okay, it’s been a while but with travel and all, i’m a little behind — but we’re back with the second edition of our new series, online shop showcase, where i give a little love to independent makers and online shopkeepers. this time around it’s cold picnic. i’m not sure which came first — the boob or the chicken, but cold picnic may have most certainly taken off with its beloved boob bathmat design. formed in 2010 by creative couple Phoebe Sung and Peter Buer, cold picnic pieces are now available in their own online shop as well as retailers worldwide. i love a good business story that has a little romance thrown in for good measure, and partners phoebe and peter have that in spades — the couple met in Boston in 2006 while in school and have been living and working together ever since.
phoebe and peter are both influenced by indigenous crafts, national parks, film, and art, and began working on various side projects together in an effort to view traditional crafts filtered through modern sensibilities — thus cold picnic was born. their line includes textiles (like those infamous bathmats), macrame home goods, leather accessories and bags, and handmade jewelry. cold picnic’s creations explore “imagined and misremembered landscapes, and the effects of time and the elements upon their surfaces”. In these landscapes, rugs function as maps, brass jewelry as treasures unearthed on long walks, and leather bags fit everything found or needed along the way. the design due creates all cold picnic pieces from their Brooklyn studio, working with two small family-run factories in Manhattan to cast their jewelry and sew selected bag styles, and another family-owned business in India to produce their line of handmade rugs. long live thoughtful creative partnerships the likes of cold picnic!