July 2011

We hear…we hear…

That Vogue’s Andre Leon Talley talks about the latest YSL exhibit in Paris on Julia Reed‘s Fetch blog on taigan.com.

http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/we_hear_we_hear_vBIHwcHw3MRmiIBIk6tAcM#.Te90lWz9TRA;email

As featured in vogue.com’s pondering of the perfect hostess gift. Only the most memorable presents honoring the host’s favorite summer pastimes made the list.

Fritz Orr Canoe hand-crafted artisan paddles in Black Walnut and Bird’s Eye Maple, $367 and $600, respectively
For information: taigan.com

Merrimack Canoe Company’s handmade carbon-fiber-and-cherry-wood Osprey canoe, $3,125
taigan.com

Photographed by Arthur Elgort, Vogue, November 2006 (archival image); Courtesy of Merrimack Canoe Company (canoe); Marko MacPherson (oars)

http://www.vogue.com/culture/article/best-summer-hostess-gifts/

June 2011- In Fritz Orr’s handcrafted wooden paddles, American nostalgia meets American craftsmanship.

Let’s start with the obvious. Yes, his name is Orr. And, yes, he designs canoe paddles.

Fritz Orr, a former member of the U.S. Canoe and Kayak team, grew up around the lakes of rural North Carolina. His family owned and operated several summer camps, including Camp Merrie-Woode in the Cashiers Highlands. “I always loved boats and would fiddle with them at camp,” Orr says. But it wasn’t until he started racing in the late 1970s and ’80s that he began to make his own wood paddles. The reason was simple: Popular paddle designs at the time used carbon fiber, an incredibly light but extremely stiff material that strained Orr’s shoulders.

For design inspiration, he looked to the past. “People have been using wooden paddles for 5,000 years,” Orr says. “When Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean, the 100-foot canoe and paddle was the primary mode of transportation for North and South America. It’s hard to let go of that history. Plus, I love the idea of using something I sculpted myself.”

After experimenting with different techniques, Orr began to design for his friends, fellow racers, and amateur hobbyists. Today the 54-year-old handcrafts 15 to 20 paddles a month and manages every step of their design and creation, from choosing the wood (he prefers musical instrument-grade black walnut, aspen, bird’s-eye maple, mahogany, purpleheart, and ebony, which have better tone, texture, and pattern than other woods) to approving the designs that are inlaid in or laminated onto the hand-turned blades.

“I don’t just buy three kinds of wood and produce 2,000 paddles,” he says. “Each one is different.” It’s not surprising, then, that although all Fritz Orr paddles are built to balance on two fingers and be used in water, the fastest-growing market for them is customers nostalgic for their summer camp days. They buy Orr’s paddles not to use but to display over their fireplaces.

Not that Orr minds. “I’m an artist,” he says. “I am humbled by the canoe. I am inspired by it daily.” As are his many collectors. From $337; 4-to-6-week lead time, custom orders available; taigan.com WHITNEY ROBINSON

Forbes Life Magazine writer Ann Abel highlights Taigan’s very own Caribiana Sea Skiffs owner Curt Morse in a piece titled “Caribiana Sea Skiffs: the coolest boats on the water.” These elegant boutique boats can be found on Taigan, the highly edited collection of online shops.

Abel’s article is printed in its entirety below:

Forbes Private Eye: The Coolest Boats on the Water.

For Curt Morse, it was love at first sight: She was beautiful, stylish, and at perfect ease in her element. She was also green and 23 feet long–a Caribiana skiff. As Morse recalls, “I walked up and touched it and it just resonated, like: This is a phenomenal boat.”

A few years later, he heard the boutique Gulf Coast boatbuilder had fallen on hard times in the wake of Hurricane Katrina; Caribiana Sea Skiffs was in fact on life support. Morse tracked down the company’s owner, and in 2007 he bought it, trading his former career in the horse business for one in the boat world. The transition was easy, he says, in that boating and horseback riding are both lifestyles rather than mere hobbies, and now he’s having tremendous fun running Caribiana.

