Cluster
Two mattress start-ups � the one-model-only Casper and high-tech Wright � join South Soho’s Sleep District.
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendors) |
1. Casper showroom: Three layers of latex, memory, and support foams (45 Bond St.).
2. Wright: Five layers of viscoelastic memory foam with side vents (188 Lafayette St.).
3. Keetsa: Ecofriendly with green-tea-embedded foam (69 Mercer St.).
4. CoCo-Mat: Metal-free with flexible rubber for pull-out couches (49 Mercer St.).
5. Hästens: $112,000 beds with horsetail hair (75 Grand St.).
6. Airweave: Mattress toppers with entwined-resin fibers (498 Broome St.).
7. Savoir Beds: Hand-tufted with hand-teased horsehair (54 Greene St.).
2x2: Abstract Side Tables
A little neoplasticism for the entryway.
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendors) |
Wood:
Under $300: Contrast table, $276 at rossanaorlandi.com.
Over $300: Laurel side table, $1,115 at the Future Perfect (55 Great Jones St.).
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendors) |
Metal:
Under $300: Slit table, $166 at hayminimarket.com.
Over $300: Alwa, from $2,480 at Avenue Road (145 W. 28th St.).
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Illustration by Murphy Lippincott
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Ask a Shop Clerk
Desiree Verdejo left her law career to open one of Harlem’s first high-end cosmetics stores, Vivrant Beauty (220 Saint Nicholas Ave.).
Why the switch? Over the past few years, I’ve watched Harlem’s vacant lots become fancy restaurants, but I still had the same problem I always did growing up in this neighborhood with an acne-prone complexion: no skin-care shops to help me find masks and washes for my individual needs. Now, my salesperson is a certified aesthetician and I handpick brands like Flo + Theo, a local vegan line by two Nigerian sisters, and carry foundation that comes in the full color range, from porcelain to deep brown.
Top Five
Yazid Aksas’s Public Factory is a co-retailing space for 12 brands (310 W. Broadway).
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendors) |
Clockwise, from bottom left:
�This Elkel jacket ($469) is unisex. And it’s for going out.�
�St. Frank is the only home-goods brand here because the products are fair trade, like this skull made by an artisan in Mexico ($225).�
�I designed this Aksel shirt ($135) with a double stitching that molds to the contours of a man’s body.�
�I’d use this Enter backpack ($169) for groceries because it has so many inside pockets.�
�Instead of an hour hand, the whole face of this Orikami clock ($115) spins.�
Upstairs
Alan Maleh just opened a physical space for his magazine-cum-e-tailer Man of the World on the second floor of his other menswear shop, Gentry (108 N. 7th St., Williamsburg).
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendor) |
�We signed a lease for the apartment above Gentry that we decided to integrate into the store. Downstairs is for the younger, edgier, Japanese-inspired man, but when you walk upstairs, the lifestyle changes. It’s for the James Bond�meets�Paul Newman tailored gentleman who travels with a leather Globe-Trotter carry-on bag ($1,835) and wears a Native American thunderbird cuff ($360). Upstairs, everything is for sale, including the vintage Nigerian hand-beaded chairs ($5,000 each), and there will be someone who represents our $15,000-per-year concierge service to book your plane, hotel, restaurant reservations, and cultural events when you travel. We say Man of the World is everything a man needs and nothing he doesn’t.�
Trend Spawning
A distressed-metal motif reminiscent of the Statue of Liberty is the new sheen in town.
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendor) |
1929: Midtown’s Mercantile Building is finished with a tarnished-copper rooftop.
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendor) |
May 2014: Inspired by the building’s green roof, Mary Wallis unveils her Acorn lamp at ICFF.
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendor) |
May 2014: Also at ICFF, Rich Brilliant Willing’s oxidized-copper Palindrome chandelier debuts.
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendor) |
February 2015: Danish brand &tradition commissions oxidized vases from Dutch designer Lex Pott.
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendor) |
May 2015: Johnson Trading Gallery shows chairs from South Korea’s Kwangho Lee.
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendor) |
August 2015: Brooklyn design duo Cofield release patinated bottle openers and clocks.
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(Photo: Courtesy of the vendor) |
September 2015: Brooklyn’s Uhuru Design launches fine jewelry, all in distressed metal.