A HUGE thank you to Oh Joy! for the wonderful mention on your blog today. I couldn’t be more excited about this! Check out the post here.

Check out the travel accessories featured here at LAMA!

I am the creator, founder, president, ceo, chairman, ambassador, etc. of the “I hate Mondays” club. Mondays are no fun. That’s why it was especially nice to find this morning that Apartment102 had such nice things to say about LAMA over the weekend. Thanks for the mention! I can deal with this particular Monday.

To check out Apartment102 and read the full post, click here.

One of my favorite things about owning LAMA is receiving sweet emails from people who are fans of the site. Who doesn’t love a great compliment? Over the weekend, I received a great email from Stephanie who hosts a weekly inspiration challenge on Splitcoaststampers. Splitcoaststampers is an online community for paper crafters who love rubber stamping, card making and scrap-booking. This week’s inspiration challenge hosted by Stephanie was based on favorite LAMA products. Challenge participants were asked to create a greeting card based on either Stephanie’s product picks or on their own. What a fun weekend challenge! Below are images of some of the great entries. Can you tell which LAMA products inspired these cards?

Ann’s entry

LacyQuliter’s entry

Barbarar20’s entry

MaryR917’s entry

Kim Scotti’s entry

flmom’s entry

Stephanie’s entry

Thank you Stephanie for drawing your inspiration from LAMA! It was so much fun to check out all of these beautiful cards. To view all of the great entries, click here.

Check out my fun interview on The Daily Etsian today! Hannah, blogger extraordinaire, was kind enough to interview me on her awesome blog which is all about sharing handmade finds from around the world. Thanks Hannah!

To read the full post, click here.

Recently I did an interview with Sofia Calvo, the editor of the Chilean design and fashion blog Quinta Trends. The interview was posted in Spanish for her readers so I thought it would be nice to post the English translation here for all of the non Spanish speakers to enjoy. I shared some interesting things about myself and LAMA that I haven’t really shared before so hopefully you’ll learn a little something about LAMA that you may not have known. Enjoy!

Q: When and why was LAMA born?

A: LAMA was born in July 2008. I have known for a long time that I wanted to have my own business. I grew up very independent so naturally, as an independent person, I didn’t enjoy working for someone else. After graduating from art school and working as an interior design consultant for over a year, I decided to go my own way.

Q: How would you describe the purpose of your store?

A: Originally, the idea behind LAMA was to design and start my own line of pillows, throws, rugs and other textile products that I wanted to have produced in Ecuador which is where my family is from. Unfortunately I had some manufacturing problems and decided to travel from Quito to Cuenca for a short vacation from my problems. While I was there, I discovered the studio of ceramic artist Eduardo Vega. I thought about what a shame it was that beautiful work like his wasn’t seen more in the US. I realized what my purpose and the purpose of LAMA was on that trip. I wanted LAMA to be a store where Latino artists and designers could showcase their work and sell their products to a US audience. Maybe someday I will design my own products too but for now, I have to say it is much more rewarding to share the beautiful work of others.

Q: What is the criteria used to select the artists/designers in LAMA?

A: My criteria for selecting products is simple. Is it something I love? Would I want this for myself? Is it well made? Will my customers love this too? If the answers to these questions are “Yes,” then I do my best to make room for that artists work in my store. It’s very helpful when designers have websites that are easy to navigate and let me see the range of their products. If not, I also like when I’m presented with clear photos, detailed descriptions and price lists. I find that the more professional and organized a designer is, the easier they are going to be to work with. Because I have to import everything, this is very important. Lastly, I always love to hear about the designers behind the products. I find these stories so compelling and inspiring and it’s wonderful to be able to pass these stories along to my customers.

Q: How do you categorize the evolution of Latin American design? What are the strengths and weaknesses of the design?

