This year our energy will be primarily focused on delivering an increasingly better product for our Mindful Art subscribers. We plan to continue finding and collaborating with the world’s best artists and illustrators to bring our monthly themes to life.

Additionally, we will also begin to make our subscription art available for online purchase (though it will never be at the same discounted rate received by our subscribers!). Similar to a farmer’s CSA where people commit to the farmer's product, our monthly subscribers’ commitment helps us plan ahead and focus more on creating versus selling.

In addition to the subscription changes, we will continue our passion project Mindful Matter, an online publication written collaboratively by members of our community and thoughtfully edited by Helen, our Community Love Director.

Sara, our Head of Production, will continue to make sure all our products, prints and posters that you receive are of exceptional quality and arrive in a timely fashion. In addition, she will be sourcing some new Manifesto inspired products, like the Manifesto Mug we released this past year.

Mikey, our Head of Wholesale, will be working closely with Massiel, our Sales Support, to bring Holstee goods into some of your favorite local design shops. In fact, if any shops come to mind in your neighborhood drop them a line at wholesale@holstee.com - they will definitely appreciate your suggestions!

As always, we will keep you posted as things with the subscription and new designs develop. In the meantime, here are a few links we were sharing this past month among the team.

Links our team shared this month:

• Finally someone is standing up to DuPont [Read]
• A chill song that pairs perfectly with the frost on your window [Listen]
• A reminder of all the reasons why keeping a journal is great [Read]
• A beautifully human exclamation of love by Louie CK [Watch]
• A short and clever read about marketing and millennials [Read]
• A quick history of the Koch brothers on NPR’s Fresh Air [Listen]

In the Kitchen with Mike: I’m making a simple cinnamon bark tea. Just add cinnamon bark to hot water. This is a slow brew tea and gets really good after about 20 minutes of steeping. If you want to experience the full power of the bark, let it steep overnight. It’s loaded with antioxidants, anti-inflammatory benefits and can help lower blood sugar levels in addition to being damn tasty.

In the Shower with Dave: Time to get personal! ;-) This time of year I have dry and often dandruffy hair and about 2 years ago I found the best solution for this recurring problem: Stop shampooing all together! Use a natural conditioner once a week. Everyday give yourself a good head massage (consider a palm comb). Massaging the scalp clears out the dry skin and helps bring out the natural oils. Once you are out of the shower and while your hair is damp, add a touch of Sweet Bee Magic to your hair - it’s not meant specifically for hair, but trust me, it works great. You can also use Sweet Bee for pretty much anything - scars, dry skin, lip balm, minor burns, etc. It’s an all-natural ointment made from bee pollen, honey beeswax and olive oil.

As always, we would love to hear your thoughts and any tips you may have for us!

Your fans,

Mike and Dave