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Sunday December 17th!

Sunday December 17th!

The Good Stuff: A Holiday Artisan Market at Brooklyn Flow
Come shop with me! I'm popping up in Park Slope at Brooklyn Flow's inaugural holiday Market. Join me and these fine folks for shopping, drinks, and good cheer. We'll be there from 1-6pm!
Fifth Avenue between Union and Sackett.

 

Participating vendors include:

🌟jewelry by The Clay PotSandy Hyun Jewelry and Diana Kane

🌟 pillows and textiles by ELVN

🌟macrame by Shaktiweaver

🌟ceramics by MCF BK

🌟padded leggings by MAÄT Active

🌟wall prints by Know It All Prints

🌟chocolate by Nunu Chocolates

🌟knit goodies by Sandye Renz @my_mother_taught_me

🌟merch and candles by Brooklyn Flow

🌟warm beverages and treats by Grounded Cafe

🌟 textiles for home by 32 Spirits

 

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Mark your calendars!

Mark your calendars!

The famed and always fantastic PS 321 Holiday Fair is around the corner and I can't wait to see you all IN PERSON! This market is wonderful– full of luscious gifts from excellent designers and makers, and the added benefit of supporting one of our local public elementary schools. I can do all my holiday shopping here, very happily. Well, maybe here and the Park Slope Food Co-op, whose holiday delicacies compel me. The PS 321 Holiday Shop is Saturday December 2nd, from 10am-5pm. Don't miss it!

I'll have lots of JEWELRY, as well as the beloved Feminist tee shirts, especially for kids and babies... Start them early, and they'll change the world. FWIW: they already are.

I'll also have various and sundry other goodies. TBA.

My hands have been busy, for which I am grateful. 

silver and gold handmade hamsas

Silver and gold handmade hamsas, made by me

All I want to do these days is make things! It's like all the deferred creative energy of the last few years is spilling out all at once. Some of that energy has been diverted into my current obsession: Ceramics.

After a 30 year hiatus (no clay since high school, where I took the available studio and instruction for granted) I've been spending hours reacquainting myself. Man it's fun. 

Ceramic cups, with violets on them

Mother/daughter cups.. sweet, right?

That, plus a long term quilt project: a hexie quilt, my first quilt of any kind, and utilizing the English Paper Piecing technique, also new to me. It's exciting and challenging for me to work on a project that will take me at least a year. It simply will, because that's how long it takes. I'm usually more of an instant gratification person, so I'm enjoying surrendering to the process, and the time it takes.

Quilting a hexie quilt on the train.

Working on my Hexie quilt on Amtrak last month

I'm happier when I'm making things, but I've felt conflicted about adding to the world's "stuff". Most everything I'm making is utilizing jewelry supplies and fabric pieces I already have, and that in itself is gratifying. These bits and bobs are fulfilling their (current) destiny, which feels good. 

Let me know if you are looking for anything in particular, and I'll see what I can do :)

xDiana

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Creativity rebound

Creativity rebound

Happy Fall, ya'll! 

I'm happy to be making things again. Things: quilts and ceramics and jewelry, oh my! Yeah. The last couple of years(!) have felt like swimming through syrup.. heavy and thick and hard to breathe. Maybe that's depression? Maybe that's just what I've needed to experience? Maybe it was a perfectly reasonable response to some lousy cards? Either way, I'm excited to be excited again. 

And yes, there have been lots (and lots!) of bright spots in that time, and I've been drinking in the riches of other people's creative expressions, but the dark spot has been my lack of interest in creating, an itch and a muscle that until recently had never deserted me, so I'm truly thrilled to welcome it back. Hello, muses. 

I'll be at the PS 321 Holiday Market on Saturday, December 2nd with lots of new and beautiful things and you know I'd love to see you there. In the meantime.. Here are some new earrings. As I said when I made their smaller sister, they're to honor the times that aren't always smooth. There's beauty in the rougher textures too.

 

 

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Contemplating sustainability and what that means now: A book recommendation

Contemplating sustainability and what that means now: A book recommendation

Fashionopolis, by Dana Thomas is an in-depth look at how the fashion sausage gets made, and the outsized impact the industry has on the planet and how we use, and abuse, our resources, both natural and human. 
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OMG Spring 2021

OMG Spring 2021

It's Easter Sunday and I've spent the afternoon updating the site, culling and adding and editing. There's more to come (always) and yet it feels like a bit of clearing the cobwebs has happened. New bits and bobs are trickling in, and that's exciting. I'll soon be adding a bar/bat mitzvah/ sweet sixteen gift collection, because the season is upon us!

