What was the inspiration for the catalog stories and artistic design?
A. Several areas. When we started the catalog it was black and white with sketches and copy, and if you ever saw it, you’d say, “Oh my God.” But it hit a chord. What we wanted to do was to romance the product. Instead of hearts and kisses, it’s about the romance of the journey — taking you from one time and place to another that’s more interesting. All the experts said, “You are going to fail because people don’t have time to read.” They said you absolutely cannot use these sketches in the book. Q. Does it take confidence to resurrect the company after Chapter 11? A. There is no logical answer for that. It is either inside you or it isn’t. But one of the great learning experiences that I had in life is playing baseball. In baseball you learn that failure is temporary. If you get one hit in three at bats, you hit .333. If you hit .333 for 10 years in the majors you are in the Hall of Fame. You fail twice to succeed once. Eventually you learn you make an error and you forget about it. A
