BrooklynModern» The Furniture Machine – BrooklynModern

The Furniture Machine

brooklynmodern — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 15:05:27 +0000

on sale at the store in 3rd Ward.

The Resurgence of Brooklyn, Explained by Kay Hymowitz

brooklynmodern — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 14:04:30 +0000

In the latest issue of City Journal, Kay Hymowitz, who adventurously moved her young family to Park Slope in the early 1980s, charts the fall and rise of Brooklyn over the last century and change, from its industrial heyday through the drug- and crime-addled decades of the sixties, seventies and eighties and to its remarkable turnaround of the last fifteen years in which it’s become a magnet for the city’s burgeoning creative class. The first section of the article starts on a personal note, describing the boarding house next door run by the widow of the postal worker who owned it; house became progressively more run down and depressing until it finally burned down in 1995 when one of the bed-ridden elderly tenants fell asleep with a lit cigarette.

If you’ve been in Park Slope recently, you can probably guess how things turned out for the Lehane house. But you may not know why. How did the Brooklyn of the Lehanes and crack houses turn into what it is today—home to celebrities like Maggie Gyllenhaal and Adrian Grenier, to Michelin-starred chefs, and to more writers per square foot than any place outside Yaddo? How did the borough become a destination for tour buses showing off some of the most desirable real estate in the city, even the country? How did the mean streets once paced by Irish and Italian dockworkers, and later scarred by muggings and shootings, become just about the coolest place on earth? The answer involves economic, class, and cultural changes that have transformed urban life all over America during the last few decades. It’s a story that contains plenty of gumption, innovation, and aspiration, but also a disturbing coda. Brooklyn now boasts a splendid population of postindustrial and creative-class winners—but in the far reaches of the borough, where nary a hipster can be found, it is also home to the economy’s many losers.

Hymowitz credits Giuliani’s campaign against crime with laying the groundwork for the gentrification that began in the nineties (“After the 81st Precinct, which encompasses the eastern half of the neighborhood, saw a 64 percent plunge in violent crime between 1993 and 2003, the lawyers, editors, artists, and nonprofit administrators started venturing in.”) as well as the rezonings of formerly industrial neighborhoods that made way for a residential building boom.

The third reason for Brooklyn’s “modern revival,” as she calls it, was…

… the arrival of the college-educated creative types. How’s this for a great stat? Between 2000 and 2008, the number of college-educated residents in Williamsburg increased by 80 percent. Importantly, she notes, these creative types (which includes the “culinary hippies”) were decidedly more entrepreneurial than their predecessors.

And it’s definitely not a happy ending for all, according to Hymowitz:

Brooklyn’s story, then, doesn’t lend itself to a simple happy ending. Instead, the borough is a microcosm of the nation’s “hourglass economy.” At the top, the college-educated are doing interesting, motivating work during the day and bicycling home to enjoy gourmet beer and grass-fed beef after hours. At the bottom, matters are very different. Almost a quarter of Brooklyn’s 2.5 million residents live below the poverty line—in the housing projects of East New York, in the tenements of Brownsville, or in “transitional” parts of Bushwick and Bed-Stuy, all places where single-mother poverty has become an intergenerational way of life. Between 2000 and 2010, the percentage of the area’s population on welfare did decline markedly, but the number of Medicaid recipients almost tripled, to nearly 750,000. About 40 percent of Brooklyn’s total population receives some kind of public assistance today, up from 23 percent a decade ago.

An interview with NY Magazine’s Wendy Goodman

brooklynmodern — Wed, 05 Jan 2011 00:16:25 +0000

Brooklyn Modern often re-posts from New York Magazine’s design section, which has featured the borough’s DIY design/furniture scene in detail. Many designers owe the magazine’s design issue or weekly design coverage, for their work finding a larger audience. We were lucky to get NY Mag’s design editor Wendy Goodman to answer a few questions for us.

Wendy’s newest book was released in October 2010, The World of Gloria Vanderbilt, and her design-world coverage can be found in her weekly New York Magazine features and in the Design Hunting newsletter on nymag.com.

NY Magazine's 2010 design issue: Evan and Oliver Haslegrave

brooklyn modern: You are the design editor for New York Magazine, one thing I notice about your coverage is that you feature a broad range of styles, can you describe how you define “New York Design.” Or more specifically what do you see as the most influential thing now?

Wendy Goodman: I feature a broad range of styles because I am interested in the most personal points of view of how people live in the city, so any and all styles interest me as long as the execution is personal and somewhat ingenious. As New York magazine is a general interest news magazine geared specifically to New York, I look for what I feel is most creative and innovative in residential living here. Decorating and trend spotting is for shelter magazines, not that we don’t’ keep up and track that as well, it is just that the more personal a design story is, the more interesting it is-it’s never about how much money people have, but rather what their passions and initiatives are, and how they express that at home.

