colorful conversations

Archive for the ‘About Company C’ Category

• 02.04.10 

  What is Colorful Living?

  Our tag line at Company C is “designs for Colorful Living.” We’re often asked how did we come up with this statement?

  Just before starting Company C, Walter and I listened to a cassette tape —Live Your Dreams by Les Brown. We both love design, love business and love to travel… so how could we live our dreams—and create a business out of them?

  I can remember listening to the tape as if it were yesterday. Our son Alex was 6 months old (he’ll be 17 next month!) and we were traveling in our white Isuzu Trooper on our way to our family cottage in western Massachusetts with our golden retriever, Major, happily catching air out the window. We listened intently to the tape and were very inspired…that trip set in motion our dream to create our business—Company C!

  Walter and I both love adventure. Traveling. Living in the great outdoors. Skiing in the Rockies. Kayaking on Frenchman’s Bay in Maine. Cooking fabulously colorful meals (Walter). Mixing paints by the ocean (me—and trying to make a painting out of them!). And we share these adventures with our two teenage sons, friends and family. So living colorfully needed to be an important part of our business.

  We love color and it’s our signature at Company C. Our design team experiments with many color combinations every day. We add adventure to the combinations, always keeping them fresh.

  Colorful Living has a double entendre for us! So…Dream…with your mind soaring to the sky, imagine what you can create.

  What’s Colorful Living mean to you?

  Chris & Walter Chapin

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• 01.13.10 

  We resolve to…

  In 2010, Company C resolves to be a customer first organization that delivers extraordinary experiences resulting in raving fans.

  Our owners wanted to share their New Years Resolutions as well….

  

  Walter Chapin, Co-Owner and President

  I will ask more questions and listen, just like I “tell” my kids to do.

  Chris Chapin, Co-Owner and Design & Creative Director

  I resolve to finally finish decorating our house! You’re thinking “I can’t believe Chris & Walter’s house is not totally finished.” Well …the story goes something like this…we moved to this house four years ago…during this time; we’ve used it for three photo shoots, with another Fall 2010 shoot going on this week! Our house is constantly in motion with rugs and furniture moving frequently in and out. It’s never quite settled because with each new season, I want to live with our newest collections. So in 2010, I resolve to finally finish it—top to bottom. And to make sure I stick to my resolution, I’ll take you on the journey with me—with monthly updates in our blog.

  I also want to continue to follow my passion for adventure and developing colorful, new products. My overactive brain wants to explore so many places and is always thinking of new ideas and designs. So for resolution number two—I will travel to an exotic country where I haven’t been yet, to live adventurously, explore and develop a colorful new collection. I’ve been designing it in my head for months now. Stay tuned and I’ll reveal more of the concepts as the year progresses…

  Thanks everyone! Hope to hear from you all soon.

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• 01.08.10 

  Here’s to a Colorful New Year full of colorful possibilities…

  

  We announced a Facebook contest a couple of weeks ago, challenging our customers and fans to share their colorful New Years resolutions with us. We had an outpouring of wonderful responses! It was extremely difficult to select a winner so we decided to have one grand prize winner with three additional runners up. So here goes…

  The 4′6 x 6′6 rug of choice goes to Heather Hilton who resolves to… “look around my life and find positive things in everything I do. I will remember to be amazed at the love around me and not dwell on the negative.”

  Runners up who will receive a 2′ x 3′ accent rug include these inspiring individuals….

  Pamela Talbot Syverson
  I resolve not to make any resolutions whatsoever. Because every day is a new beginning – to discover, explore, learn something new, let go of yesterday, rearrange my life. And I won’t be disappointed if I don’t keep a resolution because I just start all over again tomorrow.

  Mary Martin Keller
  I resolve to not fear color, but to use it with abandon!

  Debra Prescott
  I resolve to lighten up and have more fun this year.

  And we would like to give a honorable mention to Vicki Ginsburg. We all felt her poem needed to be published for all to read because it is amazingly creative! Thank you, Vicki!

