Category Archive

(Also see our Fall 2012 Newsletter) Dear Neighbors, Most every Thursday from 2 ‘til 6 PM, and sometimes through dinner, I get to gather with an amazing group to tackle “design” projects for QW. We’ve been doing this for years, and it is a blast! I love most every aspect of the role I get to play with this outfit, ... Read More

A Rambling about a Journey by Dennis Quaintance (Also see the Fall 2010 Newsletter) Dear Neighbors, Mom taught me that you really don’t have a principle or a conviction unless you are willing to voluntarily inconvenience yourself for it. When our twins landed on this planet 12 years ago, we decided to put our convictions about “Sustainable Practices” (our environmental ... Read More

(Ramblings by Dennis Quaintance) Like everyone, we’ve done some belt tightening, but I challenge anyone to show how doing so has affected his or her experience as a guest. Less people are dining in restaurants and staying in hotels. But that’s just temporary, so we are using this situation as a spark plug to deliver even more for our guests. ... Read More

(Ramblings by Dennis Quaintance) We just got word that the Proximity Hotel and Print Works Bistro are the first anywhere in our industry to be certified LEED® Platinum by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, their highest rating! Mom taught me not to brag — but it’s not bragging if it is true. So ... Read More

I do love that line: “Locavores’ Delight.©” We might have coined it, but obviously we used The Omnivores Dilemma as our inspiration. Locavore was the 2007 Word of the Year for the Oxford American Dictionary. In our lingo, it means a person who likes to eat food near where it was grown or made. It also describes a movement that ... Read More

We named the restaurant Print Works Bistro because it honors our city’s history and it hangs with the hotel’s name. The Proximity Print Works Mill opened in 1912 to print cotton fabrics after its mother, Proximity Cotton Mill, opened in 1896. And “Bistro” seems the optimal handle for a lively restaurant with honest, flavorful food. My bet is that you ... Read More

…or “Design Intervention,™” if you prefer. These names fit our approach to designing spaces for our guests. We wouldn’t recommend our process, even to our friends – sometimes it feels more like a curse than a blessing, but we have so much fun that we can’t imagine changing. The notion of writing about this came up because many people have ... Read More