NY Magazine: Brooklyn designers MADE

brooklyn modern: How did you first become interested in design? You have one book out on Tony Duquette, do you have plans for any others?

Wendy Goodman: My second book, The World of Gloria Vanderbilt, was published by Abrams October, 2010. I started my career as a fashion editor, although as a sort of renegade one, as I worked freelance for Harper’s Bazaar and the New York Times Sunday magazine at first. Then I went on to New York magazine and was the Fashion Editor there in the late ‘80’s.

It was during that time that I was taken to lunch by the fashion designer, Pauline Trigere at La Grenouille restaurant. I was mesmerized by the scale of the rooms in what had originally been a carriage house for the Plant mansion across the street (now the Cartier building) as well as the fantastic paintings on the walls. I discovered all sorts of wonderful stories that had happened over the years there through Charles Masson whose family owns the restaurant. I eventually did a story on the family, and the artist, Bernard Lamotte who lived and painted there, so that coupled with other events in my life inspired me to shift gears and devote myself to design on a broader scale in respect to how people live.

brooklyn modern: There is a very strong online community, especially in New York. How do you see the relationship between a print publication’s coverage and sites like Apartment Therapy, Brownstoner and Cool Hunting

Wendy Goodman: There are so many fantastic sites and they are all are so good! It does make it more of a challenge to get to projects first as ‘the scoop’ has always been an editorial imperative, and it still is, only now it is a double whammy: on top of print, you have to scoop the blogs and sites too!

NY Magazine: Brooklyn designers Lyndsay Caleo and Fitzhugh Karol

brooklyn modern: I notice both in your newsletter, “Design Hunting,” and in the magazine you have been focusing a lot on the current DIY/artisan scene in Brooklyn? When did you first notice this new wave of young designers and style in Brooklyn? And as a follow up, how do you find these small, design-centered Brooklyn folks?

Wendy Goodman: Brooklyn has been such a hot bed of great design studios and designers for a while now. I began covering the Brooklyn Designs show from the beginning and then became a juror, which I love as meeting and discovering new designers is the best. I am out on the street, and in the subway scouting and scouting…ear to the ground, and everywhere else, is how I find my stories and moving fast when I get a lead. There isn’t anyplace I won’t go.

brooklyn modern: There are several strong influences on the Brooklyn scene, the work of mid-century designers, new technologies in sustainability and the re-use of materials, a return to handcrafted furniture, and a new ‘cult of the artisan.’ Where do you think these ideas originate, and how did Brooklyn become the DIY/artisan ground zero?

Wendy Goodman: I think Brooklyn became the artisan ground zero as the real estate allowed artists and designers to have access to great studio space in the way that SoHo and the Lower East Side did back in the ‘60’s. But all that will change as real estate prices make it prohibitive for financially challenged young emerging talent to have places to experiment and work. The scene will move to the next emerging neighborhood.”

brooklyn modern: You have covered most of the best of Brooklyn Designers, what are your favorites?

Wendy Goodman: There are so many! I love Uhuru and MADE, Grow House Grow, Eric Manigian, Flavor Paper, Eskayel… to name but a few of the plethora of great talent out there.

One of Goodman's favorite paintings by Sebastien Stoskopff

Brooklyn’s Eskayel Launches The Natives Capsule

brooklynmodern — Wed, 26 May 2010 02:24:40 +0000

Proceeds from the new designs by Shanan Campanaro,
the artist behind Eskayel, will be used to help wildlife

Eskayel’s announcment:

This is a small capsule we put together early this year with two new wallpaper patterns in two color-ways each and pillows. Everything in the capsule is made to order locally and 20% of the proceeds go to wildlife organizations. This is our first foray into soft goods- Pillows! Our pillows are made from 100% organic denim and stuffed with feather down. The 25 x 25 inch oversized overstuffed pillows are great floor cushions.

We are also offering this fabric with any of our other wallpaper patterns on a custom basis.

Please check out the Natives capsule at our brand new and improved website www.eskayel.com!

The Best of BKLYN DESIGNS via Huffington Post

brooklynmodern — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:44:10 +0000

by Steven Mesler
Director of Sculpture Fabrication, Milgo / Bufkin

The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce wouldn’t be able to attract an audience for a “Brooklyn Manufacturing Expo” outside of their own staff so every year they host the BKLYN DESIGNS exhibition. Walking around the exhibition though you are struck by how design, and by extension designers, drive manufacturing. With the collapse of manufacturing in the United States over the last few decades it’s hard to fathom just how many jobs we had in Brooklyn making things. All of the work was not only designed here in Brooklyn but as a matter pragmatism, most of it is made here.

