lost in thought
with Claire Mazur

Co-founder, Of a Kind

I'm inspired by Danny Meyer. He's managed to scale his business while maintaining a really personal touch and high quality of customer service and product. I just finished reading Setting the Table, which is an amazing business book he wrote about hospitality. And I gave my parents The Gramercy Tavern Cookbook for their anniversary because it's one of their favorite date spots. They've been loving the recipes and personal stories.

My favorite app is Proust. You create lists of things, rank them, and then send them to your friends to compare. Kind of like that game 'Do, Marry, Dump.' It is therapeutic, hilarious, a great bonding tool, and addictive. In that order.

My favorite color:
I love a pale, muted peach. Sort of the color of untanned leather. I remember right before we launched Of a Kind The Gentlewoman came out with its first issue. It was that perfect shade of salmon with Pheobe Philo on the cover and I was so obsessed with it. I tried really hard to get our web designer at the time to basically cover our whole website in it. I think he just obliged with a few buttons.

The very next thing on my to-do list is booking a hotel room in Vegas for a friend's wedding in March. I haven't been there since I was a kid so I'm pretty excited. I'm just so curious about whole experience.

I'm looking for but can't find a good, reasonably priced sushi restaurant in Manhattan.

If I had a one year sabbatical, I would take classes in Photoshop, computer programming, art, and photography.

At the moment, I'm obsessed with Flat Vernacular's wallpaper designs.

As of now, I'm totally over
cheeky sayings in unexpected fonts and/or places. Things like "Fuck Off" written in scripty old-English on a needlepoint pillow. The design world needs to come up with a new take on irony.

I'd define my personal style as casual and comfortable, these days. In 2012 my business partner, Erica and I tried our hands at fundraising, which meant lots of meetings with people in suits'and us donning our own (terrible and uncomfortable) versions of business casual. Ever since then I never take a jeans and flats day for granted.

The next stamp on my passport is Japan! I'm going to Tokyo for my honeymoon in May and I'm crazy excited (if a little intimidated by the planning part).

Find out more about Claire's participation in FUSE 2014 ?? 2014 IIR Holdings, LTD. All Rights Reserved.