Where I Work

Where I Work: Tour FXCollaborative’s Flatiron architecture office with partner Dan Kaplan
June 20, 2018

Where I Work: Tour FXCollaborative’s Flatiron architecture office with partner Dan Kaplan

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6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we’re touring the Flatiron office of architecture firm FXCollaborative. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! To mark their 40th anniversary, architecture firm FXCollaborative recently debuted their new name (formerly FXFOWLE), along with a slew of big-name projects such as the Statue of Liberty Museum, a nearly 1,000-unit affordable housing development in the Bronx, and Downtown Brooklyn's One Willoughby Square, which will be the borough's tallest office building as well as the firm's new home. Ahead of their big move when the tower is completed in a few years, 6sqft paid a visit to FXCollaborative's current Flatiron office space to see how these prolific architects make their magic happen, thanks to a behind-the-scenes tour and talk with senior partner Dan Kaplan. From sustainable architecture and office design to equality in architecture and the importance of collaboration, learn how FXCollaborative remains one of NYC's top firms after four decades.
Take the tour and hear Dan’s thoughts
Where I Work: Inside C.O. Bigelow Apothecaries in the Village, the oldest pharmacy in the country
June 12, 2018

Where I Work: Inside C.O. Bigelow Apothecaries in the Village, the oldest pharmacy in the country

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6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we’re touring the oldest pharmacy in the United States, C.O. Bigelow Apothecaries in Greenwich Village, and talking with owner Ian Ginsberg. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! C.O. Bigelow Apothecaries was established in 1838. It is the oldest apothecary in America. It was originally called the Village Apothecary Shop and was opened by the Vermont physician, Galen Hunter. It was renamed C.O. Bigelow Apothecary when it was purchased by an employee, Clarence Otis Bigelow in 1880. The apothecary is in fact so old that it once sold leeches and opium as remedies. According to legend, the chemists at Bigelow even created a salve for Thomas Edison to treat his burned fingers when he was first developing the light bulb. In 1922, the apothecary was sold to the pharmacist, Mr. Bluestone, employed by Bigelow, thereby continuing the unique legacy of passing ownership from employer to employee. Bluestone sold the pharmacy to yet another pharmacist employee, William B. Ginsberg in 1939. And since 1939, three generations of Ginsberg’s have owned and operated the shop, passing down from father to son to most recently grandson, Ian Ginsberg, who 6sqft spoke with at this historic pharmacy in Greenwich Village at 414 Sixth Avenue.
See inside
The Urban Lens: Bill Hayes captures New Yorkers as they are – heartbreakingly real

Star Tattoos

May 25, 2018

The Urban Lens: Bill Hayes captures New Yorkers as they are – heartbreakingly real

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6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Bill Hayes shares photos from his book “How New York Breaks Your Heart“. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. A writer, Guggenheim Fellow, photographer and, since 2009, a New Yorker, Bill Hayes is quite familiar with the beautiful and painful ways New York City can play with the human heart. He recently published a book of his many portraits of the city's inhabitants, "How New York Breaks Your Heart," showing in black and white and living color some of the city's many faces, all very real and alive and core to this city's aura. We spoke with Hayes, a West Village resident, about the book, the, ity and its people.
Meet Bill and see his photos
INTERVIEW: Author Julia Van Haaften on delving into the life of photographer Berenice Abbott
May 24, 2018

INTERVIEW: Author Julia Van Haaften on delving into the life of photographer Berenice Abbott

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Photographer Berenice Abbott has long captured the imagination of New Yorkers. Her storied career began after fleeing Ohio for Greenwich Village in 1918 and included a stint in Paris taking portraits of 1920s heavyweights. But she is best known for her searing images of New York buildings and street life--her photograph "Nightview, New York," taken from an upper-floor window of the Empire State Building in 1932, remains one of the most recognized images of the city. Well known is her exchange with a male supervisor, who informed Abbott that "nice girls" don’t go to the Bowery. Her reply: "Buddy, I’m not a nice girl. I’m a photographer… I go anywhere." Despite Abbott's prolific career and fascinating life, there's never been a biography to capture it all. Until now, with Julia Van Haaften's work, "Berenice Abbott: A Life in Photography." Van Haaften is the founding curator of the New York Public Library’s photography collection. She also befriended Abbott, as the photographer approached 90, while curating a retrospective exhibition of her work in the late 1980s. (Abbott passed away in 1991 at the age of 93.) With 6sqft, Van Haaften shares what it was like translating Abbott's wide-ranging work and life into a biography, and the help she received from Abbott herself. From her favorite stories to her favorite photographs, Van Haaften shows why Abbott's work has remained such a powerful lens capturing New York City to this day.
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Adriana Urbina brings Venezuelan flavors to Nolita’s De Maria while empowering female chefs

