, and packaging.

Sabai's recyclable velvet in moss

In response to current events surrounding black lives in America, Sabai, hosted a fundraiser for Reclaim the Block, an organization which is pushing Minneapolis to move money out of policing and into community-led safety. They were able to raise nearly $3000. Their efforts were covered by AD Pro:

“Elsewhere, direct-to-consumer sofa company Sabai, which was founded by Phantila Phataraprasit and Caitlin Ellen, focused on their own fundraiser. Ellen stated to AD PRO: “At Sabai, we really identify with the notion that there can be a radical re-envisioning of our future….So we decided to raise funds for Reclaim the Block via a raffle for a brand-new sofa. Ultimately, we were able to donate around $3,000 to fund community health and safety. We’re a small business, but we’re hoping we can continue to help out how we can—including donating furniture to housing for the formerly incarcerated.”

Sabai’s photoshoots have always included a diversity of models, families, and relationships.

Sabai’s founders are not just incredibly smart and have values that need to be in the design world. Because of their leadership, Sabai is working with local, family run manufacturers right here in the US. Sabai is regularly reiterating on their design to make it better and better for the environment. They are constantly listening to customers and making changes to the company and the product to make it better. We need more Sabai’s in the design industry

Pair's space dividers, Toast

Pair

Working with an office furniture client during a time while there is no office has been truly interesting. Brian Wilson, Pair‘s co-founder, believes the office is here to stay– and said as much to Workplaces magazine:

“How we use the office may change, but we believe the workplace is here to stay. The office has always been a place for contemplation, collaboration and even water cooler chat. To get back to this place that effectively supports life and culture, the space needs to feel safe as much as it needs to be safe.”

You can read his whole essay here. 
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Pair has also done very well during the award season, grabbing accolades from both Azure and Interior Design Magazine. Azure recognized Toast as a finalist for the Design: Interior Products category for their AZ Awards. It’s also part of the People’s Choice Voting, which is open through June 19th.
We especially like Toast because of its very topical use for creating space division, while remaining quite beautiful. 

Wolf Craft Logo

Wolf Craft

Like everyone else, my mind has been pulled in a hundred different directions. I’m scared about the months and years ahead of us. I’m so curious if any of us will even have a business in the future. So, of course, I doubled down. And did one of the boldest, exciting, invigorating (did I mention stressful and time consuming?) things in years. 

I launched a second business.

It’s called Wolf Craft and I’m really excited and proud of it. It’s a PR strategy firm designed to work with clients who don’t need ongoing PR retainers but do need PR support. It’s a way for me to work with companies I’ve never been able to work with in the past. I’m happy to say that this company is my first partnership with frequent Wolf PR collaborator (and best friend) Kirsten Larson. 

I’ve moved some of the services living on Wolf PR’s website over to Wolf Craft. We’re offering things like:

  • 1-1 coaching, because sometimes you need guidance, a sounding board, an editor, or a little extra push. This is the service I wish had existed when I was starting out. 
  • Audits and Reporting to better understand peer companies, similar products, and industry thought leaders, as well as the media landscape (ever changing always, but especially right now!). We give clear action items and recommendations at the end of these so our clients have clear next steps. 
  • One Time Analysis to answer to the important questions like where can my website improve? What about my instagram bio? Where do I need to improve my photography? What about my Press materials?
  • Courses, and we just launched our first one, How to Pitch Holiday Gift Guides! I won’t go into too much detail here because there is so much on the website, but we’re really proud of it and we think it will be endlessly useful to businesses who want to be in gift guides. 

Please check out our website and insta. I’m always endlessly thankful for your ongoing support, it means the world to me. 

A New Wolf PR Service- Gift Guides

Not only did I launch a new business, but we launched a new service as well. Something we’re really, really good at is placing our clients in gift guides. So we thought we’d make it a capsule service. We’re looking for clients who ONLY want gift guide support. It will be more affordable in price (just a one time fee) and it will last through the rest of the year while we support those clients until Dec 24 with the main focus of placing products into gift guides. If you or a company you know would be interested in this service, please get in touch!

Gift guides make a big impact for our clients. We’d love to help make a big impact for you too!

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March Press Round Up

We know it’s been a minute since we’ve given shared an update, but in our defense we’ve been pretty busy helping launch a brand new showroom and securing appearances for our clients in major publications like The Wall Street Journal. Here’s a look back at the past month at Wolf PR.