Like so many of us, I continue to feel my way through this uncertain time. As such, I urge you to take care of yourself: whatever you're feeling and doing is OKAY. And hey, I made some pretty eye pillows to encourage rest and relaxation

I look forward to being fully vaxxed in just a couple more weeks, and can't wait to venture out into the world more. 

I plan to wake up the Short Story Book Club shortly, so if you want in join the page/group here. The SSBC requires NO prep; we read the story aloud together when we meet, and meeting in a park or beach is an essential part. I think this time we'll incorporate some fantastic local authors, reading and discussing their work.. we're so totally lucky to live among so many brilliant writers!

The NYC Mayoral race is heating up and while I'm sure I'll have a longer screed, and hopefully a Persisticon event to announce, in the meantime; plan to VOTE FOR A WOMAN. There are FANTASTIC candidates (yes, I'm yelling with those all caps.) New York City deserves a fresh start with a visionary Mayor who can and will bring her lived experience to bear on the job. AND because ranked choice voting is in effect, it's a more open field. I love Maya Wiley, Dianne Morales and Kathryn Garcia. They're all electable if you vote for them.

 

Stay safe!

xDiana

magnolia blossoms against a blue sky with a few light clouds

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I made something new!

I made something new!

And I'm in love. I always wanted a singular pearl drop, super simple and luminous and elegant. And lo, I finally made one. It's lovely, truly. I'm pleased.

Available in 14kt rose or yellow gold or sterling silver, suspended from a delicate 18" chain, with stunning Tahitian pearls in deep grey or creamy lustrous white.

Aren't they splendid? :)

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Ok I admit it

Ok I admit it

Ok I admit it

I’ve been feeling kind of blue. Sure, change is inevitable, but this is extreme.
I’ve reverted to reading YA novels and baking pies. I’m reminded of the summer I was 11, when I spent a lot of time killing time. Walking slowly along the two lane highway to the 7-11 half a mile away to peruse the Tiger Beat magazines (Ralph Macchio! Ricky Schroeder! Menudo!!) and buy $2 blue Wet n’ Wild nail polish, and Charleston Chews or Tangy Taffy to put in the freezer for later cracking and eating. That summer was all Madonna Borderline and baking cakes from boxes. And waiting. For what? To grow up? For middle School to start? Something to happen.
I’m more sophisticated now. Maybe. But I find that I’m waiting, again. Now it's that so much is happening, it’s like the ocean is churning up all the nasty bits that have been decaying on the sea floor, and everything feels cloudy and dangerous and strange. Things I’ve taken for granted have crumbled away: casual hugs from friends, summer camp for my kids and visiting family out of state, spontaneous dates for drinks or dinners in lovely air-conditioned restaurants, music festivals in the parks, the yoga studio I frequented for almost a decade.
And the store. My store, the familiarity and rhythms, the air and shapes and warm customers. While I continue to be both relieved and certain that I made the right call under the circumstances, its absence is still strange.
I’ve made our Feminist Gold tee in blue, in a very limited run, though with more coming. It’s beautiful. Some in rose are back too, as are the original oatmeal grey, and the charcoal long sleeve is in in all sizes (hooray!) There are some new and beautiful unisex colors too, with limited sizing options. Supply chains and printing are sluggish and uncertain, but coming back online, like the flickering console on the USS Enterprise.
in-house models earning their keep
While this strange summer continues to unfurl, while I continue to bake, make masks, and obsessively follow the churning upheaval tearing through the country, I am not losing sight of the election looming ahead of us. I imagine we’ve always said each one is “The Most Important” but this time there’s no fucking around.
99 days. Stay engaged. Find a Senate race that speaks to you and phone bank, send postcards, plug in. When you doubt what your one voice, one person can contribute, look at the damage one man has wrought, and dig in.
Summer reading: I'm looking forward to Zadie Smith’s Intimations, a slim volume of essays, written during the first three months of the pandemic; and thoroughly enjoyed reading Calypso, by David Sedaris, which is not new, but he is funny, frank and unblinking about his own foibles and family in mid-life in such a disarming and inspiring way, it was a joy to spend time with. 
Pie, why not? Stress baking continues to be a fruitful outlet for me (sorry. couldn't help it)
Postcards to Voters, because Stacey Abrams said it really really works.
Fortify yourself by listening to this episode of The Daily on the life and legacy of John Lewis.
Keep on keeping on, because even tho the horses are tired and the riders aren’t sure which way to go, we are still the cavalry.
xoDiana
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News: yes, *that* news

News: yes, *that* news

Dear friends,

It is with a full heart and clear eyes that I announce the closing of the brick and mortar incarnation of my business. It has been my deepest pleasure and privilege to have been part of our community for the past 18 years.

