How a sharpened focus on the market let Terri Alpert carve out new niches for her two catalog businesses, Uno Alla Volta and Cooking Enthusiast

By Mark Del Franco

Also part and parcel to the companies’ growth is dealing with more than 400 artisans, many of whom are small and remotely located. “My merchandising team and I look for unique, handcrafted products world-wide,” Alpert says. “Recently I was in Paris and found wonderful lamps. The lamps have actual elements of nature: flowers, seashells and plant life of all kinds encapsulated in massive crystal. These are used as the bases of lamps.”