We helped Industry West launch their first showroom, in Soho, and it was a huge success. Not only have did they get tons of people through the door on their very first day, they got a lot of great industry press for it, too, including in Business of Home and HFN.

Not just showing off their showroom, we’ve helped Industry West land their products in a bunch of publications this past month, including in Luxury, Aspire (twice!), New York Cottages & Gardens, and California Home & Design.

It’s been a big month for Geoff Chick and Associates, too, with not one but two shoutouts in The Wall Street Journal. One was a brief look at how he uses rolling ladders to maximize small spaces, and the other was a great feature on the Chandler home and its firefighting design.

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November Press Round Up

It’s almost December, and you know what that means…holiday gift guides!

Industry West was getting a lot of holiday love—popping up everywhere: House Beautiful, The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, Wall Street Journal, Eater, Fast Company, Real Simple, Milieu, and Outside among them. The Sol&Luna leather goods were an especially big hit.

The brand also got some more holistic attention with Organic Spa picking up the Linge Linen Napkins and Yoga Journal spotlighting their Caisson Round Tray.

Wired made not just one pick from Wolf PR clients and favorites, but three!

Herman Miller’s soon-to-be-iconic Cosm chair, Pat Kim’s brass sculptures for Still House, and Norlan’s Rauk Heavy Tumbler all made the magazine’s wishlist.

And that was hardly all for Norlan this fall with the high-tech tumblers popping up in Eater too.

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July Press Round Up

This past July was a great time for Wolf PR as our clients appeared all across print and web, and as we geared up to work with two exciting new brands—Industry West and Norlan.

Kikkerland was featured in the glamorous pages of Vogue where their reusable paper straws stole the spotlight as more and more people are turning away from plastic disposable products.

Resident cropped up in Spaces and Lighting and Decor with their Arcade Daybed and Circus 250 pendant lamp.

Herman Miller’s Live OS, a suite of data-driven solution for offices, was spotlighted in Business of Home from Editor at Large, showing how big data is even infiltrating furniture design. In one particularly standout example, Herman Miller used their technology on themselves: “Using the Live OS dashboard, we identified the exact minute during this period that the most desks were in use,” says Chris Hoyt, a Live OS manager at Herman Miller. “With this information as a guide, we created a plan for adding 15 new summer interns to the space. As a result, we comfortably accommodated both the interns and the other residents of the office.”

We’re excited to introduce two new clients Industry West and Norlan.

Industry West was founded in 2011 by Jordan and Anne England, Industry West began as a search for the perfect dining chair. They now collaborates with numerous international designers to sell a variety furniture and home accessories for residential and commercial spaces. The company is entirely bootstrapped and has accepted no outside funding.

Some of the designers Industry West has collaborated with include HARTÔ, Mexa, Karpenter, Sol & Luna, Lyon Beton, and Serax, just to name a few. Loved by the start up community, their pieces can be found in seemingly all. the. offices. Most recently at UNTUCKit, SeatGeek, and new Breather spaces.

Norlan creates hypermodern drinkware for whisky aficionados. Norlan was founded by two former Moss colleagues, Brian Fichtner and Shane Bahng, both who went on to work their way up the design ecosystem with stints at the Cooper-Hewitt, Smithsonian National Design Museum, Giorgetti and Swedish luxury brand Hästens. They were joined by internationally recognized Icelandic designer Sruli Recht. The three combined their design expertise to found Norlan.

Norlan’s glasses use biomimicry, fine glass blowing techniques, and contemporary design details to update the the ritual of whiskey drinking, adding a modern take to a timeless tradition. They currently have two glasses and a new one on the way.

 



Also stay tuned for a look at one of Wolf PR’s own’s (somehow Herman Miller inspired) visit to a very unusual church and artists’ retreat upstate.

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June Press Round Up

Summer’s well underway and things have been heating up at Wolf PR—not least of all with NeoCon where we represented Herman Miller’s newest releases and their big announcements about their acquisitions of HAY and Maars Living Walls. Of course, Kikkerland’s also been enjoying its day in the sun, topping of many summer roundups.

With the continued success of Cosm, many new product announcements at NeoCon, and some big corporate news, Herman Miller has been getting plenty of attention. Overlay and Axon, first launched at NeoCon, made it into Architizer. Cosm was featured in Specify, Design Milk, Co.Design, and Snap—which also featured Leeway, a favorite of Azure, too.

