Divine Goods headed to the Big Apple to the “Super Bowl of markets,” New York Now, to seek new gift items for 2018 baskets and boxes. This market did not disappoint and Divine Good’s head honcho, Adelaide Divine Davenport Naumann took full advantage of the multi day market. Using her skills of organizing and planning, Adelaide charted out her days at the market—connecting with existing vendors and establishing new relationships with talented artisans. Her primary focus was on the handmade section although she somehow managed to take in the whole show.

In terms of new vendors, she signed first with Village Common, a company in upstate NY dedicated to beautiful custom candles inspired from the natural world. The booth itself spoke to the attention to detail and the love of gardens. Divine Goods was impressed by the display, packaging and botanically inspired scents such as geranium and rosemary. Look for this product in Mother’s Day selections and others. Not on her original list, but a booth that grabbed Adelaide’s attention was Urbana Sacs, from Los Angeles. As Adelaide is always looking to expand her selection of containers, she was drawn to what looked like canvas bags. Turned out the bags are a recycled paper that resembles fabric.Guess what? They are washable. The totes promise to be aesthetically pleasing containers for Divine Goods and will be useful bags after the gift is received. From there, Adelaide moved to establish an account with CHART metalworks, a company based in Maine that creates mapped based products. Again, the small batch, attention to detail from this company was a selling point, and Adelaide confirmed plans for southern oriented products.The Made in Maine that the company boasts is proof of the fit for Divine Goods—unique, high quality items. The other vendor worth noting was from California, Batle Studio, who make graphite pencils in the shape of animals and objects such as feathers and hands. Adelaide has a gift of seeking out gifts that are beautiful, functional and just plain cool.

Look for more detail on these vendors and others in upcoming blog posts. Suffice it to say that Divine Goods had a successful trip to New York Now. Dinners out, a trip to Chelsea Market and Broadway’s Kinky Boots were added extras, icing on the cake. And while this market is considered the Super Bowl of Markets, the Super Bowl was also part of the weekend planning. After a big day at the Javits Center, Adelaide and her trusty companion (that’s me, her sister) retired to the hotel room to watch the game in PJ’s with Thai take out, and a couple of glasses of vino. OK, we slept through Justin Timberlake, but we did see the end of the game, and the big reveal on This is Us. A perfect conclusion to the retail Super Bowl.