Cold Picnic Part 2: Travel Tips from Phoebe and Peter

Happy Valentine's Day! What better time to pay homage to today than to get some local tips from one of my favorite couples, Pheobe and Peter of Brooklyn-based label Cold Picnic. After my interview with them, they continue to amaze me in how they create beautiful collections while balancing life and love (and of course spending time with their dog Philip!).  As local residents of Brooklyn, I'm thrilled to share their local tips about their neighborhood and easy day trips from New York (wish I had this list when I visited NY last summer) .

from their new Return of Han-Sur-Lesse Collection

You are currently based in Brooklyn New York. What are "must see" things or "must do" in Brooklyn or your hometown? 

-take a class at the Textile Arts Center. They've got one in Brooklyn and one in the city and offer classes by loads of great local designers like Shabd and Ilana Kohn.  
- during the summer, a lot of bands play in Prospect Park. We always end up missing them - we were crushed to miss Os Mutantes this year - but one day we'll make it! 
- many of the local parks, including McCarren, Socrates Sculpture Park, and Brooklyn Bridge Park, offer free weekly movie screenings during the summertime.

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What are off the beaten path local hangouts? Favorite neighborhoods, parks, etc.?

- McGolrick is a really nice little park in Greenpoint. Smaller and leafier than McCarren, but really pretty. On Sundays they have a few farm stands lined up along the outer edge.

- Ashbox is a Japanese Cafe on the quieter side of our neighborhood (Greenpoint), right near the bridge that goes over to Long Island City. It has the best onigiri ever. It's about a block from the water so you can get your rice ball to go and sit by the water.

- Achilles Heell is another spot in our neighborhood, and has delicious drinks and nice little bar snacks.

 

McGolrick Park

Favorite places to shop: boutiques or outdoor markets

- The Saturday farmer's market at McCarren Park in Williamsburg is great. They have seafood, meats, loads of produce, flowers, and a great table of cacti and succulents.

- Raised by Wolves is a really cool boutique a few blocks from our house. If you go a little further, or into Williamsburg there are loads of great shops, like Moon River Chattel for housewares, Sprout for plants, and Beautiful Dreamers for clothing and gifts.

Farmer's Market at Mccarren Park: Photo by Nicole Franzen

Moon River Chattel

Favorite places to eat or type of food:

 - We love ramen and think we have pretty much tried every Ramen place we could find. Our favorite is Chuko Ramen in Prospect Heights.

- Sri Pra Phai in Woodside Queens has the best Thai food ever. The fried watercress salad (with shrimp and calamari) is amazing.

- Flushing, Queens can be overwhelming but the food is so good. You can just walk up Main St getting a bun here, a bowl of noodles there,  and try a million different things at the many hidden food courts. 

Chuko Ramen

Favorite local designers or makers: 

- Ilana Kohn

- Collina Strada

- Helen Dealtry

- Dusen Dusen

- Shabd

- Fischer

- Thomas IV

Dusen Dusen / Shabd

Easy day trips from New York or your home-cool places to see right outside the city:

 - Fire Island. This is about a 2 hour trip from Brooklyn. You take a ferry over (dogs allowed!) to the Island which takes about 15 minutes. Once you get off it's this incredible beach town made up of boardwalks and homes that look like treehouses. There's a beautiful beach that's long enough for you to reach an empty stretch of it if you walk far enough.

- Ever since we got Phillip about 2 years ago we started planning our trips around him. He's too big to carry him onto a plane, so we started going upstate more. You can make a day trip of it but we usually rent a cabin in the Catskills or near the Hudson Valley area. Lots of hikes, swimming holes, farmstands, and even a few drive in move theaters!

Their dog Philip at Fire Island

What are some of your favorite places you’ve visited? Where would you like to travel next?

 - We love to visit LA. We have a lot of friends there, and there is some really great food to eat. We wanted to move there before settling on Brooklyn. Maybe one day we still will.

- We have always wanted to travel south, especially to the Gulf Coast. We would love to take a long road trip - going south on the way to the west coast, and north on the way back.