Restuarant photo credit: Nicole Franzen; Portrait credit: Kathryn Sheldon

May 22, 2018

Adriana Urbina brings Venezuelan flavors to Nolita’s De Maria while empowering female chefs

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Earlier this month, Nolita restaurant De Maria won the coveted James Beard Award for best restaurant design or renovation in North America. The designers at The MP Shift replicated an artist’s studio, with Soho in the ‘70s and the Bauhaus movement in mind. But it's not just the space that's beautiful; Venezuelan-born chef Adriana Urbina's dishes, composed heavily of veggies and seafood, look like they were made for Instagram. Outside of the visuals, however, what sets De Maria apart is Urbina's socially conscious approach. Not only does she mix her South American heritage with her fine dining background (she started her career as an apprentice at Michelin 3-star restaurant in Spain, Martín Berasategui and was a 2017 winner of Food Network's "Chopped"), but she's committed to empowering female chefs and business owners, as well as using food as a way to connect people and raise awareness about what's going on in the world. 6sqft recently enjoyed an insanely delicious meal at De Maria and chatted with Adriana about her journey, the restaurant scene in NYC, and why this Nolita restaurant is the perfect place to see out her dreams.
Meet Adriana and get hungry!
The Urban Lens: Hannah La Follette Ryan on her viral Instagram account ‘Subway Hands’

6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Hannah La Follette Ryan shares photos from her “Subway Hands” Instagram account. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected].

May 18, 2018

The Urban Lens: Hannah La Follette Ryan on her viral Instagram account ‘Subway Hands’

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While many street photographers have been inspired by straphangers over the years, Massachusetts- born Hannah La Follette Ryan has taken a very different approach to subway photography: focusing on riders' hands. Her viral Instagram account, "Subway Hands," is closing in on 20,000 followers and features nearly 1,000 photos, all shot on her iPhone, of the impossibly varied things people do with their hands on the NYC subway.
Do you spot your hands in any of the photos?
Elizabeth Blackwell’s NYC: The historic sites where America’s first female doctor made her mark

An 1870 newspaper illustration of Elizabeth Blackwell giving an anatomy lecture alongside a corpse at the Woman’s Medical College of New York Infirmary. Courtesy of the U.S. Library of Congress.

May 17, 2018

Elizabeth Blackwell’s NYC: The historic sites where America’s first female doctor made her mark

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One of the most radical and influential women of the 19th century changed the course of public health history while living and working in Greenwich Village and the East Village. Elizabeth Blackwell, America’s first female doctor, established cutting-edge care facilities and practices throughout these neighborhoods, the imprint of which can still be felt to this day in surviving institutions and buildings. In fact, one recently received a historic plaque to mark this ground-breaking but often overlooked piece of our history.
Take a tour of Elizabeth Blackwell's NYC
INTERVIEW: New York legend Jay Maisel dishes on 190 Bowery and his new photo archive
May 14, 2018

INTERVIEW: New York legend Jay Maisel dishes on 190 Bowery and his new photo archive

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Jay Maisel is best known for the incredibly expressive stories he tells through his beautiful photography. But in recent years, he's become perhaps just as well known for his New York City real estate story where he made the deal of the century when he sold his home, the Germania Bank Building at 190 Bowery. What he's not at all known for, though, are the stories he tells through the hundreds of thousands of memories that fill his home and studio. Maisel, who may appear gruff on the exterior (at 87 years-old, he still likes to shock), is actually incredibly kind and sentimental. He misses his home and all his toys that once filled the 35,000-square-foot building. Although he was initially intimidated by the size and upkeep costs of 190 Bowery, Maisel grew to love the home and raise his family there for 50 years. In 2015, he sold the building for $55 million and purchased a stately townhouse on Pacific Street in Cobble Hill for $15.5 million. (At the time, it was the most expensive townhouse sale in Brooklyn.) 6sqft sat down with Maisel and discussed his real estate coup, his move to Brooklyn (which is not “the city” in his view) and his most recent New York City photography series, entitled “Jaywalking.”
Hear from Jay and get an inside look at his life and work
The Urban Lens: Richard Koek creates a ‘visual hymn’ of NYC with his candid photos
May 7, 2018

