I won tickets to the opera! On Monday, Speak Your Design hosted a last minute contest for two tickets to Tuesday's performance of Puccini's Madama Butterfly. I was the first to correctly answer the question: "At what theater did Madama Butterfly originally premiere in 1904? Hint: it was beautifully renovated by Botta in 2004."
ANSWER: La Scala (working at an architecture firm has its perks). 

I'd only attended the opera on one other occasion, while studying abroad in opera's birthplace: Kosciusko, Mississippi... oops that's Oprah's birthplace... I meant ITALY. My class took a field trip to Pisa to see Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) at the Teatro Verdi. It was just what you'd expect for an opera: traditional, classic, period piece.

__It was nothing like Jun Kaneko's version of opera. Kaneko is a Japanese ceramic artist who, in 2006, reinterpreted the set and costume design for Madama Butterfly. His artistry had me visually enthralled the entire performance. Each scene was blocked like a work of art. So much attention was paid to each character placed, each color used, each prop delivered, each transition choreographed, each costume adorned.

I know the opera is typically lauded for its performers... and Yunah Lee as Cio-Cio San (aka Madama Butterfly) did not disappoint... but I left the theater with a new favorite art form: set design. (photos via junkaneko.com)

^ Spoiler Alert!

_Last week I got a very creative email from my friend, and fellow designer, Kevin Brindley. He recently returned to Charlotte, from a trip to Jamaica, and reported back with these photos and a clever note:

Made my day. I'm pretty jealous of my brand though now... where's my trip to Jamaica!?

Not Made in China will be peddling wares at the first ever Queen City Brewers Festival. Come imbibe with us!

via qcbrewfest.com:
The Queen City Brewers Festival is on Tap. Premiering at the Neighborhood Theatre (511 E. 36th Street, Charlotte, NC, 28205), on Saturday, February 4, 2012, QCBF is exclusive to the Charlotte-area breweries that are putting the Queen City on the craft beer map. The event will feature a diverse selection of beer styles and flavors to taste and learn about from official brewery representatives.

With Charlotte’s craft beer market exploding in recent years, the goal of this event is to spotlight the city’s emerging craft breweries while bringing awareness to the event’s nonprofit host, Partners for Parks, a  nonprofit, nonpartisan foundation that seeks to promote and enhance parks, recreation and open space in neighborhoods throughout Mecklenburg County and the surrounding area.

_“I’d give up my spaghetti for
this here Olivetti.”
- Seventeen stylist Toni Kosover (pictured above)

I recently purchased THREE (yes, three) typewriters. I did manage to return one -  typewriter joke - I bought it on eBay and it arrived damaged in the mail. So now I'm down to two. Still, why would anyone need one, let alone two, typewriters? I found this excerpt from an article that I think explains it best....

The contemporary affection for typewriters may be a passing fancy, but it isn’t necessarily fancy. One reputed advantage of the typewriter is its simplicity. I have always been attracted to objects, like the strawberry huller, that can only do one thing. A typewriter cannot cannot find information, take photographs, produce a spreadsheet, tell you who’s following you on Twitter, play podcasts, find tax loopholes, flood you with apps or remind you that three friends have birthdays coming up. All it can do is enable you to type. With however many fingers are equal to the task.

- Reverting to Type  by Ralph Caplan

___One of my typewriters is a 1970's Cursive Olivetti Studio 45. Yes, it writes in CURSIVE! How could you not be obsessed with that? (see writing sample below)

This was the one I ended up sending back: 1955 Bright Red Royal Quiet De Luxe... what a beaut. It broke my heart to see it go.

It's almost time for my absolute FAVORITE show of the year... The Big Crafty! It's only 2 and a half weeks away - and I've got a ton of buttons to press. Make the trip to Downtown Asheville's Pack Place and enjoy arts, crafts, music and FREE BEER from 12pm-6pm on Sunday, December 4th. The event is free and open to the public. Oh, and did I mention there's FREE BEER? 

NMIC featured in Creative Loafing's Style Section: Creative Living. If you missed the printed issue - view it online here.

Look, Ma! I'm on tv! Click to watch my segment on Charlotte Today with the fabulous Colleen Odegaard. And get a peek of the new "Larry is my Homeboy" button commemorating Charlotte's most beloved weatherman, Larry Sprinkle.

