Last night my favorite designers, artists and architects (and friends of other stripes) had a chance to see the initial five finger furnishings collection. We had a blast--despite a serious no drinking or eating in the chairs rule! A big thank you to everyone who has pitched in and made this possible.
Jay Street starts in DUMBO, runs up the hill and into downtown Brooklyn. There it becomes Smith Street, home to a steady stream of new restaurants and bars. Smith Street was my home over a decade ago, when my daughter, Natalie, was born. I brought her home to a tiny apartment above a liquor store where purchases were made by pushing cash under bullet-proof glass. Old men played checkers outside the bodega on the corner, drinking malt liquor in tall boy cans. Now that same liquor store features imported wines and there’s a Free People where the bodega used to be. The neighborhood has changed a lot, but it will always be about starting out for me.
So there’s a lot of symmetry in the fact that the workshop where I will make my chairs is at the other end of that same street: on Jay Street, just before it descends to the water. That’s got to be a good omen, right? After all, the last thing I started on this street turned out really well. Wish me luck!
