Molly Szkotak

Photos by Andrew Thomas Lee
In a newly renovated, decades-old gas station tucked in the bucolic Blue Ridge Mountains, Chef Patrick O’Cain is serving up food you would be more apt to find on a street corner in Chiang Mai, nevermind in a sleepy Southern mountain town. Gan Shan Station is just two miles from O’Cain’s childhood home –“Gan Shan” loosely translates to “Sunset Mountain” in Chinese, the Northern Asheville neighborhood where O’Cain grew up.
After cutting his teeth in Charleston under ...

We created the Ledbury Lab as a place for us to experiment a little and get our hands dirty. We release the collections in limited batches giving us the freedom to try innovative new fabrics and shapes. This month’s release, The Ardmore Shirt Jacket, is especially exciting as it’s already a regular in our weekly rotation.
You never know you needed a shirt jacket until you own one, when it quickly becomes a cornerstone of your wardrobe. Last November, we released the Ralston Shirt Jacket in mi...

This showcases my copy work for Ledbury's email marketing sent to 100K subscribers.

The piece originally appeared on Needsupply.com.
Mastic, or masticha (from the Greek mastichon, “to chew”) is a hardened plant resin secreted by the Pistacia lentiscus shrub. Though the harvesting of mastic resin is nearly ubiquitous across the Mediterranean region, the variety cultivated exclusively on the island of Chios is coveted for its gummy texture and sweet flavor. Mastic’s many uses range from the stabilizing of paint and varnish mixtures, to baking, tire making, and a broad range of...

Shawn Boyer is one of those guys living out the seemingly-impossible startup dream. After co-founding the job search site Snagajob in 1999 and leading its rapid growth as CEO for fourteen years, Boyer has pursued his passion project, in the form of an app. He founded GoHappy in 2016 as a way for families and loved ones to sync up schedules and make planning get-togethers easier. We met him at our 14th St. location when we shared an office space with GoHappy. Read more about what makes this te...

Mark McNairy is an American menswear designer born and bred in North Carolina who first fell in love with menswear while thrifting in his southern hometown.
Inspired by classic suiting and Brooks Brothers, McNairy launched his eponymous line in 2008 with a collection of classic men’s shoes handcrafted in Northamptonshire, UK. His line, Mark McNairy New Amsterdam, has since evolved into a full collection with idiosyncratic flourishes for a fashion-forward and edgy customer rooted in an appreci...

They say the classics “never go out of style.” It’s safe to say that a resort which has offered respite for twenty-six presidents, launched the career of PGA pro Sam Snead, and whose Dorothy Draper-designed decor treads the line between gaudy, trendy and magnificently vintage, can be classified as nothing other than classic. Current New York City gems like Carbone wish that their tuxedo-clad waiters and velvet wallpaper oozed with the class and authenticity of any of the rooms in the century-...

As we always said, it all began with a shirt. When we first set out to make shirts, we wanted to create a product of superior quality with an exceptional fit. In the past six years since our launch in 2009, we believe we have accomplished just that along with fleshing out a full collection of complementary products like pants, polos, sportcoats, and accessories. Making shirts in Virginia has always been our dream but didn’t become a reality until this summer when we acquired Creery Custom Shi...

This has been a pretty unprecedented week for us here at Ledbury. In case you missed it, we released our very first short-sleeve shirt collection. Just to give you some context, a year ago we said we would never make a short-sleeve shirt (we’re traditionalists, what can we say.) After multiple customer requests and with some coaxing, we decided to produce a small collection of short-sleeves in the Ledbury Lab, and it seemed like you guys liked them.
In honor of Mother’s Day, and in the spirit...

Chef David Shannon is not only a James Beard Award-nominated chef; he’s a master at creating an ambiance unlike anywhere else. Step into his moody Oregon Hill restaurant, L’Opossum, and you may feel like you’re on the set of a Twin Peaks-esque remake. His embrace of kitschy design and his wicked sense of humor are evident in every detail of the restaurant (see: a clown-themed bathroom). Paired with playful takes on elevated French dishes and killer cocktails, Shannon has created a world all h...

Although we would like to be conscious of where our food is coming from, it’s not often that you think about what it takes to get the bivalves on half shell with mignonette from the sea to your plate. Luckily for us, the Watermen’s Museum has devoted its entire curatorial collection to the men (and rare woman) who risked life and limb to bring us the Chesapeake’s harvest, from eastern oysters to fish, crabs and clams. The term “waterman” dates as far back as the eleventh century in England. T...

This was a postcard/order insert that was included in all online orders for American-made products.

In keeping with modern traditions, we first discovered LONGOVEN via Instagram – their gorgeously composed plates and sophisticatedly curated feed instantly caught our eye (and stomach). LONGOVEN comprises a trio: Chefs Patrick Phelan and Andrew Manning, and Pastry Chef (Dominique Ansel mentee) Megan Fitzroy Phelan; and while they don’t currently have a permanent brick-and-mortar home, they’ve made a splash on the Richmond restaurant scene with artful and creative pop-up dining events. Natural...

For lack of a better way to say it, touring the Arts District with Quirk Gallery Director Mary Fleming is like hanging out with the unofficial mayor of the district. She knows everyone (or everyone knows her) and she’s met with a smiling face, a cheerful update on a neighborhood project, or a drink on the house. The strip of Broad St. that hosts the Arts District (as it’s become to be known) has a reputation for being gritty, but the recent influx of small businesses, the soon-to-be-open Quir...