- We've had a trip to Mexico in the works for about a year, but keep postponing. We want to stay in a little fishing village like Puerto Morales and take day trips to Tulum, Merida and more.

View of Downtown LA:Photo by Ed Pulella

Personal and Lookbook Images  courtesy of Cold Picnic
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Thank you so much Pheobe and Peter for the wonderful travel tips!It's always a pleasure to chat with you guys and hope we get to meet and hang out either in NY or my hometown of LA. Plus we can chow down at some of my fave local eateries. As I've always said, some of the best things in life are "good food and good company". Cheers!

Designer Interview Part 1: Pheobe & Peter of Cold Picnic

We're proud to present our next designer interview or in this case...talented local US makers/designers. It's been a pleasure getting to know Pheobe Sung and Peter Buer, the lovely couple behind Brooklyn-based accessories label Cold Picnic.  Their designs have been a shop favorite and the watches have been some of our best sellers. I've long admired their ability to create a variety of products (watches to wall hangings!) as well as to incorporate different materials in their designs. And yes, they manage to balance work, love and life with their dog Philip. Is there anything this wonder couple can't do?

Natural Leather Large and Small Face Watches

How would you describe your creative process: from design, inspiration to creation for each collection?

Phoebe: We take a few weeks and really try to pinpoint what we've been thinking about in terms of inspiration, as well as what we loved or missed from the last collection. That part is really important, because we get so excited about every new collection when it's first released. But it takes a few months of living with it to determine what elements we want more (or less) of. Once we've done that, we make a list of everything we want to make and figure out how it ties in together. Designing is usually a very mixed bag - we sketch, watercolor, make computer CADs, pick out colors, make mockups in clay, rope, and fabric.

I love that the Cold Picnic line has ventured into a variety of products from jewelry, watches to home accessories, and now leather goods. What’s next for Cold Picnic in terms of new collections or product lines?

Peter: We make so many different items that we don't really want to expand too much. But one thing we haven't been able to stop thinking about is rugs. Since our wall hangings incorporate Rya, a handwoven scandinavian rug making method, we thought it would be interesting to have our wall hangings made into larger rugs, in current designs as well as some new ones. We would also love to incorporate our macrame into a few furniture pieces.

Home/Studio Photo

How did your accessory line get started?

Peter: We lived in Boston for about five years before moving to Brooklyn. The last summer in Boston we spent driving around to all these little towns for their library booksales. It was a fun way to say goodbye to the city, and to visit towns that we otherwise might not have seen. Afterwards we'd have a picnic or a fried clam shack, and visit a beach or trail nearby. The best part was going through all the books we'd bought - loads of 70s craft books, books on national parks, animals, caves, textiles. I don't think at the time we thought it would turn into a jewelry line but we got so inspired by all the images and the crafts in the books that we started trying things out on our own.

Wall Hangings and Bags from their new collection

How has your designs changed and evolved since you started?

Phoebe: Loads. It started as a way to blow off steam after work, since we worked in corporate fashion - Peter doing print design and me designing apparel. We both had a background in fine arts and in fashion design, but neither of us had any formal jewelry training. Our first pieces we designed were carved into linoleum and block printed onto leather straps. We rolled them into bead-like shapes for big statement necklaces -  we didn't have access to casters and couldn't do ceramics, so that was our way of making beads! 

Once we moved to New York we were exposed to so many more resources and met other designers who helped point us in the right direction. Instead of just drawing and block printing an image, we could actually fabricate the image and have it cast. We also briefly owned a store with another brand Species by the Thousands. It was in Williamsburg and was called A Thousand Picnics. A lot of the expansion within our line happened during that period of time (a little over a year). We kept making more and more things to fill out the shop - plant hangers, wall hanging, bags, soap, even all natural cleaning products! When we decided to leave, we realized many of these pieces had become a really important part of our line and we didn't want to give them up!

Plant Hangers

Running a business requires a lot of time and passion. What do you guys like to do on your down time-hobbies/interests?