Here are a few of my favorite things.

Tree table and stool by April Hanna

April Hannah gets the chutzpah award. She’s an artist who three months ago when she applied for a booth, saw a need, had an idea, and a couple of cardboard models. Twelve weeks later, her Tree Table Collection is debuting here. The collection, shown with a few of her artworks, as a sort of visual DNA, is smart, cohesive, well crafted (thanks in part to a brother who according to Hannah “can make anything”),and built with kids and the environment in mind.

Jeff Mayer’s bench and growing family

Jeff Mayer’s 718 Made in Brooklyn is “form follows environment”. His design and manufacturing is a direct outgrowth of his lifestyle and Brooklyn aesthetic. He’s a former professional bmx racer, a lifelong skateboarder, and denizen of the public transportation system. All of these things come through in the objects, clothing, and furniture he designs and manufactures.

Christina Fesmire’s Fugle Swing

Pratt Institute seeks to instill in all graduates aesthetic judgment, professional knowledge, collaborative skills, and technical expertise. Their booth there was evidence of a promise fulfilled. The quality of the designs and the execution did not suffer by comparison with their professional counterparts by any means. I was particularly taken by Tobin Spann’s spare, simple, beautifully executed Surface Series furniture. My other favorite work was Christina Fesmire’s Fugle Swing. Both of those students have bright futures ahead of them as long as we can get this economy moving again.

Sit and Read Opening: Thursday, April 22, 7-9 pm

brooklynmodern — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:18:06 +0000

Sit and Read, a very tasteful blog that sells vintage furniture, has an opening this week with Unis.

Invite Details:
To coincide with the launch of its Spring 2010 line, Unis is proud to offer an exclusive collection of furniture and housewares from Sit and Read. The collection includes a limited series of vintage chairs reupholstered in remnant fabric from the Unis Spring collection.

Please join us for cocktails and music at the Unis Flagship Store, at 226 Elizabeth Street in Manhattan, on Thursday, April 22, from 7 to 9 p.m. to preview the collection and help celebrate our collaboration!

Industrial Steel Table from Sit and Read: $850 ($950 w/ Umanoff stool)

BKLYN DESIGNS 2010: Application deadline Monday, December 7th

brooklynmodern — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 14:28:02 +0000

The Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce has extended the exhibitor application for BKLYN DESIGNS 2010. Exhibitor applications, now due MONDAY DECEMBER 7th, are available online at bklyndesigns.com.All Brooklyn-based designers are encouraged to apply! BKLYN DESIGNS’ celebrity jury is a great way for designers’ work to fall into the hands of premier editors and design specialists. For more information please call Auster Agency at 718.243.1414.

NY Times: A Brooklyn Loft Transformed on a Budget

brooklynmodern — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 17:53:23 +0000

The Times does a great job with their interactive pieces. Check out this story on the affordable design on a Brooklyn loft. When you get to the article, click on the buttons to listen to the clients and hear their design decisions.

By JULIE SCELFO

WHEN Sasha Haines-Stiles moved out of a crumbling brownstone studio in April and into a large loft in downtown Brooklyn with soaring ceilings and expansive views, she fantasized that the space would look as perfect as one of the many photo shoots and fashion shows she oversaw in her role as a vice president for communications at Bernard Chaus Inc. and its Cynthia Steffe fashion label. Visit article

Restoration: Mid-Century Chair from Park Slope Trash

brooklynmodern — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:43:34 +0000

Some people just get lucky finding valuable stuff in the trash. I just took on this restoration job for a client who found the above chair on the sidewalk in Park Slope. Other than the split in the seat, the chair is in perfect condition and is made from high quality solid wood. A seal on the inside leg says Johnson Chair Company. A few antique websites are selling Johnson Chairs for $300 and up. Below is a picture of the split. Clamps and glue will do the trick. After sanding off the old finish, Danish oil and lacquer will bring it back to life.

This chair’s lines are evocative of 1960’s design.
From its weight and joinery, you can tell it’s a good piece of furniture.

A postcard of the the Johnson Chair factory in Chicago.
In 1899, Johnson Chair Company made chairs for the US House and Senate.

Kudos to Reclaimed Home: Boiling Hardware to Perfection

brooklynmodern — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:42:16 +0000

I have to thank Reclaimed Home for helping me restore the vintage light switch in my new apartment. It was caked with multiple layers of paint. I boiled it for about twenty minutes in water and baking soda. Paint slid right off and I didn’t have to use carcinogenic stripper with a gas mask. Here are the directions from Reclaimed Home: Boiling Hardware.