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Archive for the ‘NYC’ Category

The Brooklyn Banks: Alive and Kicking (So Far)…

Posted by Andrew Wagner to Architecture and Culture and Environment and From the Editors and NYC and Places and Travel on 11 March 2010, with 1 comment so far.

My introduction to any and everything DIY was through skateboarding. After a brief flirtation with BMX racing in elementary school I got heavily into skating by the sixth grade and spent most of my teen years building ramps and riding them. (Below, Tim Lane on one of the ramps I helped build in Davis, California, circa 1988. Photo by Greg Hanes.)

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While my skating habits have dropped off considerably the past few years I always try to keep up with what’s happening in that world. Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about getting a new board. This urge has picked up considerably over the last few days after reading Katherine Sharpe’s great post on reusing old skate decks and all of my thinking and writing about Detroit. Much of the talks we’ve been having about Detroit have revolved around skateparks and how they do or don’t fit into the urban/suburban/rural environment. After a flurry of email exchanges about this yesterday I got to thinking about one of the best skate spots in the country, the Brooklyn Banks, and decided to pay them a visit.

Brooklyn Banks (more…)

Posted in Architecture, Culture, Environment, From the Editors, NYC, Places, Travel | 1 Comment »

Tonight’s Craft Night at Etsy Labs: Make Whatever Strikes Your Fancy

Posted by Alexa Fornoff to Craft and Events and Materials and NYC on 22 February 2010, with 3 comments so far.

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If you happen to be in the Brooklyn area, drop by Etsy Lab’s free-for-all craft night tonight from 4-8 pm. Though each event usually has a theme, tonight it’s all about what making whatever you want to make. Finish up something that’s been waiting in the wings, or try your hand at an entirely new trade. As always, the Etsy team has a stash of supplies and tools that you can use. So get crafting!

Posted in Craft, Events, Materials, NYC | 3 Comments »

Society Pages: RM February/March Launch Party at Jonathan Adler in SOHO

Posted by Alexa Fornoff to Events and NYC and ReadyMade News and Society Pages on 5 February 2010, with no comments so far.

Everyone loves them, everyone hates them, and everyone wants to be in them. Since we will most likely never make the pages of Vanity Fair, we have taken matters into our own hands. As part of our ongoing Society Pages, we present you with…ReadyMade’s February/March Launch Party at Jonathan Adler’s SOHO Outpost.

Great people, good drinks, and falling snow made this a night for the books.

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Click here to check out the full HDYGTFAJ story featuring Jonathan Adler.

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RM’s editor in chief Andrew Wagner and Jonathan Adler.

(more…)

Posted in Events, NYC, ReadyMade News, Society Pages | No Comments »

Down With Elevators! Appealing Stairs = A Fitter City, Says NYC Health Commissioner

Posted by Katherine Sharpe to Architecture and Design and NYC on 1 February 2010, with no comments so far.

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Next American City has reported that New York City’s brand new health commissioner, Dr. Thomas Farley, has his eyes on a public health initiative that Jane Jacobs could love. Farley is interested in how the built environment of the city influences residents’ physical fitness. Eyeing rising obesity rates, Farley worries that we’ve “engineered physicality out of our lives” in a number of ways. A leading culprit in New York, as in other big cities? The ubiquitous elevator. While elevators are a necessity to reach the upper floors of skyscrapers—indeed, they’re the piece of technology that made super-tall buildings possible in the first place—Farley is quoted as pointing out, “Just two minutes of stair climbing a day burns enough calories to eliminate the one pound an average adult gains each year.”

That’s hopeful news, and Farley has a wonderfully design-forward vision for bringing built-in physical exercise back. As Alex Pasternack writes at NAC,

“Officials like Burney want to return New York’s stairs to their pre-elevator grandeur, before they were dingy, narrow and tucked into the backs of our office buildings, to be used largely in the event of fire. For a healthy counterexample, officials needn’t look farther than City Hall, with its gorgeous symmetrical staircase (“There’s an elevator and nobody uses it,” says Burney), or even the mayor’s company’s headquarters on Lexington Ave.”