I am proud of the space I held here, and grateful to all of you for embracing me and this dream that I had had since childhood; I did it.

I opened my doors on April 18th, 2002 on what was an almost desolate stretch of Fifth Avenue. Only two months later I discovered that I was pregnant with my first son, Max. My family and my store grew up together, and I realized my great good fortune to have landed in this spot: a community bursting with smart and caring people, who welcomed both.

We weathered a lot, and have seen many come, and go, along the way. I admit I miss the weird and wonderful places that existed at the beginning; the rents were reasonable enough to take a chance and express one’s self through one’s singular vision, without too much concern about the “market”. Maybe after the tidal waves of C19 subside that ground will become fertile again.

My store has been an expression of me and where I was throughout the years: in the early days I carried pretty lacy things, but they soon gave way to more pragmatic pretty things, looking to outfit the women in our area in both comfort, quality, and beauty. I embraced the burgeoning sustainable-fashion movement from the get-go: was a pioneering outpost for collections like Prairie Underground, Organic by John Patrick, Loomstate and Edun, Katherine Hamnett, Skin; I bought Tom’s first shoe collection, which I couldn’t sell to save my life (ha!) sold hundreds of Sven boots and Dr. Scholl’s sandals; we championed smaller designers, carrying Erica Tanov, Araks, Modaspia, and Europeans like Hartford and Hanro, with textiles to die for. I was always looking for tactile gratification along with fit and form.

Along the way I gave up trying to keep my personal and political lives separate from the store persona. It had become ever clearer that the personal is political and the political is personal. I’ve never regretted it; it opened up so many conversations, and blurred the lines. We are all so much more than our profession or public face.

I am thrilled to have used my space to advocate for women, for artists, for equality, for rich and equal public school opportunities for all of our kids.

I think the why of our closing is obvious, and the what’s next is unknown.

To the nitty-gritty: help me to clear out! Shop! As of now, everything is 25% off, discount applied automatically. There are BEAUTIFUL pieces, and summer is coming. A fresh drop from Hartford landed last week. Xirena dresses are in in bright colors and in all their cotton glory. Velvet tees, and Prairie pants.
And the other stuff too: fixtures and some good furniture. Anyone need a nine foot long butcher block?! It’s pretty awesome. Please feel free to reach out, I'm available for personal shopping and would happily put together items for you to try on. hello@dianakane.com.

My online store will remain open, carrying predominantly my things: jewelry, Feminist Tees, the collaborative Jenny Belin buttons, and any remaining stock. I look forward to putting my resources toward developing new jewelry and new projects. 
 
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Here we are, update 4/20, COVID-19, day 9 million

Here we are, update 4/20, COVID-19, day 9 million

Hi all,

We've been closed for five weeks now. 

What have I been up to? Probably the same as every owner of every business you pass on the street who has been mandated closed: trying to figure out how to save my store.

That and making masks and sourdough, because I'm a pandemic cliche. I'm getting pretty good at both.

Thank you all for the support, the online purchases, the gift certificate purchases and the words of encouragement. Keep it up! It means the world.

I'd be lying if i said what we're facing isn't dire.

Sending big love to all. Stay safe! Stay home! Wear your masks! Shop local.. online

xDiana

PS, if you're local and want sourdough starter, I'm happy to share

Dr Laura Melville

Dr. Laura Melville, Emergency Physician at Methodist and a girlfriend of mine for 17 years, picking up cloth masks to wear on her bike commute

Nobody in my house is wearing real pants, but we are clapping and cheering for essential workers at 7pm each night

Strangest and most tragic Spring in my 25+ years in Brooklyn, but still beautiful

 

 

 

 

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New Year, new store :)

New Year, new store :)

We're up and going, so clean and bright and fresh, and flush with new, and new to us, merch. The lucky finds include pieces from Rebecca Taylor, Tucker, Archerie, Layla, Erica Tanov, Madewell, Matta and so much more. Come take a looksee. Find our buying and selling guide here

Portrait paintings by Jenny Belin

feminist tees and buttons

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