Not the Early Bird, but the Bureau is Tweeting

Late to join the flock, but we’ve found our way and we’re flying in formation.  For those inclined, you can now follow us on twitter http://twitter.com/BureauofFriends

Sewing Wings on the City of Angels

  

Our latest Making and Meaning event in LA served up a tasty challenge for the Bureau of Friends.

We were asked by Opportunity Green conference organizers, Karen Solomon and Marc Alt, to host an afternoon for conference VIPs that  would retain the intimate feeling lauded by previous event attendees–despite the fact there were twice as many people for this event than all others we’ve convened. Our hosts also wondered if non-designer types, especially men, would actually feel comfortable (ahem) sewing. 

On a warm day last week, in a quintessential, indoor-outdoor LA home that makes you want to move to LA, we arranged 40 people in four small groups lead by Friends, capital “F”: Cathy Bailey, Julie Gilhart, Adam Silverman (studio director at HEATH LA and Bureau-Friend-for-the-Day), and me, Maria Moyer.

It wasn’t long before Yves Behar (a repeat “Making and Meaning” attendee) shared that when he was a teenager he had a penchant for knitting while listening to rap (he once knit a purse for his mother). Derrick Mains made a hat (a Bureau event first) so compelling that everyone who touched it tried it on. We laughed, we ate delicious, eco-savvy food thanks to the boys at Organic-to-Go, we sipped Casa Barranca wine and, of course, we sewed an artifact of our delightful afternoon together.  As in previous events, people (especially a few executive-type, male people) were reluctant to leave.

Our premise (as you know if you’ve been following along) is that no matter what a person does professionally, nor what gender they are, if our hands are busy making something while we sit and talk to interesting (and interested) people, we’re a bit transported and anything seems possible. There are now 82 “Making and Meaning” alumni, all of whom created a piece uniquely theirs. These individual pieces will be assembled with others to form an installation piece. We promise to let you know what we plan to do with them, as soon as we decide. 

In August, before we launched our three-city Bureau of Friends Debut, we had a few things we wanted to accomplish, including, introducing the Bureau to a diverse set of thinkers and doers from non-profit organizers and businesses to artists, designers and a few journalists. Check. And, we wanted to do something that engaged people in meaningful way. Check, check.

Three cities. Three successful launch events. Our speakers’ bureau and talent agency for good is ready for new things. Plans include leading a strategic planning session for an American luxury brands company. The idea: We think people pay closer attention to what colleagues are saying and make better contributions to a team conversation when they make something together. We’ll also weave in a few stories of our own on commerce, cultural preservation and community building.  

Keep those ideas and proposals coming. I promise, we will consider every one that comes our way. Maybe you will be part of what we do together next.

Most photos–the really good ones–courtesy of sweet Meeno Peluce.

1% for the Planet // 2 or 3 Things I Know // Cook+Fox Architects // Domestic Daddy // Eco Fabulous // fuseproject // Goodlifer // goods of conscience // Greensulate // Loomstate // Marmol Radziner // New Leaf Paper // Organic Farming Research Foundation // Partners & Spade // PUBLIC Bikes // Slipstream Strategy // Southern Exposure // The Edible Schoolyard // The Kitchen Sisters // Trend Union // Volume Inc. //
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