ThisNext Blog

Over the past couple years, Grace Bonney’s wildly addictive design blog has taken the internet by storm and developed a large and gigantic following.  Her keen eye and easy-going sensibilities have set the stage to deliver good design to all, and that’s exactly what she does.

So this is me tickled pink over our conversations this week. 

Today, we’re thrilled to announce the opening of her newest venture - the design*sponge shop - where limited edition treasures from some of the world’s best up and comers will be available to buy online.

To celebrate, and indepth interview with Grace about the things that really matter…what she’s shopping for, what she’s reading, what she’s discovered on ThisNext, and of course - her favorite all time “bad” movie.  Can we say Piven anyone? 

Name: Grace Bonney
URL: designsponge.blogspot.com and designspongeshop.com
ThisNext profile url: http://www.thisnext.com/by/designsponge/
Favorite Cocktail: Cosmopolitan. I know, I know could I be more 5 years ago?

Can you write a haiku about you, your blog, or what you do?

With cats in Brooklyn
I write on my old laptop
Hunting fresh design

…Or – in sentence form – describe to us your ‘web identity’

Well, basically I started my little design blog as a way to save my boyfriend from incessant design commentary (Look at that chair! Wait, can we stop and see how makes that table?). As I’ve plugged away it’s become my full-time job and now I write about new products, designers and trends in the world of home and product design.

My other web identity, brand new as of next Monday is the D* S Shop- an online store that carries exclusive, limited-edition designs by my favorite indie designers. Everything is handmade, under $100 and available to be shipped world wide. I just wanted to have a place where I could showcase affordable indie design on a larger scale.

(as you write this) Where in the world are you, and where is your favorite place to blog? (that is to say are you wireless? Home-bound? In a library? Sneaking computer time at work?)

I’m in Brooklyn , NY suffering from one heck of a migraine and trying to concentrate on a piece for Budget Travel magazine. My favorite place to blog is from my bed in the spring. I have two big windows in the bedroom that let in a wonderful cross breeze and allow me to watch my cats sitting in the window seats. There’s nothing better than working with your cats next to you. J

You’ve been so busy with design sponge, tell us a little bit about how you happened upon blogging and how it’s evolved into a full time job / brand (I totally remember that post where you wrote that you were quitting your job to pursue the site)…

Yeah, things have been nutty lately but I’m loving every second. I started the blog as a hobby and I was just fortunate enough to have some editors and publishers in the audience who offered me jobs writing pieces for their magazines. That’s allowed me to blog full time and devote myself entirely to design.

I never thought I’d be doing this but I’m really enjoying the ride. People are always telling me to invest in and plan out my “brand’ but I still don’t really think of D*S like that. The site has always been just me and my silly opinions about design, but I guess it’s sort of taken on a life of it’s own. My goal with the site has sort of expanded now from being a place to merely vent about design to creating a place where I can give independent designs a place to share their goods on the web.

At risk of sounding cynical, why did you decide to start yet another online store?

I was really inspired by TinyShowcase.com. Every Tuesday I get ready to check their website (with at least 2 bazillion other people) and found myself thinking, why doesn’t this sort of thing exist for design? Why isn’t there a place where I can find affordable, limited edition designs by indie artists? I love Etsy, but there’s something about being able to credit a curated shop that I felt was different than what was out there.

The designs in the shop will all be handmade, part of a limited edition (you won’t be able to buy them again once they’re sold out) and will be helping to support independent artists across the globe. I think there are certainly plenty of e-tailers out there but I wanted a place for we could think small: small prices, small artists and small editions.

I’d also like to add that the shop will be donating at least 10% of the monthly advertising revenues to a different charity every month. This month is the Human Society of America. [50% of my ad sales will go to my wonderful web designer who’s running the nuts and bolts of the site].

Tell us a bit about your product selection process…

Well, to be honest I went about this shop the way I do everything- I get really excited and then email everyone I can think of who I think might want to be involved. The result was around 60 or so people replying saying they’d love to contribute items. I only emailed people I knew I’d want to work with right off the bat, and people who I knew would be of interest to the average reader. Then I asked that they please keep prices under $100 and that was it. Of course I gave everything a final nod of approval but I try to keep it open enough that designers feel free to stretch some. You’ll see lots of well known designers trying out new media on the site ;)

So, what are the last 5 items you’ve purchased?

Hmm..mostly artwork. I commissioned some very small pieces from Lindsey Adelman, Alyson Fox and Alice Stevenson, so those were my big splurge items. But before that I picked up a brand new chef’s knife at William Sonoma that I love (I love anything related to food) and a new bag from Rare Device by Melie Bianco that’s made of vegan-friendly faux leather. It looks and feels surprisingly good for fake leather, which is always a plus for me.