Dr. Lynn Silver, assistant health commissioner, is quoted as saying that if enough opportunities for on-the-fly exercise exist in our daily lives, “It’s not necessary for us to go to the gym.”

(more…)

Posted in Architecture, Design, NYC | No Comments »

Mid-Century Love at Greenwich House Pottery

Posted by Katherine Sharpe to Craft and NYC and Places on 8 January 2010, with 3 comments so far.

Holy Herman Miller, Batman.

Last night I went to the opening of “Mid-Century Style and Studio Pottery” at Greenwich House Pottery in the West Vilage of NYC. Curated by Greenwich House Pottery director Sarah Archer, the exhibition consists of a beautiful, high-ceilinged room in the 3-story row house that has been home to GHP for 100 years, decked out with extreme authenticity in late ’50s/early ’60s style.

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Entering the room feels like walking onto the set of Mad Men (kind of—it’s a domestic setting, but Betty Draper doesn’t have this good of an eye).

The furniture, provided by NYC’s ReGeneration, is period vintage, including George Nakashima, Harvey Probber, Jens Risom, Milo Baughman, Vladimir Kagan, Eero Saarinen, and William Katavolos. (Most of the goods on display are for sale, but as befits high-design vintage, they’re not cheap.)

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The room houses ceramics by Peter Voulkos, Brother Thomas, Edwin and Mary Scheier, Henry Varnum Poor, Gertrude and Otto Natzler, Otto Heino, Beatrice Wood, Bruno LaVerdiere, Karen Karnes, Val Cushing, Anna Siok and Bernard Leach.

Two stars of the show for me were the two large wall hangings, a large blue tapestry by the husband and wife tem Jan and Marianne Yoors, and an organic-looking rope and leather hanging by Lenore Tawney.

On January 21st, GHP will host a panel discussion with Pat Kirkham (Professor, Bard Graduate Center), Catherine Whalen (Assistant Professor, Bard Graduate Center) and Sarah Lichtman (Assistant Professor, Parsons), at the Museum of Art and Design. The talk will center on the connections between studio craft and the other design trends of the period.

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Greenwich House itself is a hidden gem, offering classes in all kinds of ceramics and, for enrolled students, serious amounts of open studio time in its storied work rooms.

If you’re in New York, I highly recommend going down to get a gander at the facilities and the show.

Images by Sonja Shield. More pictures after the jump.

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Posted in Craft, NYC, Places | 3 Comments »

Studio Pottery + Mid-Century Style

Posted by Alexa Fornoff to Art and Craft and Design and Events and NYC on 7 January 2010, with no comments so far.

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The mid-century aesthetic has infiltrated everything from fashion to television (Mad Men, anyone?), and the Jane Harstook Gallery is taking notice. The gallery, part of Greenwich House Pottery, opens its doors for a period installation showing tonight through February 4th. Studio Pottery and Mid-Century Style takes the form of an entire 1950s room dropped into 2010, incorporating not only design from the era but also craft. Curator Sarah Archer says:

“This period in American history was a pivot point in design where tastemakers, designers, and consumers were both looking back and looking forward—seeking comfort in nostalgia and longing for something new. The design world reveled in an attraction to new technology, while the crafts signaled a longing for something more rustic and uncomplicated.”

Head to the gallery from 6-8 pm tonight for an opening reception that includes period costumes, food, and drink.

Posted in Art, Craft, Design, Events, NYC | No Comments »

Bamboo Bicycle

Posted by Alexa Fornoff to Craft and Design and Environment and Materials and NYC on 30 December 2009, with 2 comments so far.

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If constructing your own bamboo bicycle seems like an aspirational goal, the trio of twentysomethings behind Bamboo Bike Studio in Brooklyn are here to help make it happen. For about $1,000, you can sign up for a class at the studio and make your own two-wheeled mode of transportation (with an expert by your side).