Peter: Well, many of our hobbies have been absorbed into the brand. So a lot of the things we would do in our down time are the things we actually do when we're working - sketching, crafts, making things for the house. And because a lot of the work we do is by hand, we're able to listen to NPR or watch TV shows while working. Some of the pieces (especially the wall hangings) take several days, so we end up watching a LOT of TV :) 

We both love to cook, and to eat. If we need a little break away from the studio (which is in our apartment) we may take a little day trip - something that incorporates a nice walk for our dog Phillip, and something nice for us to eat!

Any irks and quirks you'd like to share?

Phoebe (irks)

- Cilantro

- Not being able to bring Phillip into restaurants

- Telephone calls

Peter (quirks)

- lifetime supporter of Arsenal football club

- We keep water guns in every room of the house to spray our constantly-misbehaving cats

I find inspiration at home and places I’ve visited. Your collections feature themes and names of places. How does your surroundings influence your design?

Peter: Very much so. Not necessarily our immediate surroundings but definitely the environment and landscapes throughout the US - we're sort of obsessed with national parks. We're constantly planning trips which we haven't had time in the past year or two to visit, so sometimes we visit vicariously through our collections.

I know it’s so hard to choose. Your watches have been a favorite in our shop. But what are some of your favorite pieces from your collection?

Peter: The new printed pieces and the new collection of wall hangings I think are my favorite pieces. We're also really excited about the new jewelry incorporating enamel.

Your products involve the use of a variety of materials from metals, textiles to leather. What do you like most about the process of exploration of different materials in your design?

Phoebe: When we had the shop we were just making the bags and home products as quickly as we could to fill the place out. So although they adhered to our overall design aesthetic and used the materials and techniques we'd been working with all along, we didn't truly design them as a part of our collection until recently, maybe the past two collections. It's been wonderful to design all these different pieces as part of the same collection and see how we can tie together prints with jewelry with wall hangings and plant hangers.

What is your personal style or aesthetic? What are some of favorite your pieces, items you collect for you or your home?

Phoebe: We both dress pretty simply, and actually from all the time living and working together have come to dress pretty similarly. In the winter I like Acne or Wood Wood jeans - mainly cause they're good for girls without hips/waists! - and a mens sweater. In the summer, tatty old jeans shorts with silk button up shirts. Love Dieppa Restrepo or Louffler Randall shoes. As for the home, we've been mainly trying to build up a really nice collection of cookware. I'd love to get a rack going of beautiful copper pans, but space is always an issue. 

Peter: I hate dressing for summer, but one summer staple is the white Vans LP. Phoebe and I used to go through several a year until we found out they got discontinued! Now we have to be very careful with our last pairs, since there won't be any more. In colder weather I love shirts by Band of Outsiders and Patrik Ervell, Levis jeans, and Opening Ceremony chukkas. 

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Hope you enjoyed this interview. It's always a pleasure to share our designers' creative process as well as their personal side. We haven't met in person, but they're a great couple you just want to hang with. Thank you so much Pheobe and Peter for taking the time to answer our questions. We really appreciate it! {Stay tune for Part 2: Travel Tips from Pheobe and Peter} 


Images courtesy of Cold Picnic
Designers and Home/Studio Photos by Agnes Thor

Cold Picnic Watches Restocked

Our best-selling Cold Picnic watches in various styles have been restocked. Whether it's the simple natural leather watch or color-block watch, they're classic pieces to add to your everyday essentials.

It's Springtime!

Happy first day of Spring!Feeling more like summer here but just wanted to share some of my favorite images of blooming flowers. Love all the colors! Enjoy little arrangement of flowers or succulents showcased in a hanging plant holder like one of Shino Takeda's hanging vase or Cold Picnic's hanging terrarium.

Cold Picnic Watches-restocked

Just in!We're excited to showcase Cold Picnic's ever popular watches with new styles now available.
They're simple, classic and sleek with an element of modern chic. The color of the leather only gets better with age. I wear mine pretty much every day and the color is developing a rich patina. So check out these new beauties-whether you're in the mood for a smaller faced watch or a larger statement making one, it's so hard to choose.

