Karen Kops considers her manicures to be an ongoing art project. “Nails are like little canvases,” she told me. Sherri Coates, her business partner at Poppy & Monroe, the nail salon and skin care center in Germantown, agreed. I spoke to both women about what drove them to open Nashville’s first clean beauty boutique and nail salon. Brett Warren took their portrait.
Read MoreNashville’s coffee culture is in its golden age. One of it’s undisputed leaders is Andy Mumma, owner of Barista Parlor, with five Nashville locations. Artist Bryce McCloud of Isle of Printing is his best friend and creative partner; together, they dream up the ecclectic, art-driven concepts that define Andy’s spaces. I talked to them about their very special symbiotic relationship, which has resulted in some of the most memorable public interiors in Nashville’s recent history. Darling Jo McCaughey took photos.
Read MoreFrom the start, I’ve known that the The Callaway Report would expand its coverage of the lives and work of creative people to include their homes. I love talking to my interior design-savvy friends about the inspiration behind their favorite rooms and hearing the backstories of the possessions that they love the most. In the process of telling me about their spaces and the things that fill them, my friends inevitably reveal something new about themselves. Those revelations are the heart of My Space, an occasional interiors feature. I copped out and started with myself; Caroline Allison was kind enough to indulge me with photos.
Read MoreWhen I was a child, my mother frequently dressed me and my two younger sisters in matching outfits. It was fine when we were little, but we finally put the kibosh on dressing in triplicate when we were teens. The Watson Twins never said enough; they still dress alike when they appear on stage together. They were kind to delve into twin-dressing psychology with me and to model their coordinating touring wardrobe for Brett Warren, who cooked up a marvelous shoot in my East Nashville backyard.
Read MoreLike many Bloomy Rind customers, I go to Kathleen with cheesy questions, looking for cheesy solutions. And whether I’m making a cheese plate or a pizza, she’s never let me down. Girlfriend knows her way around a dairy case. She launched The Bloomy Rind in 2010, the same year she debuted the Southern Artisan Cheese Festival. For many years, she operated TBR out of Porter Road Butcher in East Nashville, where she sold many locally made cheeses. We talked about this and more. Caroline Allison took her photo - with baby goats!
Read MoreI don’t drink but I do enjoy going to bars — certain bars, that is. Nice, clean ones that don’t smell like the floor of a frat house on a summer Sunday morning. Chic ones that have low lighting and a sound system that doesn't go to 11. You know, adult bars. Over the last few years, Nashville has gone through a bar renaissance. One of the leaders was the now-shuttered Bar Luca. Not long after they opened, I spoke to the owners; today, it reads like a time capsule to early 2016. Andrea Behrends took the photos.
Read MoreSometimes a store is more than just a store. Arguably, the very best retail environments transcend being just places to shop and serve as pseudo-classrooms, talent incubators, and places for like-minded people to gather and share ideas. Wilder, the contemporary home store in Germantown, is all of those things, not to mention a direct representation of owners Ivy and Josh Elrod’s personalities - which, in the context of being store owners, is equal parts boldly creative and quietly nurturing. I spoke to the couple - who have become good friends - about their lives, in and out of the store. Andrea Behrends was the photographer.
Read MoreLately, I’ve heard some smart, observant people in my circle (including my first subject, Ivy Elrod) refer to current-day Nashville as “the Wild West." By this, they mean my adopted hometown is a place of possibility and promise where, at this particular point in time, people are taking bold chances and investing in unique ideas, figuratively and literally.
Circa 2016, Nashville is a welcoming place for creative people to live and work. Rent is relatively cheap. The community is interested and supportive. It’s accessible geographically: I can fly direct to NYC in less than two hours and be in LA in five. The perfect storm.
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