From the recent story on NPR:

“Everyone who leaves the studio says, ‘Wow, my bike is my favorite object now.’ ” Marty Odlin says. “They have such a connection to this thing that came together under their own hands. They may not come here to have that connection to their bicycle, but that’s what they leave with.”

(via NPR)

Posted in Craft, Design, Environment, Materials, NYC | 2 Comments »

Score! For a Good Cause

Posted by Alexa Fornoff to Events and Fashion + Style and NYC on 19 November 2009, with no comments so far.

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At Saturday’s pop-up swap from 1-7 pm, Score! attendees will bring their once-cherished items to a donation table—music, apparel and accessories, art supplies, housewares, books and media, and (my personal favorite) random gems and miscellany—and find new prized possessions of their own. Pay an entry fee of $3 and you can take whatever you like! If your eyes are bigger than your arms, think about purchasing a $5 custom tote bag. Not only will it help you out, all the proceeds from the event benefit City Harvest so you’re helping others at the same time. 3rd Ward provides the space, local DJs provide the music, fashion bloggers provide the documentation, and don’t worry, there will be a bar. What’s stopping you? Maybe it’s all of the “random gems and miscellany” in your way…

Posted in Events, Fashion + Style, NYC | No Comments »

Pop Up Shop Extraordinaire: The BoHo Bodega

Posted by Andrew Wagner to Design and Environment and Food + Entertaining and NYC and Places and Uncategorized on 19 October 2009, with no comments so far.

Pop-up shop season officially begins tomorrow in New York City’s SOHO with the opening of one of the most unique shops we’ve heard of. Our intrepid contributor, Jen Turner, gives the low-down and gets you prepped for the week’s festivities.

For those mornings after one-too-many, there’s almost nothing more restorative than a classic egg ‘n’ cheese on a roll. And yet it’s been years since I’ve had one. What’s stopping me? Well, for one thing, the quantity of “morning afters” has decreased, but truthfully, since I became interested in (O.K., obsessed with) the origins of my food and joined the ecovore, locavore, raw-dairy-vore bandwagon, my appetite for deli-sold products has fallen off dramatically. And I hadn’t actually realized it until I heard about BoHo Bodega.

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BoHo Bodega, the pop-up-shop brainchild of Mia Sakai and Julia Falkenstein, opens its doors tomorrow, Tuesday October 20th at 8:00 p.m. and will remain open until Sunday, October 25th. The shop’s goal is to spread the word that there are some great eco-friendly alternatives to the usual items found at most local convenience stores. Besides stocking the shelves with feel good products, the organizers have heavily discounted the prices and will send all the proceeds to charity—a retail trifecta. (more…)

Posted in Design, Environment, Food + Entertaining, NYC, Places, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Design USA at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum

Posted by Katherine Sharpe to Design and Events and NYC on 16 October 2009, with no comments so far.

National Design Week is upon us. From October 18 to 24, New Yorkers can enjoy a bevy of design-related events including free admission to the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum.

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Perhaps the highlight of the week is the National Design Awards themselves, to be held on Thursday, October 22. The awards, which recognize outstanding achievement in design categories including architecture, landscape design, product design, communication design, interaction design and fashion, turn 10 this year. In celebration, the Cooper-Hewitt has mounted a show called “Design USA: Contemporary Innovation,” to look back at a decade of winners.

I got to go to a press review of the show yesterday afternoon. Thoughts and pictures after the jump.

(more…)

Posted in Design, Events, NYC | No Comments »

It’s T Time

Posted by Alexa Fornoff to Art and Craft and NYC on 14 October 2009, with 1 comment so far.

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A collage class at a New York City senior center decided to try their hand at a custom “T” in honor of the New York Times style magazine. They’re pretty awesome, and in case you were wondering we would love to see your artistic interpretations of ReadyMade’s logo…so feel free to send them here!

