The “All the Buildings in New York” book launch party is just a day away – have you marked your calenders yet? It brings a bit of NY to LA, but James has specially created LA tote bags for the raffle during the party. In today’s interview with James Gulliver Hancock, we find out more about the time he spent in LA, and his pal Jessica Koslow of Sqirl who will be bringing her treats to the event!

1. LA is clearly a stark contrast from NY, but how do you see it through your own eyes, in comparison to NY?
They are both amazing, and I would find it hard to choose again, they really are like chalk and cheese. They both have some amazing nature outside of the city, one desert, one quite lush and green. I think what I find interesting about LA is that it’s a bit hard to access on the surface. NY is very easy to enjoy as everything falls out onto the street. But in LA you have to be a bit of a detective. The best sushi might be behind a doorless slab of concrete on a deserted street, you just never now. Hence it’s much more about knowing a local and seeking stuff out, it’s harder than NY. Does that make it a touch more rewarding?

2. Like New York, you’ve spent a fair amount of time in LA too…what first brought you to LA?
My wife is a musician and she started her solo career in LA. We had a great time in LA for about 4 years. It’s such a great city to get things going people can be up for trying new things and getting stuff happening. In contrast to Australians who can be a bit too laid back sometimes.

3. Can you share with us some of your favorite spots in LA?
Spirl, obviously, because I can go there, eat great food and probably run into a friend. Forage in Sunset Junction is pretty awesome too, I love places you can eat like you would at home. I love hiking the canyons up to the observatory too.

4. You’ve done some work for Jessica of Sqirl…what do you enjoy about her jams and food?
Jessica’s work is amazing, she seems to of carved herself such an amazing culinary path. She symbolises what I love about America, how she’s started her own business from a small thing such as jams and built it into a full brand. I love that she mixes very local flavours and isn’t afraid to try different things together. She plays with food like I play with pens and pencils!

5. Describe Jessica in 3 words.
Awesome, focussed, determined.

6. What was your inspiration for the designs you’ve created for Sqirl Kitchen?
Together we’ve made a stop motion film, a tote bag and a mural in her space. All three elements have a concept of magical preserves. That the things inside the jars are extra special, are stardust mixings of amazingness.

7. What do you want people to carry in your LA Tote Bag?
Some Sqirl jam of course. A signed copy of my book some cheese from the Silver Lake Cheese Store along with a baguette, some fruit from the Silver Lake Farmer’s Market, a picnic rug, your best friend, and directions to the canyons.

All the Buildings in New York Launch Party
Date: Thursday May 23rd 2013
Time: 7-10pm
Location: Poketo Store
820 E. 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013
213-537-0751

Find out more details about the event and RSVP here.

Hi everyone, thank you for the overwhelming, positive responses to our new tea towels, designed in collaboration with the talented illustrator Lisa Congdon! We are so glad that you love them as much as we do.

Today, we’re excited to release another short but inspiring Q&A with Lisa herself, in which she shares about her beautiful new home in Oakland, decorating it and her favorite spaces.

1. Congratulations on your new home in Oakland! What are some things that you love about your new space?

It gets tremendous natural light. I used to live in a really dark apartment in San Francisco. So every day I wake up and my house now is flooded with light. Things look different in light. My animals might even love the sunshine more than I do! I also love the huge outdoor space we have in the back. I can’t wait to begin summer barbeques back there and reading books in the sunshine.

2. What’s your approach to decorating your home?

I am all about creating spaces that are not fussy, spaces that are both relaxed and organized. I am also all about personalizing my spaces. I like clean and minimal, but I also don’t want to feel like I am living or working in a bland hotel room or a room that is generic. I add a lot of personal touches to my home, through my collections, artwork that I’ve purchased over the years, and mementos.

3. What is your favorite room in the home and why?

The dining room! It has a great corner window, and some amazing midcentury furniture. It also includes many of my favorite collections, including my Catherinholm Enamelware collection.

4. Tell us more about decorating your kitchen…what do you enjoy most about it?

The greatest design challenge in my kitchen was the red countertops. When I first heard the countertops were red, I was really worried! But I decided to embrace it, and I went with a theme of red, white and black for the entire space. Now I actually love the red countertops!

Thank you Lisa for sharing your home! For our readers, if you missed our first interview with Lisa and want to see the awesome tea towel collaboration with Poketo, check it out here.

Brooklyn-based illustrator, artist, and wallpaper designer Dan Funderburgh is the designer behind the Cairo City Wallet. You might have seen images of the oft-photographed wallpaper that he created for the Wythe Hotel in New York City. Known for his designs that play off of of historical ornamentation, his work seamlessly bring together the decorative and the everyday. Likewise, the Cairo City Wallet features intricate designs that speak of the city’s rich history and culture, yet rendered in colors that are refreshingly modern. In today’s interview, we speak to Dan about his experiences in Cairo, aesthetic and his travel style.

You can see all our City Wallets here. Until June 1st, 10% of proceeds from wallet sales will go to 826LA, a nonprofit writing and tutoring center that provides under-resourced students aged 6-18 with opportunities to explore their creativity and improve their writing skills.

1. What was your inspiration for the Cairo City Wallet?
Watching the footage of protestors in Tahrir Square was really, really inspiring. The city itself has amazing colors and art history, so it seemed like a great time and place to try and capture.

2. Have you been to Cairo? If so, could you describe some memorable experiences you had there?
The good people of The Articulate Baboon Gallery brought me out in preparation for an exhibit in 2010 shortly before the revolution. Unfortunately due to a combination of a slightly dicey political climate and my own procrastination I have yet to make it back for the show. Work is still in progress though. I’m very excited to return and install the show.