Based on the svelte lines of Caribbean workboats, and available in a bouquet of vibrant colors, Caribianas are eye-grabbers. “It’s not just transportation,” Morse says proudly. “No one ever says these boats are ordinary-looking.” And they ride as well as they look: Slicing the water with their raked bows, they’re slim and trim at 6.5 feet wide, and with a 50 hp motor they can run flat-out (about 25 mph) for an hour on 3 gallons of gas.

The skiff you order is very much your own. Once the fiberglass hull arrives in the Foley, Alabama, shop, Caribiana’s craftsmen customize the details: cushion fabrics, engine type, rails, ropes, fishing-rod and cup holders, picnic tables, Bimini tops, bronze hardware, and of course all the hand-finished teak you can handle in the floorboards, rub rail, steering pedestal, and helm seat. All told, at least 200 man-hours go into building each skiff.

Morse shepherds buyers through the process, monitors each boat’s progress almost daily, and then–this is something you probably won’t find at Chris-Craft–delivers the boat personally. (He’s driven them as far as the Chesapeake Bay.) Your first ride in your new skiff is a shakedown cruise with the personable Morse himself, who ends up remaining in touch with many owners for years afterward.

Of course, all the Caribiana owners in the world would make up a pretty modest Christmas card list. The company can craft only about 12 boats a year, and there are roughly 110 in existence. It’s an exclusive club, with notably loyal members–a couple dozen attend a get-together every year.

One enthusiast is Gilbert Lamphere, who works in private equity in New York and uses his Caribiana at his homes in Florida and Maine. He was first attracted to the way it looks but notes that “as you delve into it, you realize that it’s unsurpassed in its ability to take on heavier water. It’s easy to maneuver and easy to dock, and it turns on a dime.” Other boaters take notice, too: “It’s quite a showpiece when people look at it compared to their boats.” Many owners report that they’re asked about their Caribianas virtually every time they take them out.

In fact, when Morse boated over to pick me up at a Pensacola Beach marina on what he called a weather-perfect “Chamber of Commerce morning” last January, he was late because the marine patrol had stopped him to admire his Caribiana.

As he drove us to lunch and I drove us back, everything he’d told me about the skiff’s getting close to the sea came into clear relief. The lightweight boat has a draft so shallow that you can float in just a foot of water and take it where similarly sized boats can’t go. You can park it on the beach. It handles like a dream–smooth, responsive, quiet. All true…but what sold me in the end was simply thinking how great I looked at the helm.

To read the original article, see: Caribiana Sea Skiffs.

$35,000 – $65,000. www.taigan.com/caribianaseaskiffs

By MARRIAM MOSSALLI

Kids know what they want; and now, thanks to luxury childrenswear designer, Bonnie Young on Taigan, they can get it.

Preteens, unlike their older adolescent counterparts, are more comfortable being their unique selves. Their lives are not yet confused with the stresses of puberty and the need to fit in by assimilating and conforming to trends. On the contrary, they strive to set them.

“I began my company because I understood that children today are moving so quickly,” explained Bonnie Young who was still the senior creative director for the Donna Karan Collection when she launched her eponymous line. “They have their individual tastes, they see more, they are more sophisticated and have a strong desire for the latest fashion trend.”

Donna Karan had given her colleague and friend 600 sq feet of the Donna Karan Collection boutique on Madison Ave to create a Bonnie Young shop-in-shop. However, by the end of 2007, investors saw the potential in Young’s bespoke designs and approached her to open her first freestanding store in Aspen, Colorado.

“At that point I left Donna Karan to focus solely on my brand. Donna was extremely supportive in the decision,” stated Young.

Young admitted she probably would have never started her own clothing line if she hadn’t become a mother. “I never thought of designing for kids until I became a mother and felt there was a space in the market,” she confessed. “I couldn’t find what I wanted for my kids so I made it myself and then organically turned it into a business.”

She also admitted that working so closely with Donna Karan has influenced her both aesthetically and as an individual. “Not only did I work with her for almost 17 years, but we were family: we traveled for business as well as spent holidays together.”

Young stated that there has always been a strong synergy between the two designers; yet, she still approaches fashion quite differently and has a unique perspective in fashion — one that can easily be seen in her designs for Bonnie Young. “For sure, we are inspired by the same things yet our interpretation is different.”

