Our favorite week

. . . just happens to be the week before Christmas. The store is so much fun right now. If you still haven't seen what is new this holiday, please drop by this week. We'd be so happy to see you.

Because we will be so busy helping people in the store this week, this will be our only post until after the Christmas holiday. It was an amazing weekend, and we can't wait for each of the next 6 days! If you have any questions, please call the store at 541.686.1935.

We will close at 4 pm on Christmas Eve, and be closed all day on Christmas, to allow our staff a little time to spend with their loved ones. We will reopen at 11 am on the 26th.

Until then, all four of us wish you a happy, healthy holiday!

The Perfect Hostess Gift

The crew at Modern hears one frantic request many times during this busy season-

"I need a gift for the host of a holiday party tonight!"

Luckily, we are in the business of solving just such a cocktail party conundrum, and always manage to help find a suitable gift. However, we do have a few tricks up our sleeve, and for those of you who want to arm yourselves against last minute hostess-gift stress, we'd like to introduce our two favorite items, the pinzimonio olive oil dipping dish, and striking bird salt and pepper shakers.

Our favorite pinzimonio (a dish used to present seasoned oils for dipping rustic breads and crudite) comes from artist Mary Judge, and is inspired by the terraced hillsides of Umbria, Italy. A beautiful marriage of form and function, the dish creates a gradation of color in the oil simply by changing depth towards the center of the dish. Packaged in a beautiful gift box with an accompanying descriptive card, this 5" dish is the ultimate hostess gift for only $20. You'll look like a champ every time (our store manager has been known to keep 6 of these wrapped in a drawer at all times for any "oops, I need a gift right now" emergency!)

Is your host not a fan of Mediterranean cooking? Well, everyone could use another set of salt and pepper shakers. And when the shakers in question come from Jonathan Adler, you're sure to get a repeat invitation. These little 3" beauties are high fired stoneware, and are equally at home on the dinner table as they are displayed with your favorite treasures. Available in both white and chartreuse for $45 a pair, they are a great introduction to the joyful world of Adler.

Save yourself some stress this holiday season, and drop by the store to pick up a few thoughtful hostess gifts. You may just find yourself invited to a few more fetes if you do.

Bundle Up!

When the weather becomes frightful here in the Pacific Northwest, it's important to have as many fun warm woollies as possible. Our favorites this year are from knitting doyenne Paola Buendia of Wooden Ships. Born in Colombia, designer Paola Buendia founded Wooden Ships in 1992. She consistently puts out collections of the highest quality hand-knit accessories.

We currently have three Wooden Ships collections in the store- flapper, plaid, and tapestry. Flapper features hand-knit rosettes on pull through scarves and adorable hats. The plaid collection has classic ski hats with yarn tops, and chunky scarves with fringe. And tapestry, pictured above, has some of the most beautiful hand embroidery work we've ever seen! All of the pieces are available in multiple colorways, and beg to be seen (and felt!) in person. Prices are amazing as well, ranging from $18- $50. Not bad for the perfect handmade holiday gift!

Holiday Card

Our holiday card went out in the mail today. If you're finding us because you received a postcard, welcome! We're glad you're with us.

We particularly love running Modern this time of year. The energy surrounding holiday shopping is so hopeful. People come to our store to find something unique and new. You won't be disappointed this holiday season! Thank you profusely for supporting our local independent business. It's great to see your faces every day.

So with that, hop to it! Only a few more shopping days left . . . (For those of you who procrastinate, I'm sure our elves will wrangle up some AMAZING last-minute gift suggestions in the next few days- keep checking back.)

Catherine Weitzman

We are all in LOVE with the new botanical jewelry line from designer Catherine Weitzman. Amazing detail meticulously rendered in sterling silver and 18 carat gold vermeil, these pieces are truly stunning. Fan corals, fernlets, delicate twigs and branches are all featured in necklaces and earrings currently in the store. Unfortunately, we sold 2/3 of our stock before we could even photograph it! However, we still have at least half a dozen amazing pieces in stock, and if you're lucky, you could end up wearing one this holiday season! Continue to check back for new pieces from one of our new favorite artists.

Thomas Paul Melamine

One of our favorite textiles designers is back with new sets of graphic melamine dinnerware! Thomas Paul creates consistently beautiful pieces, and these most recent plates do not disappoint. Currently, we're stocking 10" dinner plates in a red/taupe coral pattern ($10 each), and an 8" dessert plate in four different Gothic silhouettes ($8 each).

These took awhile to arrive, but the wait was well worth it. They won't last long, so pop by the store today to check them out. Great on a holiday table, and equally at home on the wall.

Welcome to our store!

The entire staff at Modern (that's right, all FOUR) is excited to welcome you to our new online home. While we continue to work on our website, we will use this blog as a way to share with everyone what is new at the store.

We will try to update as frequently as possible, so please check back often. Please bear with us as we add yet another task to the never-ending "to do" list of a small business owner and manager. We may start out slowly, but we have a lot to show you. Hang around- we promise, it will be worth it!

Upcoming posts will include our top holiday gift ideas, design trends and innovations of 2006, blurbs about our talented and fabulous staff, and much more. There will also be lots of eye candy for those of you who like to shop online. While we don't have an e-commerce site yet, feel free to call us at the store anytime to check on the availability of items seen on these pages. We are always happy to help!

Again, thanks for checking us out. We can't wait to hear from you!