The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
Adult  |  Moonsigns  |  Band Guide  |  Blogs  |  In Pictures
 
Big Fat Whale  |  Failure  |  Hoopleville  |  Idiot Box  |  Lifestyle Features  |  Reality Check
Nominate-best-2010

Mad Men on Mass Ave

How to make your carpets match the Drapers
By SHAULA CLARK  |  December 9, 2009

We have many long, painful, Mad Men–less months stretching ahead of us, as we wait for the show to return to AMC and shower us with more broken marriages, snappy quips, jaw-dropping revelations, and (hopefully) amputated limbs. While we hold out for season 4, help your favorite fans fill the Mad Men–shaped holes in their hearts with the finest vintage and vintage-inspired wares Cambridge and Somerville have to offer.

 MASSAVE_Office_DWRChair
Eames soft-pad management chair from Design Within Reach

OFFICE

If some worthy giftee on your list cries out to have his or her office sleekified, Sterling-Cooper style — and you're willing to drop beaucoup bucks on that person — DESIGN WITHIN REACH (1030 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617.576.3690, dwr.com) is your hookup. Nothing screams "success" like having your executive ass cheeks swaddled by their Eames soft-pad management chair ($1899/fabric seats; $2349/leather). And hey, big spender, while you're at it, ring up SEARS (100 Cambridgeside Place, Cambridge, 617.252.3500, sears.com) to order your very own riding mower (approximately $1000–$3000) in time for your impending drunken company holiday party. If you simply must make it a John Deere, the nearest dealership's at the Powder Mill Sports Center (94 Powder Mill Road, Maynard, 978.897.7882, deere.com). After all, nothing builds office esprit de corps like tourniquetting a co-worker's blade-mangled foot. Plus, come audit time, the tractor can dual as a document shredder.

For Bert Cooper types who prefer Eastern-flavored interior design, TOKAI JAPANESE GIFTS (1815 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617.864.5922, tokaigifts.com) in the Porter Exchange proves a bento box of Asian delights, from desktop Zen gardens ($55), to rice-paper lanterns ($40-$75), to noren ($55–$136) (traditional Japanese fabric dividers).

And though Google Calendar is great and all, it just can't match the dignified, old-school finesse of penciling in client meetings, liquid lunches, and perhaps the occasional "nooner" booty call in a leather-bound appointment book. At BOB SLATE (63 Church Street, Cambridge, 617.547.7181; 1288 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617.547.1230; 1975 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617.547.8624, bobslate.com), you'll find executive ledgers ($65–$150) befitting your favorite high-rolling office bigwig.

But if you're playing Secret Santa to someone more mysterious and alternate-identity-prone, head to BLACK INK (5 Brattle Street, Cambridge, 617.497.1221, blackinkboston.com) for gifts meant to be locked inside the desk: say, some classy letterpressed stationery ($3.50–$8) for the aspiring philanderer (after all, those clandestine, marriage-wrecking mash notes aren't going to write themselves) or a couple pairs of dog tags ($4/set of three) for the man with multiple identities.

MASSAVE_Office_BlackInk 
Letterpressed stationery from Black Ink


HOME

If you'd like to inflict a hideous old chip-'n-dip set on some WASPy young urbanite newlyweds (just resign yourself to the idea that the recipient will try to trade it in for an executive hunting rifle), Somerville is your hookup. Though we found nothing quite so grimly festive as Pete and Trudy Campbell's tomato-and-lettuce tray, the viscera-pink, kidney-shaped ceramic serving dish ($24) we stumbled on at POOR LITTLE RICH GIRL (255 Elm Street, Somerville, 617.684.0157, shoppoorlittlerichgirl.com) in Davis Square (there are locations in Cambridge and the Back Bay, too) makes for a pretty effing unforgettable gift. But if you require a platter with style, get thee to ABODEON (1731 Mass Ave, Cambridge, 617.497.0137, abodeon.com), that bastion of handsome and functional design. Here, carefully curated vintage gems rub elbows with über-modern, minimalist salad tongs and wine aerators. And just a cursory sift reveals some clutch '60s pieces. On a recent visit, a few iridescent Murano dishes caught our eye ($35–$85), as did a swanky little swarm of jewel-toned enamel bowls ($20–$45).

1  |  2  |  3  |   next >
Related: Ghost writer, Spare Us the Early Onslaught of Christmas!!, Feel the music, More more >
  Topics: Lifestyle Features , Culture and Lifestyle, James Bond, Boutique Fabulous,  More more >
  • Share:
  • Share this entry with Facebook
  • Share this entry with Digg
  • Share this entry with Delicious
  • RSS feed
  • Email this article to a friend
  • Print this article
HTML Prohibited
Add Comment

ARTICLES BY SHAULA CLARK
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   REVIEW: DEAR JOHN  |  February 05, 2010
    "We're sitting here . . . and we're talking, but nobody's actually saying anything."
  •   REVIEW: SUNDANCE SHORTS 2009  |  January 13, 2010
    Welcome to the world of "Sundance Shorts 2009," where the happy endings tend to look more like reprieves from misery.
  •   REVIEW: IN SEARCH OF BEETHOVEN  |  January 06, 2010
    Phil Grabsky's exhaustive documentary doesn't exactly dispel any stereotypes about Beethoven's being a shaggy genius prone to rages.
  •   52 WAYS TO LEAVE 2009  |  December 30, 2009
    Your usual lackadaisical approach to New Year's Eve — just see what happens and go with the flow — is not going to cut it this year. Sure, the end of this decade may not have the same kind of new-millennium pressure riding on it as the last one, but the plunge into 2010 is a milestone nonetheless.
  •   REVIEW: BROTHERS  |  December 09, 2009
    Operation Enduring Freedom seems to have replaced Vietnam as Hollywood's go-to military quagmire from which to dredge gut-wrenching meditations on the psychological carnage of war.

 See all articles by: SHAULA CLARK

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed 



  |  Sign In  |  Register
 
thePhoenix.com:
Phoenix Media/Communications Group:
TODAY'S FEATURED ADVERTISERS
Copyright © 2010 The Phoenix Media/Communications Group