Or should I say Crawford is in da house?

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I know Thanksgiving has passed but one can never be too thankful – it’s a bright lovely morning, I am at home getting a little work done, I can see blue sky and a tree with yellow-green leaves waving outside and I hear birds chirping. I have to steal and appreciate moments like these when I can. It’s been so busy for all of us at RD, we don’t want you to think we’re neglecting you! So – thank YOU for coming to our wishlist parties on both coasts and being delightful and funny as always. And thanks too for submitting your work to us – the holiday season is not the very best time since we are mostly focused on selling and promoting who we have in store. January and February are for exploring new talent for sure. While we can’t get back to everyone, nor sell everybody’s work in the shop, we appreciate you taking the time to write in.

Some little notes:

Victoria brought some of the Keep Calm and Carry On posters in 4 colors to us! These are awesome, come to the SF shop to see. Curiosity Shoppe is having a fabulous poster show by The Small Stakes, the opening is the same night as our opening for Kate (darn!) but hopefully I can sneak out in December and see it.
Sodafine is throwing another Gift on Grand holiday fair on the 15th in Brooklyn, don’t miss it!
Meg and other friends and designers are in a similar event in Berkeley this Sunday the 2nd.

I am a bit of a bag nut. It never used to be the case – I had my giant waxed canvas Timbuk2 and carted things around in that for years. And then…I opened a store. And I heard everybody’s woes about finding the perfect bag. And now I spend a lot of time trying to have a good representation of them in the shops.

Truly, the Perfect Bag is this magical shape-shifting thing that is tiny and flat until you need it to accomodate gym shoes, computers and your lunch. It never gets dirty, often has a cross-body shoulder strap, and the handles always fit over your winter coat. It has lots of convenient pockets without looking too sporty or bulky…and now you know why I have so many kinds in stock at Rare Device.

Today we have bags by two new designers, in our quest for the perfect bag. Above you see laptop totes and messengers by S N A P design. They are meticulously handmade by one Portland woman from soft, bright vinyl and are unisex and beautiful. The laptop bags come in 13/15/17″ and include a crossbody strap. The messengers are lined in a matching fabric which add a great pop of color when you open the flap.

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1) Our Asteroid Vase is Time Out New York’s gift guide, the Ivy coat rack is in Time Out Chicago’s version, and the Herb Pot is in 7×7’s holiday guide. We are seriously in gift mode now, despite the unseasonal weather.
2) Congrats to Julia Rothman who is a featured artist for Wallcollection, a cool new service by the folks at Ferm Living that lets you upload an image and make your own custom wallpaper (or choose from an artist design). Julia will be showing her art at Rare Device SF next summer (oh, how will we wait that long?) and is a super lady. I hope someone buys her paper and sends us a photo of it in their home!

3) This is the last week for our fabulous show by Kelly Lynn Jones – there are still a few really great paintings left! We’ll change it all up on December 7 when Obsessive Consumption comes to town.

4) Our Wishlist Party is this Thursday, come down and hang out with us at both stores!

5) Two incredibly bouncy shows are coming to town this week (Los Campesinos! and Voxtrot) and you just might see me at them.

Mark your calendars for the evening of November 29 (that’s Thursday) – both Rare Device stores will be open late, serving a little wine and champagne from 6pm to 9pm and offering 10% off all purchases – plus we’ll be recording your favorite items at Rare Device so that you can send your loved one in to make an informed purchase later during the season. Is that sneaky or what?

In conjunction, Laura and Sian from the Brooklyn shop will be bringing some of their handmade wares for you to buy, and I think Lisa, Natalie and Jessica will be doing the same in San Francisco – like a mini holiday fair. Please stop by!