My husband Art and I began loose ends in 1987 with very little information, and even less money, but with an incredibly strong desire for "a" extended adventurous wandering". And so, off we went to the Orient with a man we had barely known for four weeks to turn our entire life savings into a silly little product that would shred curling ribbon. That was almost 17 years ago, and the "wanderings" have often been wonderful, sometimes bizarre, frequently full of unexpected surprises, but never, never, NEVER boring. It is our business, our pleasure, our lifestyle, and here we would like to share some of those "wanderings' with you.

We travel. It is what we do. It is when we feel the most alive and focused. Our best conversations and most inspired ideas always take place on the road. Whether we travel for business or pleasure is debatable, since for us there really is no difference. We have traveled all over the world, designing and sourcing the products and look of loose ends. Our designing and buying trips are business, but we always make time for dinner with foreign friends, old and new; long walks in strange cities, and one of our favorites - tucking into a tiny neighborhood pub or outdoor café to soak up the atmosphere of the real people, the local lifestyle, and, of course, to sample a bit of the local brew.

Conversely, when we have gone somewhere just for pleasure we usually have ended up spending more time thinking about things we could incorporate into a loose ends product, or some great project than in relaxing. If we are at a beach I usually bring back a bag of sand, shells, seaweed, maybe dead fish, gull feathers or other bits of "flotsam" to play with. No trip to the mountains is ever complete without a trunk full of pinecones, sticks, rocks and moss. And the desert - well, let us just say that not only are there interesting natural things to think about, but for some reason people seem to use the vast sand and sagebrush area as one big garbage dump.
Amazing what some people throw out.

So, we have had, and continue to have, "an extended adventurous wandering" (what a fabulous definition).
Here are my mental meanderings, memory snippets and lengthy recollections of our personal ODYSSEY.
If you are interested, you're welcome to come along.

Click Here to read "A Business is Born"
Click Here to read "NY First Impressions"
Click Here to read "We Venture To Europe"