As anything scales too effectively - from fashion to restaurants to music - the market opens for more non-scalable alternatives. Once Starbucks opens on every block, many of us crave the artisanal coffee shop. Once our favorite Italian restaurant becomes a chain of three, we grow tired of it. Why? First, so much of what we buy and do is tied up in... See more

»I look at the net as a neighborhood. I want to live in a neighborhood with funky houses, neighbors who greet me on the street and have something to say. Not amidst office sky-disgracers, plastered with useless billboards and littered with forgotten glossy flyers. I want my house to have a warm glow, like people really live there. I have given my... See more

“Imagine visiting an old, indie bookshop nestled in a quiet corner of the town square. The smell of aged paper, the creak of wooden floors, and the personalised recommendations from the owner create an atmosphere that feels intimate and real. This bookshop seems authentic and personal, in contrast to a charmless chain bookstore in a commercial

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“People are reaching for work with a little dirt under its nails. Designers are rediscovering soul,” Spencer continues. “You can feel it — this hunger to make things that breathe, that feel lived in. This isn't about rejecting digital — it's about bringing humanity back into it.”

but one of the beautiful things about the old "kissaten," the cafes of pre-specialty-coffee Japan, is that they're often heavily customized by the owners, with Viennese lamps, or teddy bears, or Oscar Wilde-esque velvet everywhere. Blue Bottle's Nestle turn (the aesthetic aspects involving James Freeman's fondness for Apple Stores and Shake Shack)

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