Business
“I started [Pine State Flowers] as a studio florist with a cutting garden, doing deliveries and weddings, but not keeping regular shop hours. The retail part … opened full time last year, which means I spend a lot more time away from home. I typically work 10- or 11-hour days, […]
Rebecca “Becky” Simmons fell in love with Durham when she arrived in 1996 to attend Duke, where she also earned her master’s degree. Younger sisters Rachael Price and Kate Senner were equally captivated and soon joined her. Wanting to launch a business that maximized their strengths, they opened Tre Bella […]
This month, the Brawny Man – red and black plaid flannel, ax wielding, muscular – is off the paper towel packaging for the first time since his inception in 1974. No, he didn’t tire of the monotony of watching grocery shoppers, or feel trapped in a dead-end job (though we wouldn’t […]
When Chas Pippitt started what is now Baseball Rebellion – a multi-faceted baseball training company that is about to open a 13,000-square-foot facility on Bennett Memorial Road in August – it was just “me, a bucket of balls and a prayer,” he says of his days giving lessons out of […]
Recently, Duke University President Richard Brodhead wrote in a column for The News & Observer about the university’s intentional relationship with Durham. “Duke and Durham chose each other, and our destinies are still entwined,” he wrote. Over the last several years, Duke and Durham have continued to join forces on […]
Every now and then – usually as she dangles from a rock face or climbing wall – 27-year-old Tatiana Birgisson stops thinking about how she’s going to take MATI, the energy drink company she founded, to the next level. These moments are fleeting. For someone whose company motto is “Do […]
Before she opened her downtown boutique, before she practiced psychiatry for 10 years in Durham, and before she studied medicine at UNC, Dr. Rebecca Kuhns, 35, was an international studies major at Yale. As an undergrad with an earnest interest in fashion, she was deeply moved when she learned of […]
When you arrive at Mission X Escape, the first thing you’ll notice is a wall covered in photos of past winners and losers. It looms large in the lobby, and is especially intimidating because the loser section is easily two or three times as large as the winner’s. There are currently three themed rooms: Mirage, Vampire […]
Gabriel Eng-Goetz’s signature “DURM” line of clothing has caught on since he launched in 2011, but the sheer velocity of enthusiasm still takes him by surprise. “People embrace [our Runaway] brand so much, and that is so powerful and special to me,” he says. “But at the same time, it’s […]
David Baron and Ryan Cocca have been pursuing a passion for the past four years: the Nugget, a foam couch composed of four pieces that can be stacked and manipulated into any shape one can imagine. What started as a mission to find a replacement for a dorm futon has […]
