Circling the globe like we do, and given our network on the inside track, we've never been very satisfied by all those travel advisors and so called style experts who claim to know all about our favorite cities. While a few uber brands are clearly better than most, we're tired of seeing the streets filled with store fronts that make each place we visit seem like dull clones of every other. We adore beauty, originality, invention and genius - qualities that are rarely found in any one brand or chain.We never seem to have enough time in the day, we're always looking for new experiences and better technology, and we've noticed that no one seems to be willing to offer a strong opinion. It's all become "instant" and "nice" but we need it better than that!Years ago, we started to gather our experiences in one place - not just what we wrote in our journals, but a living collection of things like those bits of paper, napkins and matchbooks from incredible restaurants and clubs, and dozens of room service menus from those not-so-well-known hotels. We've got receipts from cool stores and one-of-a-kind boutiques that carry only the best stuff and little gifts from hotels managers when we stayed an extra week in a luxury suite. As we began to share these gems with a few of our friends, we realized we could go one step further and create a presence online - so Charles & Marie was born.Given their desire for up and coming design and their keen interest to support designers from all over the world, Charles & Marie has evolved over the past months to be much more than the online presence that we envisioned it to be in late 2005. Today we are supporting designers from around the globe to manufacture their products, distribute them on international fairs and are developing marketplaces that allow designers to sell their products directly to consumers.What started with Charles & Marie at the end of 2005 is now an international operation that is headed by two industry experts: Marcus Greinke, ex global creative director for the leading global brand consultancy Enterprise IG is making sure the operations in the US run smoothly, whilst Claus Krogmann, ex Vitra country CEO is head over heels involved in growing the european market. Alongside them is a team of fabulous scouts and writers who actively push the idea Charles & Marie instilled in all of them as far out as possible! Without them, it would've never been possible!