Around the Office

We're shooting an ad for CAMP at our office and we thought it might be interesting for you guys to take a look at space that the entire UNIQUE USA team (7 strong!) works out of.

Point & Shoot: Instagram

Our recent visit to the Pie Hole got so many hits that I thought you guys might be interested in seeing more Instagrams. My instagrams that is! I've been obsessed with the app for a few months (I have to admit that I was NOT an early adopter on this one) and constantly find myself trying to find narrow hallways, alleys, and streets to geometrically align the lines in the shot. If you like what you see, follow me at @maratshaya

Point & Shoot: Portland

Back from an incredible trip to Portland for the first GOOD Ideas for Cities event. The highlight may have been when I met Mayor Sam Adams onstage (photo by the awesomePaul Searle). It was all I could do not to say, “You look familiar. Did I see you on Portlandia?” Although as I talked to him later, I realized he probably would have gotten a kick out of that.

When I’m not hobnobbing with local officials, I absolutely love walking around Portland.

The city is so well-designed and has so many public amenities it feels like you’re in Europe.

Here’s my ridiculously awesome (and graciously upgraded) room at the Ace Hotel. I’ve now stayed in all four properties and I think that the Portland location is my favorite.

Portland always delivers on the culinary front. I had some pretty incredible Austrian food, including this gorgeous salad with candy cane beets and pretzel croutons (!) atGrüner.

And I always love sampling the food carts set up all around Portland, but I’m equally in love with the way they look: little neighborhoods of tiny, colorful, fragrant houses.

I visited PSU’s Graphic Design school to talk to some students. IN PERSON! What a happy, colorful school full of personality.

With some great advice on the wall.

Another kind of wall message. It’s meant to be a rhetorical question, right?

Everything seems to be touched by the hand of an artist or designer in Portland. Their construction barriers are beautiful (and in this case, painted by Chris Johanson).

In Portland, even breakfast can be a work of art.

More from Portland.

SF Point & Shoot

If you follow us on Twitter, you probably know that we spent most of last week in San Francisco scouting for locations for Unique SF! There's a ton of SF content about to flood our site, so brace yourselves :)

NYC Point & Shoot

During a recent trip to NYC I wandered around Chelsea and the fabulous Meat-Packing District...

There are so many cool things to see and discover there, and I'm not even talking about going shopping or to art galleries. I was in heaven just walking around town and looking at buildings. It was also my first time experiencing The High Line! What an inspiration.