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Posted in Art, Craft, NYC | 1 Comment »

Air and Blood: Heather L. Johnson at Glowlab

Posted by Katherine Sharpe to Art and Events and NYC on 13 October 2009, with no comments so far.

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Fall is my favorite season for walking, and walking around New York City in the fall often gets me thinking about how something as complicated as a city comes together out of millions of tiny movements and routines.

“Air and Blood,” a solo exhibition by Heather L. Johsnon at New York City’s Glowlab gallery, gets at the same thing: the artist’s

new body of work fixates on the circulatory nature of urban movement. Air and Blood references the connection that urban inhabitants, either transient or permanent, have with overarching public transportation systems. Using the Holland Tunnel as a point of departure, the artist investigates the way in which anatomical processes are mimicked in the transfer of people, objects and ideas in the urban environment.

Johnson’s work is inspired partly, the press release explains, by the experience of being an avid motorcyclist who frequently passes through the Holland Tunnel from New Jersey into Manhattan–a trip that puts her in closer contact than most with the physical traces of transportation.

The show also expands outside the gallery, to include a text-based installation done in chalk on walls in the neighborhood. Taking it in could be a fine agenda for your next fall-time walk around the city.

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Glowlab is located at 30 Grand Street between Thompson St. and 6th Ave. ‘Air and Blood’ runs through November 1. Read ReadyMade’s interview of Glowlab director and Conflux Festival founder Christina Ray, here.

Posted in Art, Events, NYC | No Comments »

The Solo Show

Posted by Alexa Fornoff to Art and NYC on 1 October 2009, with no comments so far.

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3rd Ward in Brooklyn wants brave, new art for their Fall Solo Show, and they are ready for you to submit your greatest. Work of any medium and from anywhere will be considered as long as you follow the guidelines. Plenty of fanfare is at stake, and you have until October 22 to make a name for yourself. Go get ‘em.

Posted in Art, NYC | No Comments »

Crowdsourcing the Cottage Garden

Posted by Katherine Sharpe to Art and Environment and Food + Entertaining and Gardening and NYC and Small Spaces on 1 October 2009, with 6 comments so far.

The first time I saw Britta Riley and Rebecca Bray’s work, a giant “Window Farm” installed in the front window of the New York City art and technology center Eyebeam, I knew I wanted to write about it.

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Luckily my editors obliged, and I was interviewing Britta and Rebecca several weeks later, for the sidebar to my piece about plastic beverage bottles as a building and engineering material (”PET Rocks,” ReadyMade, Oct/Nov ‘09).

The idea behind the Window Farm is simple (the impressiveness of the monumental-sized version at Eyebeam notwithstanding). Riley and Bray, two Brooklyn-based artists who collaborate on projects that bring the power of social media to bear on environmental problems, came up with the idea after reading on Michael Pollan’s New York Times blog that one of the best things people can do for the environment is to grow some of their food at home.

“There were all of these catty comments from New Yorkers complaining that they live in tiny New York City apartments and can’t possibly grow any food there,” says Riley. She remembers reading that and thinking, “‘Come on, guys. There’s got to be a way.’”

(more…)

Posted in Art, Environment, Food + Entertaining, Gardening, NYC, Small Spaces | 6 Comments »

Society Pages: October/November Issue Release at the Ace Hotel in NYC

Posted by Alexa Fornoff to Events and NYC and ReadyMade News and Society Pages on 21 September 2009, with no comments so far.

Everyone loves them, everyone hates them, and everyone wants to be in them. Since we will most likely never make the pages of Vanity Fair, we have taken matters into our own hands. As part of our ongoing Society Pages, we present you with…An Evening at the Ace Hotel in New York City.

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The ReadyMade crew was out in full force on Thursday night at the brand new Ace Hotel in New York City, taking over the lobby and bar area for two hours (or maybe a little more…), drinking PorkSlap and causing a general ruckus.

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Notice the pigs high-fiving. It’s that good.

(more…)

Posted in Events, NYC, ReadyMade News, Society Pages | No Comments »

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