From the moment that Derek Fordjour locked eyes with Alexis Johara Fikira Hoag at a December 2019 holiday party in Brooklyn, “I just took an immediate interest in her,” he said. Mr. Fordjour had attended the party, hosted by the visual artist Hank Willis Thomas, with a friend. Ms. Hoag was there on a date,…
Luxury watch brands have always liked the concept of a waiting list and the exclusivity that it often signals to prospective buyers. But with lists becoming more common and growing in both length and duration, some in the industry have warned of rising frustration among consumers who have money in their pockets but are being…
Lucien Steinmann, co-chief executive of Positive Coating, said A.L.D., as the process is commonly called, involved applying a transparent coating of oxidized metals onto a surface, atomic layer by atomic layer, in a vacuum chamber. “Due to the thickness of the coating used for decoration on dials, cases and movement parts, the human eye will…
When you design jewelry for a living, how do you choose your wristwatch? Does the design take priority? Does your watch match your jewelry aesthetics? We asked six female jewelry designers to share what makes them tick. (Their comments have been edited and condensed.) Carolina Bucci Ms. Bucci is a fourth-generation jeweler from Florence, Italy,…
Neil Patrick Harris loves puzzles. He loves games. He has designed a single-player board game, Box One; he plays Wordle daily and consistently scores a 3. An accomplished magician, he delights in magic tricks. Every issue of his newsletter, Wondercade, comes with a riddle of one kind or another. His personality is fizz and bounce,…
Elyse Welles was traveling from Athens to Newark this spring when it finally happened: She was pulled aside for an additional security screening at her gate. After some time searching through Ms. Welles’s backpack, the agent eventually grabbed a bullet-shaped vibrator from the bag and brandished it in the air. “Is this an e-cigarette?” the…
For Devin Kasota Glaser and Alizeh Sadruddin Bhojani, the plan was to have a short fling. When they met in October 2016 at a mutual friend’s birthday party in Seattle, Ms. Bhojani was in her third year of law school at the University of Washington, and had a job lined up in New York. Though…
While dancing around a bonfire to the rhythms of a drum circle in May 2013, Melody Christine Dankemeyer, who goes by the name Melody Sage, felt “a tingling rush of energy” course through her body. It was at that moment when she turned around and caught sight of Rosco Kickingstone Siragusa, who goes by Rosco…
“Can I come over?” It was a simple text. One I probably shouldn’t have been feeling so anxious about having sent as I drove to Matt’s house on the west side of Los Angeles after a late night at the office. But for a Muslim woman in her late 20s who had lived her entire…
Blair Bryant Dawson would be chatted up by many patrons when she worked as a bartender at Catfish in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. But her banter with Daniel Sean Ogorzalek was always a cut above the rest. “You have to have an impeccable repartee to stand out to a bartender who’s chatting with funny patrons regularly,”…