A: I haven’t been following Latin American design for a long time but from what I have seen in the past few years, I’m seeing a lot of influences coming in from other countries, particularly the Scandinavian countries and Japan. I love to see this new blend of cultures happening in design. Now that we are all becoming so connected to one another through social networking sites and blogs, we can’t help but to be influenced by each other. I think it’s a wonderful thing because everyone has a unique way of interpreting another countries design esthetic. It’s also great to see a larger emergence of independent artist scenes that revolve around craft and handmade products. It seems that these communities are getting larger and supporting one another a lot more. There is always strength in numbers. I hope to see these communities continue to work hard to promote their work and the work of others. It’s difficult to answer the question regarding “the weaknesses.” I would like to see more designers and artists putting themselves on the web and more blogs dedicated to promoting Latino designers. I hope to see the voice behind the Latin American design scene become stronger.

Q: Do you have a brand name or a Latin American designer that keeps you awake? Why?

A: I have so many Latin American designers and companies that captivate me! Too many to mention! A few of my favorites are Lola Goldstein, Calu Fontes, Karen Barbe, Tanya Aguiniga, and Valeria Pesqueira. Each one of these designers work really speaks to an aspect of my own personal style. Their work is unique, creative and inspired. Everything I would aspire to be as a designer myself.

Q: How do you imagine the future of LAMA?

A: The future of LAMA is so exciting to think about. It’s actually something I am working very hard on right now. At the moment, LAMA is so limited as to how many artists and designers I can carry at one time. This is very difficult for me because there are so many beautiful products being created in Latin America that I want to be able to promote and sell through my site. I hope to see LAMA as a larger marketplace in the future where more and more Latino designers can sell their products and tell their stories. I want to create an even larger bridge between independent Latino designers and American customers.

Thank you Sofia for the interview! To check out the interview in Spanish, click here.

Last week I had the pleasure of doing a podcast interview with Denise Mpinga, editor of Zagi Online Magazine. In her own words on what Zagi is all about, “Zaji means “adventurous woman”-and is a name taken from a village in Africa’s Congo. We hope to inspire your own adventures whether you’re at home or hopping the globe. We have some fun itineraries on our Destinations link. We update our travel blog regularly with groovy playlists, our food journal, global chic fashions and more.

I was really flattered  (and a little petrified) to be asked to do a podcast interview with Denise. It’s funny how comfortable you can get hiding behind your computer screen sending emails or twitter updates. No one actually hears your voice! Needless to say, I was a little nervous but it actually turned out to be a fun experience.

Unfortunately with the time allotted, we weren’t able to cover all the great questions Denise had prepared so I’ll be posting the questions and answers here on the LAMA blog throughout the week. Thanks again to Denise for the invitation to share some information about myself and LAMA to you listeners and readers.

To listen to the podcast interview, click here.

Last week my good friend Ben told me about a great blog called Lovely Package. Lovely Package is “the leading source for the very best package design has to offer.” Being a sucker for anything with a great package (I’ve been known to hold onto boxes, bags, paper, etc. because they were too beautiful to throw away), I was instantly smitten with this blog and have made it a daily read since. 

Coincidentally, Lovely Package recently posted about our very popular Est Soaps! It was great to see they were just as in love with Est’s fabulous packaging as I was the first time I picked up their soap collection on a buying trip in Sao Paulo. 

Thanks Lovely Package for the great mention! To read check out the Lovely Package’s review of Est Soaps, click here. 

The wonderful folks at DailyCandy have us jumping up and down once again with their wonderful review of our Est Soap collection! It was so cool to see this incredible product featured in the Beauty & Fitness section of DailyCandy EVERYWHERE this past Friday. 

The response was so HUGE that we completely sold out of nearly all of our Est Soaps over the weekend! Not to worry though, if you weren’t able to grab one or ten bars yourself, we have more on the way. Be patient, they have a long journey to make all the way from Brazil but we promise, they’re worth the wait. 

Thanks DailyCandy! LAMA loves you!

When I initially conceptualized LAMA, my dream was to expose Latino artists and designers to an American audience that may not have otherwise been able to see or purchase their work. It’s always exciting for me when I find a person or company abroad that has yet to find US representation despite having enormous talent. I think that’s what makes LAMA so unique. 