The Urban Lens: Richard Koek creates a ‘visual hymn’ of NYC with his candid photos

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6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Dutch-Argentinean photographer Richard Koek gave up his profession as a tax lawyer to pursue his passion for photography in New York City. He now splits his time between NYC and Amsterdam, and Lannoo Publishers just released a beautiful photographic tour of the city in his book, "New York New York: A Visual Hymn." Koek loves to walk and believes it is the only way to truly get to know a city. And flipping through the pages of his book truly feels like you're walking alongside Koek (so much so that your feet may get sore by the end!). As photographer Alice Rose George says in the preface, "New York can be frightening just by its size and number of people, or it can be exhilarating for the same reasons... You can see bits and pieces from inside a taxi or the swollen streets as you enter a theater or restaurant, everything at a distance. Or you can dive into its complexity." 6sqft got Koek to sit down and stop walking for a brief moment to talk about this complexity, his process, and his inspirations for the book.
Hear from Koek and see a selection of his beautiful photos
Jane Jacobs’ NYC: The sites that inspired her work and preservation legacy

Washington Square Park via Wiki Commons; Jane Jacobs via Wiki Commons

May 4, 2018

Jane Jacobs’ NYC: The sites that inspired her work and preservation legacy

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Jane Jacobs’ birthday on May 4 is marked throughout the world as an occasion to celebrate one’s own city -- its history, diversity, and continued vitality. “Jane’s Walks” are conducted across the country to encourage average citizens to appreciate and engage the complex and dazzling ecosystems which make up our cityscapes (Here in NYC, MAS is hosting 200+ free walks throughout the city from today through Sunday). But there’s no place better to appreciate all things Jane Jacobs than Greenwich Village, the neighborhood in which she lived and which so informed and inspired her writings and activism, in turn helping to save it from destruction.
Tour Jane Jacobs' NYC
The Urban Lens: How Stanley Kubrick’s early photography led to his iconic film career

Stanley Kubrick, from “Faye Emerson: Young Lady in a Hurry,” 1950. © Museum of the City of New York/SK Film Archive, LLC

April 27, 2018

The Urban Lens: How Stanley Kubrick’s early photography led to his iconic film career

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6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. This week’s installment comes courtesy of a new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, “Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs.” Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Before he directed films like "A Clockwork Orange," "2001: A Space Odyssey," and "Dr. Strangelove" Stanley Kubrick worked as a staff photographer at LOOK magazine, where he developed a knack at storytelling through street photography. Kubrick "found inspiration in New York's characters and settings, sometimes glamorous, sometimes gritty," all of which is the subject of a new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York. “Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs,” tells the story of how a 17-year-old amateur photographer from the Bronx went on to become one of the most revered directors of the 20th century. The exhibit, on view from May 3rd through October, will display more than 120 photos taken between 1945 and 1950, during Kubrick's time at LOOK, and examine the connections between his photography and film work. Ahead, the exhibit curators share with 6sqft a sneak preview of the photographs and discuss their experience working on the show.
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Where I Work: Inside Stephen Powers’ colorful world of studio art and sign making in Boerum Hill
April 26, 2018

Where I Work: Inside Stephen Powers’ colorful world of studio art and sign making in Boerum Hill