The new major influences in Young’s life may not be recipients of a CFDA Lifetime Achievement Award, but they still seem to know what’s in vogue in the fashionable world of tweens. “My children are very opinionated and I see what they love and want to wear.”

Her studio is attached to her loft so her daughter and son are a very big part of what goes on every afternoon, admitted the designer. “Kids of today are growing up in an age of information: the Internet and computers allow them to no longer be just kids from the town where they live,” she explained. “They are citizens of the world and that is an enormous change from our generation.”

Young’s designs are bringing families together in that both parent and child can finally agree on something. During the period in childhood when truces are rare and battles over uneaten vegetables at the dinner table are commonplace, agreeing on the daily ritual of clothing is a welcome relief. Young’s use of comfortable, child-friendly fabrics and her obvious attention to detail, make both concerned parties happy.

“I generally tend to use natural fibers, but I do not restrict myself so long as the fabric is comfortable and does not itch,” said Young, sounding more like a mother than a designer. She quickly reaffirmed her fashion prowess with the mention of her love for Indian embroideries and rich materials. “I use luxurious fabrics. My knits are mostly made of cashmere or Alpaca and the wovens are often of cotton or silk.”

But Young’s clothes are not just for the mom who is frustrated over unheeded appeals for her children to wear those matching itchy wool sweaters for the annual family portrait. They also seem to strike a style cord with the fashionista mommy who doesn’t mind spending on designer brands for her children. “If a woman is in Chanel couture, she certainly wants her child wearing something equally as divine and that isn’t easy to find,” stated Young. “So, they come to me to create it for them.”

Since Young’s designs are almost already couture, she is often commissioned for weddings and special occasions, especially in the tween sizes. “It’s just really hard to find beautiful occasion clothes for kids and tweens.”

Anyone who knows anything about the Middle East knows how much the Middle East loves a wedding. So, it should be no surprise that most of Young’s loyal clientele hail from the Arab world. “They love to discover the latest designer. They appreciate rich fabrics, really love fashion and will spend the money to have a superior product,” she said, admitting that the Middle Eastern market differs greatly from its Western counterpart. “However, many of my clients in the West are actually from the Middle East.”

Young regards her Middle Eastern consumers as being the most fashion forward clients in the industry. Perhaps it was this love and praise of the Middle East’s fashion sense that brought the Museum of Islamic Art in Qatar and Young together. Last year, she was commissioned to design an exclusive collection for the temporary exhibit, “A Journey into the World of the Ottomans.” She created 12 collectible jelabas cut out of rare antique Ottoman silk textiles, which were part of a wedding dowry she came across in Istanbul. She also designed limited edition necklaces that coordinate with the silks as they are made from 12th century Ottoman coins wrapped in 18k gold.

Young also included a series that was presented later on in December called Scriptures of Hope. “I was inspired in Istanbul by some Ottoman pieces with Quranic scripture,” said Young who initially wanted to directly interpret the scriptures onto the clothes, but discovered it wasn’t feasible for religious reasons.

Instead, Young recreated the aesthetic of the scriptures by commissioning an Islamic calligrapher to write messages of peace, hope and compassion in Arabic calligraphy. “Of course not understanding Arabic writing met with some great challenges,” she confessed. “It has been one of the most challenging projects so far.”

Although she admits the printmaking was a bit arduous, she had no problem with the actual design of the traditional garment. “I am very comfortable designing jelabas and kaftans. I have collected so many over the years and I love to wear them so I felt totally comfortable [when it came to designing].”

Her travels inspire who she is as well as what she creates every moment of her life, claims the designer whose inspiration for the styling of the lookbook of her Fall 2010 collection was a combination from George Lucas’ Star Wars and the incredible architecture and buildings in Qatar.

“I had never seen anything like it in my life: modern glass structures adorned with incredible metals in the middle of the desert. It was very futuristic indeed,” stated Young. “What I felt in Qatar reminded me of Star Wars and being that I have a five-year old son, I have seen every episode at least 10 times.”

