Hasta La Ideas

Brought together by a mutual appreciation for design and exploration, Lucy Voller and Molly Martancik met in college and formed an indelible friendship that would soon birth a long distance collaborative they call There-There. With Martancik based in Boston and Voller in Minneapolis, the two send inspiration and ideas…

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“By giving our artists and designers control and not trying to fit their work into a preconceived idea of what Mood is we hope to produce genuine products that bring something new to skateboarding.” -Calvin Waterman When designers and lifelong skateboarders Calvin Waterman and Grandison Taber decided to launch…

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Stars, stripes and digi camo in the latest collection of American-made socks

While the warmth of summer is still keeping most of our ankles out in the open air, the bold stylings of Richer Poorer’s latest line has us looking forward to socks. Dropping this week to coincide with Capsule Las Vegas, the seven-style Union Thread collection introduces a handful of…

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Rachel Shechtman’s latest retail narrative edited by Cool Hunting

For her third “issue”,
Rachel Shechtman has turned her magazine-style boutique—aptly called Story—into an homage to New York. The shop changes concept every four to eight weeks, and the latest inventory is a selection of Big Apple goods co-edited by Cool Hunting. The finely selected stock is set to the backdrop of Jill Malek custom “coffee stain” wallpaper, cityscape murals by Chris Dent, presented by the AOL Artists initiative, and student-shot photos from the NYC non-profit Salt.

With “Love” and “Color” as the first two issues, Shechtman continues to explore themes that are universal in concept but niche in execution. With each issue the Chelsea space becomes a new place of wonder, and each table or shelf serves as a narrative that unfolds before your eyes. Story “New York” is packed with goods by some of our favorite makers, such as Jill Platner jewelry, food selections from New York Mouth, a rotating assortment of custom Milk Made ice cream flavors sold by the pint or cup for the first time and exclusively at Story (since until now it has been an online subscription-only offer), crates from Quirky making their debut, 3×1 jeans and denim solution, an assortment of Baggu sacks, Scott Thrift’s annual clock The Present (available for pre-order at Story), Julie Rofman bracelets and more.

We recently caught up with Shechtman at Story to learn more about her endeavor. Read more about our collaboration and her unique take on retail as well as more images in the slideshow below.

How did you link up with Josh Rubin and Cool Hunting?

Through mutual friends. We heard about each other for a while and I think we tend to like similar things. We live a block away from each other in Chelsea, and we have complementary sensibilities—and I think different skill sets that also complement each other. So, as I was launching this new concept of retail as media and Cool Hunting is kind of the guru of all things culturally inspiring online, it seemed like the perfect partner for our first-ever co-curated edition.

How does each issue differ from the next, and what are you thinking about when choosing a theme?

It’s a combination of factors. First and foremost I ask, “is the product relevant to the story?” And then after the answer is “yes”, I think, “what are interesting brands and products that work?” One of the most important things that’s important to me for our experience as a brand is that whether you’re nine years old or you’re 70 years old, or whether you want to spend $5 or $500, there’s something that appeals to all of those people and their sensibilities, but within the context of one story, and that it makes sense so that it’s not just about one demographic or one audience. Of course some people like “Love” better than “Color” and some people like “New York” story better than “Love”, but you know, as long as they are able to relate to each experience, that’s the most important thing to me.

How long is each issue up?

Four to eight weeks—it depends on the issue. The September issue will be four weeks. It also depends on theme. We’re also doing a lot of different events for the “New York” story. We’re going to do skill-share classes with New York Mouth, which includes a pickling class and how to make hard candy. We’re doing other interesting events, like a dinner party hosted by Malin +Goetz here. And then we’re going to hopefully have some musical performances.

I also want it to be interactive and have community, not just be about people who necessarily buy. For example, we have this amazing kid’s brand, Ode, and she just emailed us, and she liked our idea and said she wants to sell in our store. If a magazine has editors and then contributing editors, our contributing editors are either our fans that make things and want to sell them in the store, or customers who come in and want to have events here. We’re trying to make it as interactive as possible. The other special thing we’re going to do is a lemonade and tattoo stand on the weekend, and for the first time ever we’re selling pints of ice cream from a company that is otherwise a subscription only service.

What happens when you sell out of an item?

Sometimes we re-order it and sometimes we let it sell out. One thing that’s important to me is adjacencies. It’s no different than when you’re shooting a picture in a magazine spread, if you take an item out of its context in real life and in a physical space, how can you tell its story? By putting old brands next to new brands, and sexy brands next to classics, and just kind of mix it up.

Curator Hanne Mugaas dishes on the group exhibition of food-related works

Our relationship with food knows no end, as we elevate it to divine status, play with it, turn it into nonconventional formats and even demand that it entertains us. This intimacy provides the theme behind The Art of Cooking, a group art exhibition opening 27 April 2012 at Royal T in Los Angeles that features the work of 48 artists—including Olaf Bruenning and Kenny Scharf—alongside a schedule of performances. We spoke with curator Hanne Mugaas about the concept behind the show, which runs through 1 August.

Where did the concept for the show come from?

I guess that food is something that is very basic; it’s right in front of you several times a day. To me, the endless depictions of food and the explosion of food blogs seem to be about lifestyle. You are what you eat, right? While researching artists and artworks for the show, I realized that most artists have at least one work that has to do with food.

Can food ever move so far in art realm that it makes us forget what it is?

I don’t think so. At least not if you spend a lot of time with the artwork. This also depends on the intention of the artist, of course. Maybe the intention was to make us forget.

Can you highlight some of the artists and pieces in the show?

One group of artists who work primarily with food is White Zinfandel, which publishes a magazine about art and food. Each issue has a specific theme: TV dinners, food fights—and they organize conceptual dinners for the launch of each one. They invite artists to explore each theme, and the result is included in the magazine. Another artist is Viktor Kopp, who paints chocolate squares; although rather than exploring chocolate, he explores the grid of painting through chocolate.

Your family is involved in the restaurant business. Did you make a jump from this universe into art?

I didn’t really jump from food to art. My family are all working with, or did work with, food, but I was never interested in learning to cook. My dad owns restaurants, my brother is a chef, and my sister is the manager of a restaurant.

What did you learn from your personal background in restaurants and food that you brought into your work as a curator, and vice versa?

From food to art—I basically grew up in restaurants, so I learned the work ethic and the social aspect, which are both similar to the art world. From art to food—I’ve been consulting on creative aspects of my dad’s business, although he’s very creative himself so he doesn’t need much help.

What other unique angle to food did you discover while putting together this show that you’d like to explore in another exhibit one day?

I am planning to make a cookbook including the favorite recipes of the artists in the show. I would also like to do an art show in one of my dad’s restaurants in Norway, and bring in artists like Scott and Tyson Reeder to do a series of food-related performances, or White Zinfandel to do a conceptual dinner party.

Royal T

“The Art of Cooking”

Now-1 August 2012

8910 Washington Blvd.

Culver City, CA 90232