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6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we’re touring artist Stephen Powers' Boerum Hill studio and sign shop. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! Walking along Fourth Avenue in Boerum Hill, the storefronts all look pretty similar--pizza shops, laundromats, cute cafes--until you come to the corner of Bergen Street and see the large, colorful collage of signs gracing the side of the little brick building. This is ESPO's Art World, artist Stephen Powers' sign shop. But as you can imagine, this space is much more than that. Powers, who painted graffiti under the name ESPO for much of the '80s and '90s in NYC and Philadelphia, also uses his shop as a retail store and informal gallery where passersby can walk in and peruse his graphic, pop-art-esque, text-heavy work. Stephen recently gave 6sqft a guided tour of his shop and chatted with us about his transition from graffiti to studio art, why he dislikes the term "street art," his love for Brooklyn, and where he sees the art scene heading.
Get a look around and hear from Stephen
Where I Work: Architecture firm Woods Bagot shows off their ‘raw’ FiDi studio
April 13, 2018

Where I Work: Architecture firm Woods Bagot shows off their ‘raw’ FiDi studio

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6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we’re touring the Financial District offices of architecture firm Woods Bagot, located on the seventh floor of the Continental Bank Building at 30 Broad Street. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! Internationally acclaimed architecture firm Woods Bagot opened their first office in 1869 in Adelaide, Australia. 150 years, 15 offices, and 850 staff members later, they've designed projects from a master plan for Perth to a mixed-use tech center in Singapore to a rental tower right here in Brooklyn. After opening their first NYC office a decade ago in Midtown, the rapidly expanding firm decided it was time to design a work space for themselves. So last summer, they moved into a brand new 11,000-square-foot home in Lower Manhattan. The vision of Woods Bagot's head of global workplace interiors, Sarah Kay, and head of global hotels, Wade Little, the studio has done such an impeccable job creating a "raw" feel that guests often think it's the original interior. Using a simple color palette of black and white, along with industrial elements like raw columns, exposed pipes, and cracked, stained concrete floors, they've managed to infuse "New York City grit" into their modern space, complete with virtual reality technology, 3D printing, and, most importantly, an industrial-strength espresso machine. 6sqft recently visited Woods Bagot to see the space in-person and chat with Sarah Kay about how she approached the design, what a typical day in the office is like, and what we can expect to see in the near future from this incredible firm.
Go on the tour
Why middle-income New Yorkers are turning down affordable housing

Photo via CityRealty

April 11, 2018

Why middle-income New Yorkers are turning down affordable housing

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It sounds like a dream come true. After a decade of living and struggling to pay your rent as a middle-income New Yorker, you get an email from NYC Housing Connect that says, “Invitation for Interview” followed by the address of the building to which you applied. For a moment, you are ready to break out the champagne and start celebrating the fact that that rent-stabilized, affordable NYC apartment you have always dreamt about living in—yes, that massive apartment that is only a fraction of everyone else’s monthly rent—is finally in reach. But then, like a lot of middle-class New Yorkers, you start to seriously consider whether you’re ready, willing, and able to accept what NYC Housing Connect is actually offering.
Hear from real New Yorkers who have turned down affordable housing
INTERVIEW: Author Fran Leadon tackles the mile-by-mile history of NYC’s most famous street

Photo of Frank Leadon © Katherine Slingluff

April 9, 2018

INTERVIEW: Author Fran Leadon tackles the mile-by-mile history of NYC’s most famous street

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Photo of Frank Leadon © Katherine Slingluff In "Broadway: A History of New York City in Thirteen Miles," architect Fran Leadon takes on a monumental task: to uncover the news events, people, businesses, and buildings--mile by mile--that have contributed to New York's best-known street. Beginning as a muddy path that cut through the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam and dissolved into farmland, Broadway has evolved over 200 years to host a chaotic mix of traffic, hotels, stores, theaters, churches, and people. In its first mile, you can see 400 years of history, from the Civil War to the emergence of skyscrapers. Moving uptown, Broadway takes us to the city's cherished public spaces--Union Square, Herald Square and Times Square--as well as the Theater District and Great White Way. The street continues to upper Manhattan, where the story of urban renewal plays out, then cuts through the Bronx and winds all the way to Albany. In his book, Leadon focuses on Manhattan's relationship with Broadway, making the argument that you can tell the story of NYC--and even the country--through these 13 miles. "Broadway was never just a thoroughfare; it has always been, first and foremost, a place," he writes. With 6sqft, Leadon talks about understanding Broadway, a street he often experienced in fragments, as a single 13-mile thoroughfare that serves as the lifeblood of New York. He also discusses how years of research and discovery made it to the pages, surprising histories that emerged along the way, and why he's still writing the history of Broadway in his head.
Keep reading
New York women tell their real immigration stories in a new photo exhibit