  

  I have a “prototype” by Company C,
  That truly makes my room,
  My wish this year is to be rich enough,
  To have my whole house bloom!

  I dream and plan that Tuileries
  Will grace my parlor floor;
  But Maison and Brittany Blue had been on my mind
  For a very long time before….

  

  I delight in all the florals…

  the petal, the leaf, the plume.

  To be surrounded with such beauty

  Is more than I can presume.

  Rise and Shine each morning
  Will greet me by my door;
  And the garden of colorful Giverny
  always makes my spirits soar~

  

  So now, my Dear Company C,
  Please bring me this visual perfume.
  And please do not ever tell me
  That it will require me having a groom!

  My pocketbook is meager
  (Oh, I hate to be a bore);
  Show kindness to this faithful Fan
  And send Love straight from your Store!

  Check out our Facebook page for more colorful resolutions! www.facebook.com/colorfulliving

  We’re a fan of Facebook contests so any ideas, please throw them our way! We have some ideas for Mother’s Day, Birthdays, etc….but we need more fun contests so let’s hear it.

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• 12.22.09 

  Living in the future!

  I can’t believe another design season is quickly coming to an end. We’re shooting our Fall 2010 collection this week and yet it feels as though we just started our design concept boards days ago.

  What I find most satisfying is pulling the look together at the photo shoot. I love how our initial design concepts of the collections come to fruition in our room shots. The process can sometimes feel like giving birth—one forgets about the agonizing pain after we see a beautiful baby! At photo shoot, I forget about some of the frustrations–design prototypes being approved and the photo sample coming in a few shades lighter, prototypes arriving later than promised and furniture made the wrong way. But when it all comes together at the shoot, it’s fabulous and the fun begins—playing with rugs, pillows, throws, colorful chairs and beautiful flowers. What could be more exciting!

  I’m so lucky to shoot with a such great team—Joe Lamere our photographer and his assistant Nancy Belluscio, Paul Newman our stylist and Frank Higham, owner of a landscape business in season, but filling in as our trusted prop supervisor and furniture relocation specialist…and all at Company C. We have a lot of fun despite the amount of ironing, dusting, vacuuming and moving, and not to mention the occasional rust blop from the iron on a delicate silk pillow that shows up right in front of the lens!

  All in all, we took a lot of great shots of our Fall 2010 collection from the 150 year old Historic Holt-Chase house. We lost daylight early since we’re close to the shortest day of the year, but what we did get was nice perspectives–great built-ins and architectural details as backdrops for our living, dining and bed rooms.

  Can’t wait to share these with you soon. In the meantime, Happy Holidays!

  Chris Chapin

  Design & Creative Director

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• 12.18.09 

  Tuscan White Bean Holiday Dip/Soup

  Winter is the perfect time to be in the mountains gliding through fresh powder, or strolling the shops looking for the local bakery. When it’s time to come in doors nothing is better than a smooth and savory dish to warm you head to toe. You may want to try my Tuscan White Bean recipe. It smells so good on the stove, everyone loves it and it’s easy to make. Think rosemary, sage and garlic.

  This perennial favorite is great when entertaining or any time.  And with a little more Chicken stock, the dip can easily be made into a soup.   Share it and enjoy!

  Cheers, – Walter

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• 11.20.09 

  Food for thought…

  Turkey, stuffing, football, pies, cornucopias, afternoon naps, hot toddies. Just a few words we all associate with Thanksgiving. But really, I think we sometimes forget what it’s truly all about—a time to celebrate everything we’re grateful for. I was reminded of this when I was reading the recent issue of Martha Stewart Living. It’s not a magazine I read often, but I have to say I was mesmerized by all the creative, and surprisingly simple, holiday project how-tos. I came across one that is a balanced mix of charming, fun and meaningful. Called “leaves of thanks,” the idea is to have family and friends write down what they’re thankful for on leaf-shaped paper cutouts (makes for a festive decorative piece, too!). Turn it into a game by having everyone guess who wrote what or just read the sentiments aloud with everyone around the table.

