Month: May 2019

In her artistically arranged apartment/atelier, Vendula Kalinova has seven sewing machines, 14 birds, seven dressmaker forms and a fluffy-puffy Persian cat named Emma who spends her days prancing on patterns and batting at tape measures. It’s early morning, and the canaries, caged in the kitchen, are singing their hearts out. As the finches look on, Vendula lets Burda the parrot perch on her hand. All of these creatures in this immersive oasis, and, in fact, everything in the world,…

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Janete Chris is arranging silver scissors on a mirrored tray at her styling station. Cutting hair, at least in her hands, is an art form, which is why she has 27 styles of scissors at her side. “It’s not my entire collection,” says Janete, the owner of the hair salon that bears her name. “I have more at home.” She opens a pair of boxes and places her set of Edward Scissorhands-like cutting claws next to the scissors. Janete, who has long golden hair and fire engine-red…

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Ben Rogers is a real shy guy. At least that’s what he says. He has no trouble being on a stage – he is, after all, an actor. But that’s different because when he’s playing a part, he gets to hide behind the character. Talking about himself, well that’s another matter altogether. “I’m a private person,” he says, adding that he hopes he can come up with at least one interesting thing to convey about himself. Ben, lean and despite what he says, loquacious, didn’t…

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Evan Rabin made his first career move when he was 7. All he did was play a game of chess. “My older brother and my dad taught me to move the pieces,” says Evan, the founder of Manhattan-based Premier Chess, which teaches the game to adults and children in five states. “A month later, I played in my first tournament. Two months later, I played in the nationals.” There was nothing extraordinary about his rapid advancement, he says, adding that despite what you may have heard…

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