Multiple choice: What kind of shopper are you? And please explain your answer.

a. Dedicated to a few select stores/sites
b. Open to anything anywhere
c. I make everything I want
d. I shop when I need to

Hmm..a little bit of A and B, I think. I’m a creature of habit so I tend to haunt the same shops and areas for my favorite things. But because of the nature of my site I tend to come across so many new shops on a regular basis that I’m always picking up little odds and ends from random e-commerce sites across the globe.

But at heart I’m a big window shopper. Having a design blog has let me feel like I “have” things after I write about them. I get to look at them on the site for a few days and by the time they’ve been pushed off into the archives I’ve found something new to enjoy looking at.

So you’ve made quite a few picks on ThisNext – what is it about these items that prompted you to share them with the world?

I’ve never really had a chance to condense my shopping picks like this so it was really fun to think of it in themed lists. Two themes closest to my heart are budget shopping and Brooklyn design so I chose to share products that fit those two ideas. The Brooklyn piece was really to showcase the wide range of design coming out of my neighborhood and the budget piece was for those of us who love to shop but don’t always have the budget to splurge on big ticket items.

What discovered products on ThisNext have you drooling?

Well I just saw it this morning but I love the wooden memory stick!

Such a great idea to contrast something like a techy laptop with something natural like wood.

Which movie can’t you stop yourself from watching even though you know- by all accounts- it’s a really bad movie?

Three letters- PCU. Except that I don’t really think it’s a bad movie- the critics do ;) I’m a sucker for early Piven and Spade. That movie really clicked with me after being exposed to the over-eager protesters my freshman year of NYU. PCU calls them “cause-heads” and I laughed and laughed when I was able to find those groups from the movie on my campus.

What is your biggest vice?

It’s a tie between television and food. I know, it makes me sound like such an oaf, but there’s nothing better than snuggling into the couch to watch Project Runway with a good piece of cake or a comforting homemade pasta dinner. Now if you can combine the two, ala “Top Chef’, you’ve got me hooked for life.

What is your biggest indulgence?

My current working lifestyle. I work from around 8 am to 8 pm, but I do it comfy clothes (yes, I’ll say it, sometimes even in my pajamas) with my cats around me. There’s something so wonderfully indulgent about being able to take breaks to play with the cats. I don’t know how long this lifestyle will last but I’m fully aware of how lucky I am not to be stuck in a cubicle somewhere.

You are writing so much, all the time - what inspires you? Where do you get your inspirations? Do you find selling items to be different than blogging about items?

Hmm…I think the market inspires me. When I feel like the design world is in a bit of a rut, I feel in a bit of a rut. But with Fall here and designers churning out all sorts of new goods, it’s impossible to be uninspired by the wealth of great design everywhere. The wonderful thing about all my freelance positions is that each one has a very specific reader so I can gear my finds towards audiences with say, bigger budgets or with a certain need in mind.

In terms of the shop, I guess I don’t really think of myself as selling items because I’m not making any money off it of (I will be selling advertising like always but I won’t be taking any cut from the product profit), but I think it will feel similar in that I’m trying to provide a platform for independent designers to showcase their work.

The wonderful thing about blogs is that they’re ready by people all over, the more people I can introduce to independent design the better. I’ll be thrilled if one person who’s never heard of say, Karin Eriksson, goes home with one of her delightful bowls. Introducing people to great designers who are oceans and worlds apart from them is endlessly rewarding. I’m just so glad I get to work with these artists- they’re like rockstars to me.

What blogs do you read?

I’ve been switching it up lately actually. I used to read only design blogs but now I sort of read everything but design blogs.

I’m a loyal Perez Hilton.com reader, as well as Dooce. I’ve recently started reading SweetJuniper.blogspot.com just for the cute photos and as of last week I’ve added 101 Cookbooks to my bookmarks.

In my down time I like to read about celebrity gossip and good food, not about more design. Though there are many, many wonderful design blogs out there to read.

Stream of Consciousness: Any thoughts you’d like to share about ThisNext? Shopping?

The first thing that comes to mind is responsible shopping. I think sometimes shopping blogs and shopping sites (some people consider D*S a shopping blog) get a bad rap for encouraging over consumption but I find that it’s just the opposite. Since I’ve started reading shopping blogs I’ve actually done far less shopping than before. The more I’m aware of the market and what’s out there, the more I’m able to make smarter decisions about what I buy. Shopping blogs have also taught me to be budget conscious and hold out when I’m looking for a specific item, rather than just buy the first thing I see.