I left a comment on a blog the other day. The post was on my favorite topic of monogramming and personalization. It is often said that the meat of a blog can be found in the comments and I couldn’t agree more. A comment left, in response to mine, by Civility Design reached out and grabbed me. Like minds. Stylistic soul-mates. Who were they?
Of course, I had to sleuth them. Their website let me know my instincts were right. Don Raney and Jaymes Richardson, the talented, monogram loving duo behind Civility Design and I were destined to meet. We like so many of the same things. The best part? They are my neighbors. Not neighbors in the scope of cyber, which could mean anyone living under the same weather pattern, but truly two-blocks-over neighbors. I shot off an e-mail and they responded with an invitation to talk about our love of all things personalized. I knew that this meeting was going to be a good thing.
Now, let me just interject that I have a bust fetish. A major one. I do have two antique, carved busts of Romans perched on sconces in my living room but what I really lust after is a great big terracotta bust on a pedestal. Put a bust of an 18th century Frenchman with a wild wig full of curls and a Gallic nose in my living room and I would never need another thing. Don and Jaymes employ busts galore to lend a sense of history to their interiors. That was my first clue.
Second clue? A fearless love of punchy color and gloss. I’m feeling those horn chandeliers, too.
But it was doggy love that sealed the deal. Mavis Astor meet LouLou.
Not pussy-footing around, we selected a place to meet for coffee the very next day. The Elysian Hotel recently opened a few blocks away we were all interested in walking over and having a look-see. From the moment I entered (and was greeted by those amazing busts) I knew I wouldn’t mind playing Eloise at the Elysian. Is the casting call for that role still open? 
That afternoon, in a wonderful setting, we laid out plans for a Civility Design/Queen of Cashmere media collaboration. The topic? Personalization beyond monograms.
Out of the ether of the Internet, real friendships emerge.
