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Aero Studios: beauty of the practical and useful

A friend was so delighted to see our BBB amidst all the beautiful objets, be they rare, practical and/or useful at Thomas Obrien's shop Aero Studio. in nyc.  There is an inherent beauty in utilti...

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Cocooning with Dad

  It always intrigues me how our customers use their BBB's.  Trevor Kensey the author and photographer behind the award-winning  Sis Boom Blog  says this is a pretty accurate usage situation for...

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Brave a trip to U of Buffalo Anderson Gallery

Mission partly accomplished:  a visit to U of Buffalo Anderson Gallery to see Candi Girling's Slice of Green sculpture.  Not enough time to go to Albright-Knox to see Anselm Keifer show.  Another...

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Donald Sutherland shows off his BBB to Peter Gzwoski.

Archival footage from Gzwoski in Conversation in April 1999 shows Mr. Gzwoski inspecting Mr. Sutherland's Brave Brown Bag in the Maxi size in Tabac colour. Yes, actor Donald Sutherland came on s...

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BBB ancilla to ART

Okay, what's with the fancy word ancilla?   It's from my Latin days and means handmaiden/helper/ backroom assistant.  Ancillary is more common.  Love the sound of it and even better,  I and  BBB ...

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Clown Story 3 - the Conklin family

Now those are the best grins, ever! I think maybe there should be a Conko tote photo contest after our fund raising event is over.  And such a fun way for the BBB to celebrate its 20th anniversar...

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Clown Story 2 - Conko's designer

Emblem reduceth conceits intellectual to images sensible, which strike the memory more: so spake Francs Bacon. To be sure  conceits intellectual are not foremost in mind when looking at this clown...

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Meet Conko - BBB collaboration with a clown

Trish Conklin is a long time BBB customer..... which is a short time compared to how long Conko has been around.   This happy clown face has been the mascot for the family run carnival business ...

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In support of a balance beautiful ...

At this very moment Katherine Uchida may be mid-air spinning with that pink ball and then somehow it sits balanced on the delicate crook of her arm.   We are spellbound by her artistry.  The photo...

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My IT basket a la Easter

Weaving a Nantucket basket is a masterful exercise in artisnal TLC.  Greatly admired by myself and many but not a tool in my skill set.  The masters must have an eye for nuance of weaving tension ...

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In lieu of Easter bonnet ...

This hat would be quite in fashion today as an English fascinator.  However, I find the textile story behind the fashion equally fascinating.  The hat wearer?  A relative?  Yes.  My great grandmot...

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Middlemarch in the middle of March....

well almost.... George Eliot's tome is a bit lengthy.  I found the book at our library, hard cover edition, not dog-eared at all, not signed out since 2009 and on a 2 week loan ,which I assumed co...

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a bag of many colours

My mother aka Dot could knit with her eyes closed...   that would speak to the mechanics of knitting, but her sense of colour, of course, I am biased, was truly remarkable.  She followed her own p...

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Times they are a changing

  A long time BBB customer (a wonderful lady from San Fran area befriended through the BBB) invited me to write or quote 'words of wisdom' in a  'passiton' email which I normally shy from and stop...

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Brave Brown Bag story from Bermuda

One of my favourite BBB stories (and stores) from the archives is Jeremy Hartley's whose family owns the Irish Linen Shop in Bermuda.    He writes: It must have been in about 1996 or 97 when I was...

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Bronze, Silver & Gold.....

 Does it not look like they're posing on the Olympic podium for their respective medals: poodle Leo silver, lab Marmaduke gold and terrier Teddy the bronze. The O ceremony is almost over; the BBB...

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BBB says GO

or you might call this 'snowbagging"?  One more week of competition and of course Happy Valentine's Day tomorrow!  

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A BBB in poetic profile

ANON: A favourite poem by BBB fan for Valentine's ......

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And the BBB story winner is...

Thank you for sending your BBB stories, anecdotes and even a poem or two.  Mr. Trevor Kensey, our favourite male customer ever wrote the most cinematic bi-coastal tale. I know there is a movie out...

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A winter Catchall....

I wish I could say this grand Catchall was full of tennisballs instead of snow and that Eugenie Bouchard had won the Australian Open.  Nonetheless we are so proud of her performance and profession...

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What's your BBB story?

How fitting I received a call this past week from a 20 year old customer - or rather, her BBB she is quite sure is over 20 years old - well almost.  The corners are wearing a bit thin, she says.  ...

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Why the Wax Munari?

In 1998, I had the pleasure of visiting for the first time our Milan dealer called Dovetusai then and now Pianoprimo www.pianoprimo.it.  In their showroom, I  saw this collage/ print and it was lo...

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NEW YEAR WEATHER

With the hope for lots of Spring colour, these images nail the grayscale of winter weather.   The photo on left was taken by my cousin last Dec of Philosopher's Walk in Central Park nyc.  I initia...

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XMAS ERSATZ ......

 The elision of Christmas to Xmas has always made me cringe a bit . Believer or no,  it just has a cheapening sound like substituting rayon for silk.  Or a favourite word to describe this would b...

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Have a Merry Werry Holiday

Block and tackle looks a bit convoluted on this old sailing schooner but the various black circular blocks hold it all together and keep the mast upright.  I have three of these blocks carved from...

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Hark the herald... stone angels.

   We called them stone angels..... almost as  old as angels but indeed fossils known as brachiopods which as kids we would search for amidst all the other stones on the shores of Lake Erie.  Not...

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the ORNATA of ROBIN MACDONALD

  I first met jewellry designer Robin MacDonald at the New York Gift Fair about 10 years ago.  She has an exotic resume of experience:  Toronto International Film Festival, furniture designer but ...

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To "Toilers of the Sea" and Tillers of the Soil .... Happy Thanksgiving

The painting by Albert Pinkham Ryder is a favorite of mine, suitable for a so called "Black Friday".  However, I find the vast moonlit sea space most beautiful, and was amazed to discover its actu...

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Our Storm log.....

There was no lack of wind on the Great Lakes this past weekend.  And tornadoes wreaked havoc on bordering states Illinois, Michigan and Ohio.  On the CDN shores of Lake Erie, where I hail from, th...

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Our 'Maximus" man in Tokyo.....

Our Brave Brown Bag Maximus gets around.... the perfect weekender or workout bag for holiday giftgiving as seen on  our 'maximus' man  in Tokyo.This size is in our Vintage Wax Ebony is part of our...

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