3. Can you describe your aesthetic and share how you got started as an illustrator?

I would describe my aesthetic as fancy and derivative. I got started making illustrations and textile patterns for baggy hip-hop clothing in the early 2000′s. It was very educational but I think wallpaper is a better fit for me.

4. What is your travel style like, and how has traveling influenced your work?

I walk a lot. I like the pace plus I don’t have a driver’s license. There is beautiful crazy patterns and textures and signage everywhere. It drives me a little bit mad that I cannot be constantly exploring some new country, but of course plenty of that crazy stuff is home as well if you remember to look for it. Often times it’s something completely unexpected that has the most influence. The hieroglyphics and museums were remarkable, but ultimately not that different than images I have in books. I was more struck by the colors people choose to paint the residential towers in the poorer areas and the anarchy of Cairo traffic.

5. Your work is rooted in the decorative arts and everyday items…what details do you find yourself drawn towards when you look at such objects?

I’m attracted to the honesty of tools that are purely utilitarian and the singularity of purpose of decoration that is purely superficial. I guess.

6. Which destination(s) is high on your travel list this year and why?

Everywhere ! I know it’s ambitious. Iceland and Alhambra are definitely on the short list. Also Patagonia.

7. What are some current themes that you are working with?

Entropy. Heredity. World History. Permanence. Decoration as Art.

Most of us get our condiments off the supermarket shelves, but making it from scratch at home is entirely possible and even more fun! To teach you the ropes of making your own condiments, we’ve brought in Zach Negin for our second workshop on Sunday, April 28.

Zach is a a co-owner of SoNo Trading Company which produces a delicious range of mustards from high quality ingredients sans the additives or stabilizers. For his workshop, he will be showing us how to make Whole Grain Mustard, Sriracha, Lacto-fermented Ketchup, and a Vegan Worcestershire Sauce. Sound tempting already? You can sign up here!

We talked to Zach to find out more about the man behind the mustard, how he got started creating condiments, his favorite flavors and ingredients…it was an inspiring interview and we cannot wait for the workshop to happen!

1. How did you get started producing your own mustard?
There’s an old family recipe for mustard that I used to make and everyone always loved it. I wanted to start my own business, so mustard was it. (There were also pickles in the beginning – another family recipe.) I approached my friend James (who’s now also my business partner) and we just started experimenting with the recipe and different ingredients. The original recipe had eggs in it, but we took those out, changed the vinegar (to a super high quality champagne vinegar) and added in garlic, which essentially became our Champagne Garlic Mustard.

2. Can you describe the creative process behind designing each type of mustard?
It’s like anything that you spend a lot of time doing. You end up having these random thoughts come to you at the oddest of hours with ideas for interesting flavor combinations. And then you just trust your intuition for where to start. When we were selling at the farmers markets we were making each batch by hand, filling the jars with a pastry bag. So it was pretty easy for us to try out new flavors and get a ton of immediate feedback from folks. It quickly became apparent that our Champagne Garlic and Hong Kong Habanero Mustards were the most popular. So when we launched our Kickstarter project to get our wholesale business up and running we focused on those two mustards.

3. What are your pantry staples?
-Salt: I have about 5-6 kinds of salt.
-Fat: I also have a bunch of different kinds of fats in my freezer I like to cook with: lard (pork fat), bacon fat, duck fat, chicken fat, goat fat, butter. I really think animal fats are much better for cooking than something like olive oil is. (But I do love good olive oil for salads and finishing!)
-Vinegar: I’m a vinegar freak. As soon as I track down a wood barrel I’m going to start making my own, but for now I seek out all the different vinegars I can find. Recently I was in Papa Cristos – the iconic Greek market/restaurant over in Mid-City – and I saw this dusty bottle of vinegar with a taped on label made by nuns in a monastery. I of course bought it and have been using it non-stop.
-Preserved lemons: I make these and use them in many dishes as they add a unique flavor.
-Bay leaves I picked in the mountains – these go in almost everything.

4. What are some of your favorite ingredients to work with in the kitchen?
Same as above. I’ve also been doing a lot of preservation and fermentation lately. Kimchi in particular. I’m excited for summer to get here to start pickling some summer vegetables.

5. Besides mustard, do you have any other condiments in the pipeline?
Funny you ask, we’re working on a fermented chile sauce, aka “Sriracha”. We’ve run a test batch and gotten excellent feedback. I just need to find a good source for a few hundred pounds of chiles. Know anyone?

6. Complete this sentence: My dream condiment would consist of …
This is a tough one, as different condiments go well with different dishes. I think that’s the beauty of condiments. I’d say right now I’m loving the fermented chile sauces I’ve been making.

7. What makes The Mustard THE Mustard? In other words, can you explain what makes it special?
I would say our ingredients, both the ones we use and the ones we leave out. We’ve sourced super high quality organic mustard seeds – the best we could find – and really nice vinegars. We also don’t put in any sort of additives, stabilizers, or preservatives (besides vinegar, salt and sugar). No xanthan gum, no sodium metabisulfite, no “natural flavors”. Just real ingredients.

8. What kind of flavors are you drawn to?
Savory, slightly spicy, and acid driven foods.

9. What tips do you have for home cooks looking to make their own condiments at home?
Experiment! Look up a bunch of recipes and try a few out to see what you like. It’s nice to have condiments without all the crap in them.

10. Any advice on pairing condiments with food?
Just like cooking, use your instincts. We made a cilantro-lime mustard back in the day and it was delicious on burritos. Sounds weird but it worked. I really love South Asian food because it often involves a lot of condiments that are essential to the meal.

11. What can participants expect to get out of your class?
In addition to taking home a jar of each condiment, participants will learn about the science behind mustard and fermentation. Plus it’s fun!