Daniela, from Colombia © Dru Blumensheid

March 9, 2018

New York women tell their real immigration stories in a new photo exhibit

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6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Dru Blumensheid shares some images from the Queens Museum's new exhibit Real People. Real Lives. Women Immigrants of New York. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. "Statistics do not tell the story of immigration. People do. Women do." This was the impetus behind the new photo and video exhibit at the Queens Museum, "Real People. Real Lives. Women Immigrants of New York." A partnership between New Women New Yorkers, NYC's only non-profit dedicated to empowering young immigrant women, and artist Dru Blumensheid aka BUMESI, the exhibit features photos and videos of 16 young immigrant women taken in iconic locations such as the Brooklyn Bridge and Chinatown, all as a way to show "a nuanced and multi-layered picture... of the barriers and isolation they experience, and of the hopes, dreams, and talents they bring with them." In celebration of Women's History Month, 6sqft chatted with Dru Blumensheid about her personal inspiration behind the project, what she learned from the experience, and how she hopes all New Yorkers can benefit from hearing these stories.
Hear from Dru and see her beautiful photos and videos
INTERVIEW: AphroChic’s founders pursue a passion for storytelling, design, and African American history

Photos © AphroChic/Patrick Cline

March 8, 2018

INTERVIEW: AphroChic’s founders pursue a passion for storytelling, design, and African American history

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Photos © AphroChic/Patrick Cline "Modern.Soulful.Style." This is the term coined by Crown Heights-based husband-and-wife team Jeanine Hays and Bryan Mason when they started their home design blog AphroChic in 2007. These three little words really must have resonated; just over a decade later, Jeanine and Bryan have taken the design world by storm, starting their own product line (which includes their "Brooklyn in Color" paint collection, the first paint line by an African-American design brand), designing interiors, authoring the book "REMIX: Decorating with Culture, Objects and Soul," and hosting HGTV's "Sneak Peek with AphroChic." 6sqft recently chatted with Jeanine and Bryan to learn how they went from careers in criminal justice to interior design, how African American influences factor into their work, and what's to come from this unique couple who "embraces culture and the unique admixture of the traditional and the contemporary that helps to define us all."
Our interview with AfroChic
How COOKFOX Architects outfitted their Midtown office with wellness technology and outdoor space
March 2, 2018

How COOKFOX Architects outfitted their Midtown office with wellness technology and outdoor space

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6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we’re touring the Midtown offices of architecture firm COOKFOX. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! When COOKFOX Architects started looking for a new office space three years ago, it was a no-brainer that they'd incorporate their signature biophilic tools, but their one non-negotiable requirement was outdoor space to connect employees directly with nature. And though the firm has come to be associated with so many contemporary projects, they found their ideal space on the 17th floor of the 1921, Carèrre and Hastings-designed Fisk Tire Building on 57th Street. Not only did it offer three terraces (that the team has since landscaped with everything from beehives to kale), but the large, open floorplan allowed the firm to create their dream wellness office. 6sqft recently took a tour of the space to see how employees utilize the space day-to-day and learn more about how COOKFOX achieved LEED Platinum and WELL Gold status by incorporating natural materials for finishings and furniture, temperature control systems, lighting that supports healthy circadian rhythms, and, of course, plenty of connections to nature despite being in the middle of Midtown Manhattan.
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Designer Sebastian Errazuriz opens up his South Bronx studio full of functional art and furniture
February 14, 2018

Designer Sebastian Errazuriz opens up his South Bronx studio full of functional art and furniture