Young can’t help but revert back to her kids as a source of inspiration. As a mother and designer, she admits children today are losing their fashion innocence at even earlier ages than ever before. “Our daughter knew who Dolce and Gabanna were at age three. She called them ‘chingabanna’ and wanted to wear ‘chingabanna’ shoes everyday,” she fondly recalled. “Our son is five and loves to wear Y3. He thinks it’s the coolest thing. His dad wears it so he wants to as well. It’s shocking that they have all this knowledge at such a young age.”

Kids are definitely more aware of what they like. Disney character adorned shirts are now being traded for demands of Baby Dior and Kenzo. And, if they see Bonnie Young’s latest collection on Taigan, there’s no doubt about it: they’re probably going to demand that too!

Editor-at-large Elise Loehnen tells us the sites she’s obsessed with this month

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Membership is required (it’s free), but it’s worth it: Taigan.com is the only shopping portal for a host of great boutiques, including House of Lavande in Palm Beach.

January 2011

by Kim Gebbia

Over the holiday many shoppers found a way to snag shopping deals without ever setting foot in a store on Cyber Monday.

The sales promotions on the Monday after Thanksgiving got their name from a retail trade group, which promoted the idea that people, upon returning to work, would log onto their computers there and shop.

Although Belmont sophomore Shannon Murphy had never heard of Cyber Monday before, all it took was opening her email inbox to find out.

“It’s today only, free ground shipping on all orders. 30 percent off if you buy a certain amount of tea. And a free mug if you get a certain dollars worth,” Murphy said as she read the offers.

For many stores, the strategy worked. More than enough people clicked that precious “purchase” button and committed to buy.

Elizabeth Nichols, the CEO for the newly launched Brentwood web site, Taigan, said stores are succeeding at luring online shoppers.

“I think clearly the marketplace is trying to put into the mind of the consumer–this is the day to shop online,” Nichols said. “We’ve offered a free shipping holiday that ends today and interestingly Taigan drives people to make the decision to purchase as opposed to waiting until tomorrow.”

Taigan represents 82 speciality shops with unique items from across Tennessee and the U.S.

Sales over the holiday weekend hit a new high for the site. It plays a role in the estimated $1 billion in online sales happening on Cyber Monday.

For more on Taigan CEO Elizabeth Nichol’s interview click here: http://www.newschannel5.com/story/13579850/cyber-monday-lures-online-shoppers

For more Taigan news, subscribe to the Taigan newsroom, stay connected on Taigan’s Facebook Fan Page or Follow us on Twitter @TaiganFinds.

This year may go down as the Christmas shopping season in which consumers bounced off the mat of financial hardship and started spending again.

But a lot of that spending took place online as retailers big and small pushed bargains and coupons to shoppers’ mobile devices and promised in-time shipping even if merchandise was ordered a day before Christmas Eve.

Smaller retailers are also striving to cash in on mobile sales.

For instance, Taigan.com is a new Brentwood-based business that provides an online shopping center for a collection of small boutiques and shops. The company, in business just over a year, already has customers worldwide, and handles sales of specialty products for retailers across the U.S. Continue Reading…

Elizabeth Nichols and year-old local Web shopping hub Taigan are taking niche retailers to the big time.

Elizabeth Nichols, CEO for Brentwood-based e-commerce company Taigan, a portal for various specialty retailers. Nichols is a veteran of commercial development for some of the country’s largest retail chains, as well as a longstanding board member for various national companies.

Taigan co-founders Mary Catherine McClellan (a former Ernst & Young partner) and Mark McDonald (CEO of Value Payment Systems in Green Hills) recruited Nichols, who recently sat down with William Williams to discuss the online shopping industry.

How does Taigan work?

First, we try and work hard and smart and with the passion of the tireless and tenacious sighthound, a Taigan. Taigan is a place to read about “it,” find “it” and buy “it.” Unlike the “tear sheets” of days gone by that provided information but not access, Taigan introduces the shop to the customer, allowing the customer to transact a sale, to use the online messaging feature or to call the shop owner to receive an unprecedented level of customer service — from the expert who created or collected the item.

Read more: Real Power Online – Nashville Post

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