Laura Thomas
November 1, 2009
From the outside Urban Indigo looks tiny. From the inside it’s flush with design. “There’s lots of little stuff, for little spaces.” said Cynthia Bragdon, the Oakland store’s owner. “We try to edit well.”
The shelves carry a lot to delight in and choose from in the categories of home decor, jewelry, accessories and children’s.
A section of humorous gadgetry offers the Gravy Fountain – a gift box intended to fool the recipient about its contents – and the retro receiver for cell phones. “Stuff that is just plain funny is surviving the recession.”
Bragdon favors local products and the handmade. An elegant tea light candleholder from an old wine barrel stave ($48) is made in town. So is a set of four hangers covered in vintage material ($22), found on the second floor, where retro and nostalgia are featured.
There is a wide selection of tabletop items with an Asian aesthetic, plus classic milk glass dishes from Mosser in Ohio (cake stand, $48).
For an artful splurge, check out the stunning flowers woven in Bolivia from palm leaves ($15). Some best-sellers are the 1940s and ’50s dish towels ($8), tablecloths and pillows with state maps from the Red and White Kitchen Co.
“Baby Boomer nostalgia is big,” Bragdon says.
Urban Indigo, 3339 Lakeshore Ave. (at Trestle Glen), Oakland. (510) 419-0451. 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday; 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday. urbanindigo.com.
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We had a great time with you last night! Thanks for coming out and sampling the food, supporting the merchants on Lakeshore, and hanging out with us!
Here’s the recipe for the corn pudding we served last night.
You can find this recipe and a lot of other fantastic recipes in our Dona Tomas cookbook.
Thanks again for a great Friday evening!
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Indigenous Mexican cultures have celebrated the Day of the Dead, or El Dia de los Muertos, for centuries. Many other countries around the world also celebrate All Souls’ Day with lively parades, offerings to those who have passed, and elaborate festivals which honor the dead. At Urban Indigo, we really love this time of year. To pay tribute, we took inspiration from some of the amazing altars around the world and decorated our windows with a few of our favorite Mexican and South American art pieces.
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One side of our Dia de los Muertos window.
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The other side of our Day of the Dead window.
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Paper Flor de Muerto, more commonly known as orange marigolds.
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california tea towel, water pitcher, jipa-japa flowers, retablos, skull candle
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an ofrenda
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Embroidered lace bracelet, Adia Kibur rose ring, Eclectikid onesie, moleskin mini journals
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One side of our Dia de los Muertos window.
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The other side of our Dia de los Muertos window.
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Skull votive holders, hand-painted in peru.
Check out a small portion of our Day of the Dead collection along with some other great world folk art on our website.
The Day of the Dead is a two-day period from November 1st to November 2nd. Family members gather to honor their dead by cleaning graves, decorating and preparing personalized altars, and sharing memories by trading stories about their deceased loved ones. In much of Mexico, November 1st is devoted to the homage of infants and children, and November 2nd is dedicated to deceased adults. The Day of the Dead celebrations aren’t confined to South America and Mexico- many areas of the United States have festivals, exhibits, and parades of their own to commemorate the Day of the Dead.
The East Bay has some great Day of the Dead activities to attend:
The Eastside Arts Alliance on International Avenue in Oakland will be having a community altar making and art celebration with free lunch, dinner and art activities for the whole family. Bring photos of your family and friends for the altars. Visit the Eastside Arts Alliance website for more details, or call 510.533.6629
Celebrate in the Fruitvale district on Sunday, November 1. Altars will be made, traditional music will play, and a great time is guaranteed with a live stage, children’s activities and delicious food vendors. Visit Fruitvale Dia De Los Muertos 2009 for more information. You can also check out some photos from last year’s Fruitvale event on a local photographer’s flickr.
In Hayward, visit the Meek Mansion for their incredible Day of the Dead exhibit.
In San Francisco, you can join the annual procession at 24th + Bryant, visit the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts exhibit, or even go to the symphony.
Come in and tell us about your favorite way to celebrate the Day of the Dead!
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Kat Geiger’s terrariums were featured in the SF Gate yesterday. Below is a snippet of the article. Click here for the whole story.
Gardening Under Glass
Jane Tucks, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Kat Geiger, Gardens Under Glass
It wasn’t long after Kat Geiger moved into her Emeryville loft that her green thumb started nagging. With the green space around her limited to easements and storefront plantings, Geiger, who comes from a long line of gardeners, yearned to get her fingers in the dirt.
“My family is really into making things grow and planting things- it’s in my blood.”
Her solution: Bring the outside in. And while raised beds of lettuce weren’t a practical option, an Internet search led her to terrariums. In vogue during the ’60s and ’70s, these self-contained gardens in transparent enclosures have roots as far back as 1831, when someone got the bright idea to stick a fern in a bottle.
Read more of this article.
We have some really great terrariums made by this talented artist in stock. Come in and check out these beautiful living works of art!
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Tagged: gardens under glass, kat geiger, terrariums, urban indigo
The classic milk glass cake plate in a brilliant new color.
A company that has roots in a chicken coop is a company Urban Indigo can really get behind.
Thomas R. Mosser’s learned the glass trade at the Cambridge Glass Factory, where his father Orie was a plant manager. When the factory shut down in 1954, Mosser put his top-to-bottom knowledge to use, gathered a few supplies, a little bit of cash and five years later, he began producing glassware from an abandoned chicken coop. Within a few years he began manufacturing pharmaceutical glass in more appropriate settings under the name Variety Glass.
In 1971. Mosser Glass began blending current designs with timeless classics inspired by Viking, L.G. Wright, and Cambridge Glass. Today, Mosser Glass is still making the highest quality glassware, and they’ve kept it a family affair- son Tim is the plant manager, and daughters Sally and Mindy oversee the office at the plant in Ohio.
The classic milk glass cake plate in jadeite has long been a favorite around Urban Indigo. When we saw this bonnie blue version, we knew we had to get it onto our shelves!
If only it came complete with cake…
$54.
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OAKLAND, Calif. – Admitting that it made a mistake, the Oakland City Council has voted to roll back its parking meter enforcement hours, ending the enforcement at 6 p.m. instead of 8 p.m.
Click here for the full article.
Thank you for all of the support from local businesses, merchants, residents and the community for helping enable this change!
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fresh design for fall: button fingerless glove
We just unpacked our first shipment of fingerless bamboo gloves from Zazou– and we’re thrilled about the new button accent on an old favorite.
Urban Indigo fell in love with these super-soft, ultra luxurious fingerless gloves last winter and they’ve only gotten better! Pictured above in a scarlet + black combo, we also carry them in black with scarlet button. Made from bamboo, these gloves are warm, cozy and good for the planet, since bamboo is a highly sustainable fabric.
Based in Berkeley, California, Zazou is a collaboration between designer Christopher Carroll and founder Claudia Koch. Originally an idea to clothe a mythical “Zazou,” a hipster of early 40’s Paris, Zazou has evolved into a company whose goal is to find a way of combining art and artisan to make beautiful textiles at affordable prices.
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We had a great time at Full Moon Buy Night on October 1st at Jack London Square.
Thanks to everyone who visited our booth!
a stilt walker!
the scene at dusk
the scene
the scene near our booth
our booth
the scene
our booth
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