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6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we’re touring the South Bronx design studio of Sebastian Errazuriz. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! Sebastian Errazuriz is a Chilean-born artist, designer, and activist but over the years, he's grown his multidisciplinary studio to incorporate everything from virtual reality to activism. But nothing he does is cookie-cutter. His cabinets undulate and mimic kaleidoscopes; his public art makes social commentary on issues from Wall Street and capitalism to Chile's politicide; and he's created sculptures that mix a boat with a coffin and a crystal chandelier with taxidermy birds. Sebastian likens his ability to work in these mediums separately but together to how he can speak both English and Spanish but also Spanglish. "It's the freedom to incorporate words that do not exist in one particular language but that enrich communication with someone else that I really enjoy within the boundaries of art and design," he explains. Now, Sebastian is at the forefront of yet another new frontier. Though he has a 5,000-square-foot space at the uber-hip Industry City, he opened his second location last summer in Mott Haven, one of the city's newest artist enclaves due to its affordable warehouse spaces and non-residential nature that sets it apart from the more gentrifying parts of the area. 6sqft recently paid Sebastian a visit here to learn how his firm is growing, the process behind his "functional art," and why he moved to the South Bronx.
Tour the studio and meet Sebastian
Where I Work: Weaving and dying indoor hammocks with Bushwick design collective Pouch

The pouch team, L to R: Textile Designer Taylor McMahon; Fabricator Emma Cook; Design Director Melissa Riling; Founder/CEO/Design Director Robert James Ramirez

February 1, 2018

Where I Work: Weaving and dying indoor hammocks with Bushwick design collective Pouch

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6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we’re touring high-end interior hammock company Pouch's Bushwick studio.Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! Picture yourself lounging in a hammock. Perhaps you're a kid on summer break in the backyard or on a trip to the islands relaxing on a beach. Wherever this vision takes you, it's that weightless, carefree feeling that probably comes to mind, which is the sensation that Bushwick-based design collective Pouch is trying to recreate inside the home with their handmade hammocks. According to founder and design director Robert Ramirez, the company believes the feeling of being on vacation should be incorporated into everyday life and that their product provides "a moment of retreat and relaxation amid the craze of city life." Working with a group of artisans in El Salvador who employ a traditional Salvadoran weaving technique and a fellow Bushwick company that naturally dyes all the cotton (using materials like tree bark and avocado pits), Robert has taken his family's roots and brought them to what is arguably the maker capital of the country. 6sqft recently visited Pouch's Brooklyn studio to learn more about the company and see how the hammocks are made, step-by-step.
Learn more about Pouch and tour their studio
INTERVIEW: Legendary architect Beverly Willis on gender equity in the building and design industry

Photo of Beverly Willis courtesy of BWAF; photo of the San Francisco Ballet Building courtesy of Wikimedia

January 3, 2018

INTERVIEW: Legendary architect Beverly Willis on gender equity in the building and design industry

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Throughout her more than 70-year-career, Beverly Willis has made an impact on nearly every aspect of the architecture industry. Willis, who began her professional career as a fresco painter, is credited with pioneering the adaptive reuse construction of historic buildings. She also introduced computerized programming into large-scale land planning and created a permanent prototype for buildings designed exclusively for ballet, with the San Francisco Ballet Building, one of her most iconic and enduring projects. As a woman in the building industry during the middle of the 20th century, and without any formal architectural training, Willis faced barriers that her male co-workers did not. After decades of success, instead of retiring Willis, founded the Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation (BWAF), aimed at shining a light on women architects who were left out of the history books. In 2017, BWAF launched a website, "Pioneering Women of American Architecture," that profiles 50 women who made significant contributions to the field. Ahead, architect Beverly Willis talks with 6sqft about how she became a pioneer in the field, the goals of her foundation and her continued push for gender equity in architecture, and beyond, through education and research.
More this way
Where I Work: Artistic duo Strosberg Mandel show off their Soho studio and glam portraits

David Mandel (L) and Serge Strosberg (R) in their studio, photo by James and Karla Murray

December 27, 2017

Where I Work: Artistic duo Strosberg Mandel show off their Soho studio and glam portraits

