Check out Brooklyn Kitchen

At 3rd Ward's Handmade Holiday event Sunday (full post to come tomorrow), I got to see tons of amazing crafters and artists and creative people. One of the booths that really caught my eye was from Brooklyn Kitchen of Williamsburg. I got to chat with Harry a minute and admired their great selection of vintage kitchenware.

After checking out their site, Brooklyn Kitchen seems like such a great place for community, with classes like pig butchering (read a great blog post here by Cathy of NotEatingOutinNewYork about it) and knife sharpening, free recipes (with an entire category of ramen!), new kitchenware, and I think its completely brilliant that they also sell vintage/heirloom kitchenware (why don't more businesses have even small selections of vintage merchandise?). I don't get out to the 'burg often, but Brooklyn Kitchen is on my list of places to go!

With so many large retail chains and corporations on shakey ground, it seems like a paradigm shift HAS to take place. Businesses can't be soley driven by monetary profits, but by community building, investment in education, and in bringing joy to people's lives. With the downturn of the economy, my hope is that people broaden their thinking of modern econmics to beyond numbers in a bank accout, but to ways that money can used as a tool to build a happier life. You don't need to buy five DVDs--you should take a class on hoiday pie baking, getting in touch with the alchemy of cooking, and sharing the labors of your love with friends and family.

So here's to Brooklyn Kitchen, a great example of a wonderful small business that's making the world a better place!

PS Their blog is great too!