Designers Talk Love on Valentine's Day

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Happy Valentine's Day! We're so happy to work with so many talented designers who are passionate and craft the most beautiful pieces to share with all of us. In the midst of their busy schedule creating such lovely products,they somehow manage to balance work, love and family. I had the pleasure of asking some of our designers about love and their favorite way to spend time with their loved ones.

John and Arounna via

Bookhou

Love is...respect, support and patience.

A favorite date night is one spent with just the two of us (no kids) and a quiet meal at our favorite restaurant. We currently love going to Hapa Izakaya on College Street in Toronto.

  

~Arounna

Peter, Pheobe and their dog Philipp

Cold Picnic

Love is.... our dog Philip-the first dog either of us have ever had. We're a little obsessed with him! But he's a good example of love, because he loves us unconditionally and sets a good example to follow.
 

A favorite Valentine's Day date...this memory is bittersweet, because it involves our favorite restaurant, Taiwan Cafe, which is over 200 miles away in Boston. One year we went and ordered every single one of our favorite dishes - spicy beef and long horned peppers, spicy salty calamari and a bunch more. Not very romantic, since we ate so much we could barely move or speak. But memorable, and definitely a favorite.

~Pheobe 

Rob and Ellen Truijen

 Ellen Truijen
 

Love.... cannot be expressed in words... : )

My favorite date night with Rob would be the two of us, no kids...a relaxed dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, riding our bikes through the city, then seeing if we might pop into a pub and finishing up with a beautiful whiskey. 

 ~Ellen

Victoria Bekerman
 Love is... freeing. The greatest feeling is when you find that person that accepts and loves you the way you are. The funny part is that it makes you feel so free that you don't want to go anywhere else...and you just want to stay next to that person!

My favorite moments are those that feel very intimate and personal. It could be just a conversation,  peeking at the way my husband looks at me or walking next to him with both our hands in his jacket on a cold day. Those little little moments make me very happy!

~Victoria 

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Thank you so much to our wonderful designers who graciously shared about love and their favorite moments with their special someone. As a true romantic myself, I am inspired by love stories. As my motto goes: "Love Life....Live to Love!" On that note, I wish you all the love today and everyday. 

~Marji

{Images courtesy of the designers}

New Arrivals: Hanging Plant Holders

It may be the middle of winter for some us and springtime can't come soon enough, but we can still enjoy some colorful blooms now.  These lovely hanging creations are great options to showcase and hang little flower arrangements and succulents. They're perfect near a window!

1) Little Hanging Ceramic Vase by Shino Takeda 2) Hanging Terrarium by Cold Picnic

Holiday Season Promotion

Mammoth Lakes

Dreamin' of a winter wonderland? Or maybe you're enjoying summertime, for our friends in the southern hemisphere. I haven't been around snow in a while, so it was nice to visit Mammoth Lakes during Thanksgiving holiday. This little ski town in the eastern Sierras has transformed to a ski resort destination in recent years. Just remembering those snow boarding or skiing college trips, more like rolling down the hill for me. And I'm definitely not use to the cold any more with our endless summer this year. At least we're finally gettin' some rain at home!We definitely need it in Southern Cal. Well, since it's the last week of shopping before Christmas, enjoy 20% OFF ALL ORDERS with code: MERRY. We have a lovely selection for last minute gift ideas.Have a good weekend!
Studio Patro dot tea towel gift set // Cold Picnic Watch // Erin Templeton Little Keeper + Writer // Oji Masanori Brass Trivets {More of the Trois Petits Points Enameled Lockets and Oji Masanori Brass Bottle Openers are on their way!}

Introducing Cold Picnic

Cold Picnic Watches

Omega Ring

We're excited to showcase Brooklyn-based Cold Picnic's line of handmade accessories. Their beautiful watches and rings are now available in our shop-more great ideas for the holiday gift giving. We will also be adding their hanging planters soon.