#wantful

Wantful, a San Francisco and New York-based gift giving and personalized e-commerce startup founded in 2011 is shutting down after failing to secure follow-on investment. According to founder and CEO John Poisson, the company had launched a series of well-received products for web, tablet, print and in-store, but did not achieve the kind of “highly accelerated growth” needed to secure the additional capital.

One of those additional investments, as it turns out, was from Nordstrom, which had taken a stake in the startup earlier this year. A Nordstrom spokesperson claims the retailer was “just a small minority investor,” and declined to comment further on Wantful’s shutdown.

Back in May I got to meet and photograph classically trained chef, teacher, and all-around amazing lady Naoko Moore, as she prepared a few dishes using donabe, the Japanese clay cookware she sells through her company Toiro.

We then settled down for one of the best meals of my young life.