Tips How To Munch On Dates

Sun Dec 7, 2008, 12:47 am | 1 Comment

I just read an article-cum-news (news-cum-article??) yesterday about a Kuwait Sheik Spinning the Recession: Sheik Majed Al-Sabah posted by Linda Tischler.

The article states that Americans may be in a state of gloom about the economy – no kidding, but it’s still a beautiful day in the neighborhood, if you live next door to Sheik Majed Al-Sabah.

He is the man the New York Times dubbed “The Sheik of Chic.” Apparently he has, somewhat of a , chic luxury retail chain Villa Moda for some years now.

The nephew of the Emir of Kuwait, Majed was in Miami this week to launch his latest venture, Al Sabah Art & Design Collection, during Art Basel Miami. The gallery will officially open in March in Dubai.

We have been so busy in our personal finances and debt this and debt that, that we missed his inauguration, whenever that was. It’s a shame.

The author says Americans may be in a state of gloom about the economy. What is she talking about? We just have some minor problems like recession, depression, unemployment of perhaps historic proportions, foreclosures, non-existent credit, losing jobs, losing homes, losing sanity. Big deal! Gimme a break.

The Sheik says his business is booming. “We sold out our first gallery of merchandise and had to restock,” says, offering me (me here is the author, not me, haha) and other passersby dates, pastries, and tea. “People come from the fair where a chair is $45,000 and our chair is $7000. So the price is right.”

The author didn’t say they were home-made pastries or from some coffee shop nearby. She didn’t talk about that, only about the $7,000 chair.

But while he wants to move his merch, the Sheik says he is sensitive to our economic pain. “I don’t want to come here in an arrogant way,” he says. “I could jack up my prices, and say, ‘This is design. Take it or leave it,’ but no. I want to touch the hearts of everyone. We respect people. We respect their budgets.”

“We respect people. We respect their budgets.” We are gonna sell them $7,000 chair, perhaps $30,000 sofa. As long as we respect their budgets, we don’t care if some of them lost their homes, their kids stopped going to college – no more next semester.

We are so used to these things. For me, it’s just blahblahblah. My apologies to you, oh Sheik. It’s just that we are not on the same page.

Read the article on fastcompany.com in full: Spinning the Recession: Sheik Majed Al-Sabah posted by Linda Tischler.

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