  

  leaves of thanks, Martha Stewart Living, November 2009

  So stop, and think for just a moment, “What am I thankful for?” The most important things come to you first, and then when you really dig deep, you realize how much there is to be thankful for. It’s inspiring.

  I’m thankful for people’s ability to love—family, friends and even strangers. I’m thankful for laughter, whichever way it comes about, and I’m thankful for opportunity. How about you?

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• 11.17.09 

  Fair Trade Gift Guide 2009

  Social responsibility has always been at the core of Company C’s values. So we’re thrilled to announce that our Yukata rug is featured in the Fair Trade Gift Guide 2009.

  

  This guide includes socially conscious gifts selected from Goodweave’s member companies. The purchase of any of these products, including our Yukata rug, helps directly combat poverty. Not to mention bring positive change to the lives of people all over the world.

  

  Named after traditional summer kimonos and inspired by colorful Japanese gardens, this handcrafted rug is the perfect way to give the gift of color this holiday season. And the GoodWeave certification ensures that this gorgeous rug was created using fair trade practices.

  There’s also a free shipping code associated with our listing. If you use the code GWSHIP, you’ll receive free FedEx ground shipping on your web order at www.companyc.com. This offer excludes furniture.

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• 11.11.09 

  We give a hoot…

  Roots. There’s always that something special about your roots—where it all began. As you might know, Company C started in New Hampshire out of the owners’ garage, and today we continue to run our corporate offices and design studio out of the Granite State. As a salute to our roots, we recently partnered with New Hampshire Audubon Society, an organization with the mission to protect New Hampshire’s natural environment for wildlife and for the people. It was a perfect match: It’s our mission every day to enhance people’s surroundings and inspire them to share the joys of Colorful Living (and we like to do this through more than just home furnishings). Especially in the autumn, New Hampshire’s landscapes transform into an inspirational palette of colors and textures. Company C values its beautiful home; it made perfect sense to contribute to maintaining its beauty…

  

  Newfound Lake, New Hampshire, October 09 (photo by G. Talbot)

  Read the rest of this entry »

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• 11.02.09 

  Dedicated to a world without breast cancer….

  Our first-time Passion for Pink event was very successful! We would like to thank all of you who participated; as a result of your support Company C will be making a donation of nearly $40,000 to benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. For two-days, Company C donated 15% of sales from our website; three retail stores in Hingham, MA, Portland, ME and Concord, NH; national base of wholesale customers; and our tradeshow in High Point, NC to benefit national and local breast cancer awareness, research and education.

  We had customers coming in because of our “color with a cause” theme, and they were drawn into our space because of the interactive board and color pink. Reading all of the quotes on the interactive board was extremely inspirational. Customers paid tribute to loved ones, signed their names, posted quotes, etc.

  We worked with Becky Burke, chair of the Komen VT-NH Race for the Cure.  We were very excited to call her with the results. Seventy-five percent of the donation will be dedicated to local community breast cancer education, treatment and screening programs. So the donation will make a real impact in both New Hampshire and Vermont.. The remaining twenty-five percent will go to the national Susan G. Komen for the Cure Grants Program to fund breast cancer research. For more information about Susan G. Komen for the Cure, breast health or breast cancer, visit www.komen.org or call 1.800.IMAWARE.

  To see more photos from the event, please visit our facebook page at www.facebook.com/colorfulliving.

  Dedicated to a world without breast caner – Susan G. Komen for the Cure®.

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• 10.19.09 

  A Pet-Inspired Holiday…

  We recently launched a collection of holiday pillows and accent rugs. The majority of the products in the collection are inspired by pets, more specifically by dogs. Not being a dog-owner myself, I went to the design team to learn more about the inspiration behind this new collection. I probably should note that all four members of the design team are dog owners.

  Here are the comments that I received when asking why they’re so inspired by their dogs. We’d love to hear your feedback as well! Are you inspired by your pet? Tell us about it! Read the rest of this entry »

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