Herman Miller’s acquisition of Hay also popped up in Business of Home by Editor at Large.

As usual, Kikkerland made the rounds on and offline, not least of all in Real Simple with their Reusable Garden Markers as part of a garden themed “What We Love.”

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August & September Press Round up

Two months in one! August and September were exciting and, as always, busy months at Wolf PR. We welcomed two new employees Lauren Glazer and Drew Zeiba. We also added another great client, Action Method whose colorful notebooks are perfect for organizing ideas and inspiring productivity.

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Claste – Editor at Large

In August, Katy B. Olsen interviewed one of Claste’s founding partners, Quinlan Osborne, for a feature in Editor at Large. In the interview Quinlan described Montreal’s small design community where everyone knows one another. Over several years Quinlan and the other two founding partners, Martin Poitras and Philip Hazan, collaborated on projects and traveled together to international design fairs before founding Claste. The trio continued to collaborate in their home city, “when we decided to start looking for manufacturers it was obvious to us that all the talent we needed was right here in our own backyard it just needed a little convincing that what we were asking them to do was really just a variation of what they had always done for us, plus they already understood our obsession with details and perfection from years of working together,” described Quinlin. After only six months since their launch in May, Quinlin looks forward to expanding their collection and continuing to build relationships in the design community

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Robert Hessler at Still House – New York Spaces

Known as one of the most thoughtfully curated boutiques on the Lower East Side, Still House features the work of early and mid-career designers and artists. Robert Helsser’s understated yet warm ceramic vessels fit perfectly into Still House’s mix of minimal and organic work. In September New York Spaces featured Hessler’s ceramics in “Flawless Perfection.” Describing Hessler’s work editor Nicole Haddad writes, “[his] hand-thrown, one-of-a-kind porcelain vessels are the result of 22 years of trial and error, exploration of shape and color, chemistry, and improvisation.” Even after 22 years Hessler is still delighted and often surprised with final results, explaining “there are always elements you can’t entirely control, the beauty lies in the imperfections and in the joy and excitement of discovery.”

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Claste – Interior Design Homes

“Two architects and a sales exec walk into a studio…” is the opening sentence in “A Delicate Balance,” a full-page article in the September issue of Interior Design Homes, which presented the work of Claste. But don’t let the first sentence or the apparent simplicity of Claste’s work fool you; Interior Design Homes’ editor describes how the first collection, Tension, was conceived “as a give-and-take between fragility and stability” and “constructed from a deliberately narrow range of materials.” The article includes Claste’s classic photos of their work resting on a snow-covered field or perched on a frozen lake…did we mention they are Canadian?

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ZigZagZurich – Interior Design Homes

In the spirit of the end of summer, which we always hate to see go, Interior Design homes featured the collaboration between ZigZagZurich and Sunny Todd Prints. Aptly titled wildest dreams, the article included colorful top-down photos of unmade beds that look like they were plucked straight out of a chic but fun beach house, each bed adorned with a different striped or polka-a-dot pattern. And, yes, we have imagined the beautiful pillow fights.

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Action Method – Fast Company Design

With almost ten years in the business Action Method notebooks have stood the test of time, particularly with artists and designers. Each page of the Action Method notebook is graphically divided into four categories: action steps, focus points, back burner, and general notations. In “A New Notebook for the Multi-Tasking Generation” Fast Co Design introduced the Reduced Action Book, “a monochromatic, branding-free take on the original, colorful notebook” launched by Ghostly. Ghostly founder Sam Valenti IV describes the creation of the updated notebook, “we wanted to see how far the design could be reduced while maintaining what is exceptional about the product: the materials and their intention.” How very Dieter Rams of them!