About a month ago I received a Facebook message from Michael J. Solender, a freelance writer for the Charlotte Observer. Apparently, the Observer asked him to write a feature article about the "button girl." "Crap," I thought, "Not another computer virus / Facebook spammer." To my surprise the man was legit. A week later I met with Michael, at a Starbucks, and told him the whole Not Made in China story. He was hilarious and great at making me feel at ease. Plus, he asked lots of good questions. Before we knew it, our hour was up and I headed into work recounting and over analyzing our entire conversation. 

The next day, the Observer called to arrange the shoot and asked if I'd be making buttons when the photographer came over. I said, "Sure, I can be making buttons." The woman repeated, "No, will you be making buttons? Is Monday night a night on which you normally make buttons." I said, "Like I said, I can be if you need me to." A tad frustrated, she explained, "You see, we can't tell you what to do when we take the photos. Does that make sense? So, let me ask again, will you be making buttons?" "Oooooooh, in that case, yes," I said.

A few days after that, Jeff Siner (a photographer with the Charlotte Observer) came out to my condo to take photos for the article (shown above). I had cleaned up shop (read: postage stamp sized sunporch) in preparation for the shoot, but when Jeff entered the room he said, "You cleaned!? Nooooo! I want buttons everywhere!" To which I replied, "Aw hell naw, the world can't see my mess!" My mom raised me right: shove everything into a box and hide it when company comes over. 

I thought about wearing my little "NMIC uniform" (hat with a button and NMIC logo tee), but my girlfriends protested,  "You need to look goooooood for the public, not like the silly button girl... errrrr... uhhhh... I mean, you know, dress how you normally dress." I tried not to take offense and finally agreed with their sentiment. 

Jeff took photos of several vignettes: buttons on display boards, buttons on the dress form, me with the button covered dress form and, of course, me making buttons (cough cough, like I do every Monday night). Jeff was also very good at making me feel at ease. I think it's because he's from Indiana. 

Then it was time to wait for the article to run. Originally I was told it would run as a cover feature in the Thursday paper's Style section. After the photoshoot, Michael told me it looked like it might run in the Sunday paper. Whoa!? Sunday paper cover feature?! Who'd my dad pay to make that happen? I was so anxious the night before the article ran that I hardly slept. It was like Christmas Eve and the night before major surgery all wrapped into one. 

When Sunday morning finally arrived, I ran out to my local Harris Teeter and bought 10 copies of the paper. The clerk asked if I worked at a hotel or something. When I explained that I was IN the paper, she held it high in the air and shouted, "Hey look everyone! She's in the paper!"... to all two customers. I blushed and strolled out of the automatic doors with a grin from ear to ear. 

I stopped in at my Starbucks, and as I waited for my iced, grande, nonfat, two Splenda, latte (don't judge me) I saw a man reading a paper with MY FACE ON IT! I quickly reached for my cellphone to get a photo of this surreal coincidence, then lost my nerve and decided to ask for permission to take the photo. "Excuse me, sir, I have a strange request," I said as he stared blankly back at me. "Uh, that's me in the paper you're reading, do you mind if I take a photo of you reading it?" I said sheepishly. "THAT'S YOU!?!?" he exclaimed. Dude, you didn't have to look that surprised. I wasn't wearing make up and had my hair in a ponytail - OKAY?!?! He gladly obliged and I got the picture.

I rushed home to devour the article and scrutinize every single photo in the paper. But you know what? There was nothing to criticize. It was a great article. Michael totally nailed it. His tongue in cheek humor was spot on. In the week since the article ran, I've received a ton of emails about the feature. They mostly go something like... great article, you should be proud... so nice to read some good news in the paper for once... I've got an event coming up, can you make us some buttons?! 

I really can't thank Michael, Jeff and the Charlotte Observer enough.

In case you missed it, read the article online here.

"When life gives you hands, make handmade" is making the rounds!  When I received a Google Alert for the tee shirt pictured above, I have to admit I was pretty flattered and shocked.

Since I coined the phrase last fall, it's been featured on various blogs, used as someone's blog subtitle, painted with watercolor as part of a 30 Days of Creativity initiative, shown on the keynote stage for the 2011 Compostmodern Conference in San Francisco, pinned and repinned on Pinterest, tweeted, Facebooked and everything in between. I'd have to say most entertaining was when I was contacted by a woman in Melbourne, Australia who wanted to use the design for their city's annual art festival!

It's amazing to see the impact and domino effects created when we put our ideas out into the universe... on second thought, maybe I should look into getting this puppy copyrighted :)