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6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we’re touring artistic duo Strosberg Mandel's Soho studio.Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! Last year, Belgian-American figurative painter Serge Strosberg had an exhibit about feminism in the East Village. The show's curator introduced him to David Mandel, a theatrical stylist, jewelry designer, and former drag queen. Though the two came from very different artistic backgrounds, they immediately hit it off on both a personal and professional level. Fast forward to today, and they've formed the NYC-based artistic duo Strosberg Mandel, creating large-scale assemblage portraits--mostly of rock n' roll icons such as Prince, David Bowie, Elvis, and Cher--using found materials and glamorous add-ons like Swarovski diamonds and luxury fabrics. In anticipation of their upcoming debut solo exhibition "Troubadours of Eternity" at Lichtundfire from January 24th to February 4th, in which they'll unveil the full portrait series as "a celebration of authentic musicianship and timeless spirits," Serge and David invited us into their Soho studio to get an advanced preview of the pieces and learn about their unique work and partnership.
Tour the studio and hear from David and Serge
INTERVIEW: Zoning and land-use attorney Michael Hiller fights to uphold the Landmarks Law
December 13, 2017

INTERVIEW: Zoning and land-use attorney Michael Hiller fights to uphold the Landmarks Law

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Michael Hiller is a zoning and land-use attorney who has represented community groups in seemingly impossible quests for about 20 years. His high-profile cases have often been against the Landmarks Preservation Commission, notably Tribeca's iconic Clock Tower Building and new construction along historic Gansevoort Street, both of which are pending appeal by the defendants. As one legal observer commented, "He has become an expert in the nuances of the Landmarks Law from a legal perspective. In court, he is very talented on his feet before a very hot bench, before judges who ask a lot of tough questions." His successes have won him designation as a Super Lawyer every year since 2009 as well as the 2017 Grassroots Award from the Historic Districts Council. 6sqft recently visited Michael at his office to learn more about his work.
Ahead, hear from Michael and learn more about his current cases
Where I Work: Glaser’s German bakery has been satisfying Yorkville’s sweet tooth for 115 years

All photographs © James and Karla Murray for 6sqft

December 12, 2017

Where I Work: Glaser’s German bakery has been satisfying Yorkville’s sweet tooth for 115 years

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6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we’re touring Glaser's Bake Shop, a 115-year-old German bakery in Yorkville.Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! In the early 20th century, New York's German immigrants relocated from the East Village to the Upper East Side neighborhood of Yorkville, which soon became known as Germantown. The community was so culturally rich, that German was spoken more than English in this area. 86th Street was dubbed "Sauerkraut Boulevard" and was lined with German butchers, restaurants, and bakeries. After the dismantling of the Second and Third Avenue elevatrated trains in the 1940s and '50s, most of the German community moved out, but several of these old-time businesses still remain, one of which is Glaser's Bake Shop. When German immigrant John Glaser opened his bakery in 1902, there were half a dozen nearby competitors. 115 years later, the perfectly preserved storefront on First Avenue and 87th Street is the last of its kind in Yorkville, but it's still filled everyday with new neighbors and long-time residents alike, eager to satisfy their sweet tooths with the extra chocolately brownies, jelly donuts, Bavarian pastries, and their famous black-and-white cookies. Glaser's is now owned by John's grandsons Herbert and John, who are committed to keeping their family's traditions alive. 6sqft recently stopped by to watch Herb work on massive gingerbread village and chat with him more about the baker's history and how he's seen Yorkville change over the years.
Get a behind-the-scenes look and hear from Herb
The Urban Lens: From Bob Dylan to Jack Kerouac, see rare photos of the Village’s Beat Generation

© Estate of Fred W. McDarrah

December 7, 2017

The Urban Lens: From Bob Dylan to Jack Kerouac, see rare photos of the Village’s Beat Generation

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Perhaps no single photographer could be said to have captured the energy, the cultural ferment, the reverberating social change emanating from New York City in the second half of the 20th century as vividly as Fred W. McDarrah. McDarrah got his start covering the downtown beat of the Village Voice in the 1950s and '60s, as that publication was defining a newly-emerged breed of independent journalism. McDarrah penetrated the lofts and coffeehouses of Lower Manhattan to shed light upon a new movement known as "The Beats" and went on to capture on film the New York artists, activists, politicians, and poets who changed the way everyone else thought and lived. Through the generosity of the Estate of Fred W. McDarrah and the McDarrah family, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation was fortunate enough to add to its digital archive a dozen of the most epochal of Fred McDarrah’s images of downtown icons, including Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan, Jane Jacobs, and Allen Ginsberg. And just in time for the holidays, you can purchase your own copy (with all proceeds benefitting GVSHP!).
Learn the story behind all the photos
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