MA Allen
Interior designer MA Allen will tell you that she lives for the experience and inspiration of travel. Yet she has come home to roost a mere 50 miles from where she grew up, proving that inspiration can also be found…
Author Archives: zonker
Concert for a Cause: Band Together
by Samantha Thompson Hatem It all started in 2001 when Raleigh entrepreneur Danny Rosin and four enterprising young friends – Phil Gruber, Shellie Gruber, Tom Lyon, and Skip Mangum – were feeling helpless in the aftermath of 9/11 and wanted…
Conquering fear, vertically
by Charman Driver On the day I decided to try indoor rock climbing, I didn’t bother to mention to Joel Graybeal, managing partner of the Triangle Rock Club, that I have a fear (let’s call it minor) of heights. As…
Trapeze
by Victoria Reynolds I got so used to letting you go that now I prefer the moment the empty bar dips to the lowest point in its arc then begins its flight upward to where I stand on my platform,…
Design Books: That stand the test of time
by P. Gaye Tapp As someone who has loved books since I was a child checking out biographies from the school library, I’ve come to realize there is no cure for such an addiction. I was born this way. In…
Made in Raleigh: I was here first
photograph by Simon Griffiths When Raleigh commercial photographer Simon Griffiths and his family ordered seven chickens from mypetchicken.com last summer, all but one died en route. His daughter Gillian, 13, named the sole survivor Nemo after the animated fish, and…
I was here first
When Raleigh commercial photographer Simon Griffiths and his family ordered seven chickens from mypetchicken.com last summer, all but one died en route. His daughter Gillian, 13, named the sole survivor Nemo after the animated fish, and Griffiths started photographing her…
Letter from the art world
by Marjorie Hodges As the Raleigh arts community continues to thrive, many local artists, museum directors, curators, dealers, collectors and patrons are on the move, becoming part of the national and international arts scene. Over the last few months, I…
Freshly-squeezed at Pharaoh’s
Once ubiquitous in pharmacies across the South, soda fountains have waned with the advent of fast food. Today, it’s not easy to find the pressed sandwiches, milkshakes and drinks that made them so popular, but Pharaoh’s at North Hills and…
It’s so easy being green… When your ride looks like this
When Raleigh resident Munther Qubain got rid of his Ferarri and replaced it with a new sports car in 2009, the Department of Motor Vehicles didn’t know how to process it. Nobody in North Carolina had registered…
SMALL AND CLEVER: The Martin house thinks big
by Liza Roberts photographs below by Juli Leonard When Steve and Sujitra Martin decided to move to Raleigh from Charlotte in 2006, they knew what they wanted in a house here: Something small but efficient, in a walkable, downtown neighborhood….
GIGI’S GOT IT: In the bag
by Karen Johnson photograph by Lissa Gotwals Gigi Karmous-Edwards exudes a wide-eyed innocence you might not expect from a scientist and engineer of 27 years. But in her new career as handbag designer, a sense of wonder is a vital…
History and tradition at Raleigh Golf Association
by CHARLES UPCHURCH photographs by LISSA GOTWALS I have one golf story. I’m in New Hampshire with my uncle who has invited me to play the local club. It’s noon and the first tee is right beside a patio full…
NANCY WELSH: Builders of Hope
by Todd Cohen We are too quick, in this American life, to throw away the things, and the people, we no longer think we need. Fortunately, Nancy Welsh is here to pick up the pieces. “I’m a sucker for the…