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July Press Round Up

We admit that we are a little late on the July press round up (sigh, it’s already September)! So without further wait…
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TL magazine highlighted Claste for their “New Brand Alert” feature. The piece showcases the studio’s first collection, Tension, and the editor Rab Messina describes why that moniker is so well suited to the work, saying it’s “basically as a game of tension between technical craftsmanship and artistry, glass and stone, lightness and sturdiness, fragility and stability.” The featured work includes a quartzite chair and pedestal console that appear to float on triangle bases, clear glass and pink onyx lounge chairs and bench, and a table lamp in pale green onyx. Discussing the creation of these unique pieces, founders Philip Hazan, Quinlan Osborne and Martin Poitras note,“we are fairly certain that this process of adhering stone to glass is the first time anyone has ever used this procedure.”
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In episode thirty-six of the Design Milk produced podcast Clever, Kikkerland’s founder Jan van der Lande tells the story of the company and his own journey, which started with an offbeat American mother raising sons in a rural area of the Netherlands. This now twenty-five year old company got of the ground after Jan moved to New York and began importing handcrafted products from the Neatherlands, which he then packed in his satchel and biked to shops around the city. Now available in stores across the globe and online, Kikkerland still produces all its products and is steadfast in its dedication to the lighthearted and quirky side of design. In the podcast, Jan describes an one of his biggest “ah ha” moments, when he was sourcing parts in China and a potential partner only filled orders of 200,000 or more (a full shipping container)! Never shy to a challenge, they placed the order and the huge-scale Kikkerland we know today set course.
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Most well known for their gem-like lighting, design pair Gabriel Scott also makes simple yet still decidedly architectural coffee, side, and dining tables. Their Tensegrity coffee table was included in Interior Design’s article “8 Sleek New Tables With Angular Bases.” Handmade in their Montreal Studio, the table is constructed with two principal materials, a ½” tempered smoked-grey glass top and satin copper finish base and fittings.
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June Press Round Up

With warming New York temperatures and beautiful sunny days, June was an exciting and busy month at WolfPR. Our clients graced the summer-focused features in titles like in Oprah magazine, Country Living, Real Simple, and Bon Appétit, to name a few. Below you’ll find three particularly exiting pieces of print press from June.

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4Spaces – Interior Design Mag, cover

WORK! Cover Girl! 4Spaces stands out among the textile industry, and is known for coupling traditional weaving techniques with alternative materials to create unique textiles, including cork, plastic fantastic, velvets, jacquards, sheers, satins, and micro-suetes. Flipping through the pages of Interior Design Magazine’s summer 2017 issue, it was clear that the editors couldn’t get enough of 4Spaces’ work, which was featured on the cover and in three features. On the cover and as the opening page to the Smoking Hot  editorial feature 4Spaces’ ultraviolet candy foil-printed polyester fabric appeared twice, as a surface covering and reflected in the bulbous curves of a blown glass bowl. Turning the page, a second stunning blown glass piece was framed by Liz Collins’s Feria cellulose-polyester wallpaper—its thin graphic lines distorted along the reflective surface. 4Spaces’ ultraviolet candy foil-printed polyester fabric was additionally featured in “jewel-tone gems – fashionable options, from foil to velvet,” which highlighted nine textiles and wall coverings.

We’re not finished yet! Finally, creative director’s  Michele Rondelli’s ceiling mounted mantra beads were highlighted as the standout item. These unique hand created pendants “add kaleidoscopic verve to any vertical space: Hung in front of a window, they will refract sunlight, projecting rainbow hues across the room.” The mantra jewels are individually hand made with resin and then knotted into pendants.

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ZigZagZurich – Domino

At the helm of innovative Italian textile company 4Spaces and its lifestyle brand ZigZagZurich, Michele Rondelli is known for his keen sense of color and space. Rondelli’s architecture and design background shows in the simple and graphic Ginza Cotten Throw, which he designed for ZigZagZurich. Available in four color combinations this bold throw was highlighted in Domino’s Summer 2017 “feel good” issue. Photographed by Marcus Nilson, Rondelli’s bright blue and yellow combination was featured as the full-page backdrop for the summer blanket article -“Nice Throw – Think of an outdoor blanket as your own little patch of paradise: Unfurl, kick back, and soak up summer.”

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Gabriel Scott – Surface

Issue 139 of Surface Magazine, June/July 2017, included Luman Lust, a seven-page article showcasing twenty-one elegant and innovative light fixtures from designers around the world. As editor Lily Wan describes, the featured pieces “animate the room and tease the imagination.” Featured in a half-page image, Gabriel Scott’s Myriad chandelier was selected by Surface to be part of this diverse and cutting edge group. Noting the unique characteristics of the Myriad chandelier, Wan writes, “[it] recalls natural forms, like branches or bioluminescent organisms, as much as it does fine jewelry.”