Lola Goldstein was one of these artists for me. I had seen her work floating around the blog circuit and was thrilled that we were able to work together to bring her work into LAMA. I was overjoyed a few months back when Imbibe Magazine contacted me about featuring Lola’s Teapot with a Cold. Not only did they want to place a photo in their magazine, they also wanted to do an interview with Lola! I was so delighted to be able to facilitate the story they did about her work. I mean, that’s what LAMA is all about! In case you can’t read the teeny text on the image below, I’ve typed out the article directly below. It’s definitely worth reading. Congratulations Lola! We can’t wait to see what you come up with next!

Sweet Tea

Sure, tea keeps you warm-but what’s going to keep your teapot from shivering? Argentine artist Lola Goldstein answers that by wrapping her adorable, hand-painted teapots with tiny scarves and hats. Goldstein started her artistic career in drawing and then sculpture. She only began seriously working in ceramics about two years ago-though, considering the anthropomorphic and almost cartoon-like nature of much of her work, perhaps we should say “working whimsically.” The inspiration for this charming “Teapot with a Cold” came to her from the idea of useful objects (like teapots) requiring useful objects of their own. “It amused me to think of these details as if they really were indispensable,” she says. “I didn’t want, for example, a fabric scarf that didn’t actually open up and untie; it had to be made to fulfill it’s function perfectly.”

Goldstein doesn’t knit the teapots’ accessories herself: For that, she brings in a pro. “The scarves and hats are all knitted by my mother, with the dedication and love due a grandchild,” she says. “She calls me to tell me about some color she’s found in a tiny store after walking all day looking for yarn. Working with her gives these teapots their sense of meaning.” -Hanna C. Feldman

Forgive me LAMA for I have neglected to blog. It has been 65 days since my last post. Wow! What happened Christine? Well, Lucky Magazine happened!

Yup, that’s right! LAMA was in the January issue of Lucky Magazine that hit stands at the beginning of December. As someone who has been a devout fan and long time reader of Lucky, this was such a HUGE deal for me. Lucky actually called LAMA their “new favorite site!” Months have passed and I still can’t help but get a big silly smile on my face when I think about it. (The guy sitting next to me in this cafe is looking at me like he wants to know what I’m smiling at). Anyhow, Lucky featured LAMA’s ridiculously popular toile print Mexican oil cloth laptop case and I agreed to offer it as a “Lucky Breaks” item with a generous 25% discount to Lucky readers. I had no idea of the laptop case storm this would cause. We’ll just say I was ill prepared for the amount of orders LAMA would receive and being that LAMA is just a teeny tiny business with limited resources (and by “resources” I mean employees), I was working harder than I have ever worked in my life. I turned a year older but didn’t celebrate my birthday, Christmas was a blur, New Years passed with a barely there “5,4,3,2, zzzzzzz.” I actually fell asleep under my desk one night as I was trying to work around the clock to get orders out by Christmas! It was both the biggest nightmare and blessing that could have ever come LAMA’s way and it took me all the way through January to get all of the orders out. (Sorry to everyone who had to wait).

February has been my time to recover from my intense burnout and catch up on some time for myself and time to start scouting out new products and designers to bring into LAMA. Both myself and LAMA have gone seriously neglected in the midst of trying to catch up to how fast LAMA is growing but I am excited to finally reemerge from the cloud of my exhaustion and start the process of reaching out to new designers. I can’t wait to introduce all of the great new products I have found and talk about the incredibly inspiring people behind them. For the first time in 2009, I’m excited again and being excited about one’s own business is definitely the key to continued success. I’m just so grateful to the friends and family around me that keep reminding me about why I did all of this in the first place. Where would LAMA be without them?!

So, in spite of all my complaining, thank you Lucky for showing LAMA some love and thank you to all of my new customers who have been so kind and patient. It’s been one heck of a time but deep down, I have loved every moment of it.