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May Press Round Up

At Wolf PR, we are always excited to see May come, the anticipation of pop-up installations, launch parties, closing parties, lacquered disco parties, sound bath parties… and the Javits center filled with exciting design work from around the world. However, now that design “week” has slyly taken over the whole month, with exhaustion we welcomed the first of June. Wolf PR hit the ground running in May adding a great new client; Montreal based Claste, whose inaugural collection Tension debuted at ICFF against the backdrop of a white fur wall.

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Claste in Wallpaper*

Post ICFF 2017, Wallpaper* published a distinctly home-focused review of design week recounting the residential, intimate, and interior nature of much of the work. In contrast to this largely comfy and nostalgic vibe, Julie Baumgardner highlighted Claste’s lounge chairs How Fragile This Love, writing: “Newcomer from Montreal, Claste debuted at ICFF a seriously sexy line of ‘pure material’ chairs in glass and pink onyx that gave a ‘slight sense of unease’, tells studio co-founder Philip Hazan.” We were thrilled by the great reception of Claste’s minimal and architectural collection, which was also featured in ICFF reviews by Sight Unseen, Apartment Therapy, and Homedit.

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Kikkerland in Entrepreneur Magazine

Always testing the edge of what’s new, quirky home-goods design giant Kikkerland has sponsored a student design challenge since 2009. The June 2017 issue of Entrepreneur Magazine featured a full-page article on Kikkerland’s 2016 challenge. The article title fits last year’s outcome, where the results were just as much of a challenge for Kikkerland founder Jan van der Lande as the design call was for participating Rhode Island School of Design students – “Cast a Wider Net for Great Ideas…But Don’t be Afraid to Embrace the Bland Ones.” The winning project, a highly functional cord organizer, selected by partner retailer the Container Store didn’t embody the offbeat sense of humor Kikkerland is know for. But as Entrepreneur editor, Stephanie Schomer noted, Cable Loft’s huge retail success gave van der Lande pause; bland ideas can be great ideas too.

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Gabriel Scott in Design Milk

Design team Gabriel Scott’s major inspirations – architecture and jewelry design – were artfully merged in their two new collections Myraid  and Briolette, unveiled at Salone in Milan. In May Design Milk published an image rich piece that featured close up photographs highlighting the gem-like facets and connections reminiscent of jewelry settings embodied in Gabriel Scott’s two newest collections.

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April Press Round Up

Since 2012 the Press page at wolf-pr.com has been filling up with a continuous feed of features on our client’s great work, but we admit that our blog has been, well, a bit left out. Excited to bring you a more in depth review of our work and clients exciting projects, products, collaborations, and creations we are initiating a monthly press round up. We hope you enjoy!

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Kikkerland in SNAP

For their 25th anniversary, Kikkerland a design company known for its clever, well designed household items, collaborated with designer David Weeks to create SquareBear. Inspired by his son’s toy action figures and always looking for new design mediums, Weeks set out to craft a line of wooden toy animals. Passionate about showcasing designers and skilled in large-scale production, Kikkerland’s founder Jan van der Lande was the ideal manufacturing partner for SquareBear. Marked by a full-page image of the tiny wooden bear, this exciting collaboration was featured in the March/April 2017 issue of architectural trade publication SNAP.

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ZigZagZurich in Fast Company Design

Industrial designer George Sowden is a granddaddy of Memphis and is still holding court in the design world. ZigZagZurich, founded by Sonwden and artist Nathalie Du Pasquier, is at the front of the Memphis revival, bringing bold graphics to home textiles. In April, Fast Company Design featured ZigZagZurich’s new CoopDS line. Punctuated by photos of graphic black-and-white blankets, quotes by Sonwden describe the sprit of Memphis, “a defining moment in late 20th-century design.” For Fast Co editor Diana Budds this collection is perfect for Memphis enthusiasts, who aren’t quite ready for pink and green polka dots.

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Julia Haney Montanez in the Wall Street Journal

Julia is a good friend of Wolf PR and all around design maven. She produces and curates the MADE section Architectural Digest’s annual design show, writes for publications like the Los Angles Times, and contributes to Homepolish as a designer and editor. In April, the Wall Street Journal asked designers to “recall their craziest childhood decorating experiments.” Julia, who now renovates and styles chic New York Apartments, recalls steeling her mothers CD collection to create a DIY life-size disco ball wall treatment in her bedroom. Every great designer has to start somewhere, right?

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