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What do labour rights have to do with secondhand fashion? It turns out, a lot. In today's episode, we talk to Emily Stochl, host of the Pre-Loved Podcast on labour rights activism and how it informs the secondhand market and our secondhand shopping consumption habits. One of our favourite takeaways from this episode is Emily's encouragement to see ourselves as citizens rather than just consumers to advocate for systemic change. We discuss topics like a living wage, unlearning our traditional views about sustainable fashion, and vintage resellers. Thank you Emily for joining us! MORE ABOUT EMILY: Emily is a vintage fashion writer and podcaster who has written and contributed to: Refinery29, Atmos, Mildew Magazine (print), WNYC, Glamour, Vogue Business, CNN, HuffPost, The Zoe Report, and WWD on subjects of the vintage and secondhand fashion industry. I am also a fashion advocate, working in the space of living wages and climate justice at Remake. Pre-Loved Podcast is the top weekly interview show about the vintage and secondhand fashion industry. Started in 2018, it was the first vintage fashion podcast on the market, and today it has over 200 episodes with guests including: Depop, Poshmark, the founders of the Brooklyn Flea, Manhattan Vintage, A Current Affair, and many more. The show has also been ranked in Apple Podcast's Top 10 Fashion & Beauty shows in the United States, Australia, Canada, etc.FIND EMILY: Website: https://www.emilymstochl.com/category/pre-loved-podcast/IG: https://www.instagram.com/emilymstochl/?hl=enApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/pre-loved-podcast-with-emily-stochl/id1435719708 Chapters00:00 Introduction and Background06:12 Labor Rights and Sustainable Fashion16:08 The Gentrification of Thrift and Vintage32:00 Shifting Towards Quality Over Quantity-----------------CONTACT US: sustainthispodcast@gmail.com SIGNE HANSENYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@UseLess_dkWebsite: https://www.uselesswardrobe.dk/IG: https://www.instagram.com/useless_dk/TT: https://www.tiktok.com/@useless_wardrobeCHRISTINA MYCHASYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@ChristinamychasWebsite: https://www.minimalist-ish.com/IG: https://www.instagram.com/christina.mychas/TT: https://www.tiktok.com/@christina.mychasALYSSA BELTEMPOYoutube: https://www.youtube.com/@AlyssaBeltempoWebsite: https://msbeltempo.com/IG: https://www.instagram.com/msbeltempo/TT: https://www.tiktok.com/@msbeltempo If you loved this episode please share it on your stories and tag us! We love to see which episodes resonate with you and it helps to spread the word more than you know, xo
Pre-Loved Podcast is a weekly vintage fashion interview show, with guests you'll want to go thrifting with! For more Pre-Loved Podcast, subscribe to our Patreon! Today's episode is with Jaclyn, Goldberg, the founder of Jac's Gold based in Brooklyn New York. Jaclyn was born into the fashion industry – her father owned 13 clothing stores and fashion was always a large part of her life. She's been collecting vintage since she was a teengager, and worked in the garment industry in production for 18 years. During the pandemic, she started classes in sustainability at FIT while she was furloughed, and also started selling tie-dyed vintage t-shirts on her Instagram. In the end, she decided not to go back to production work – turning to vintage clothing full time, which we discuss on the show. These days you can find her at the Brooklyn Flea every weekend, as well as shows like Manhattan Vintage. She says her favorite part of vintage is digging for the gold – sifting through so many garments to find special treasure, and the smile on a customers face when they find a special piece they love. That's golden. All this and more in today's episode, so let's just dive right in! *This episode is sponsored by Dirty Labs A big thank you to Dirty Labs for supporting Pre-Loved Podcast! You visit dirtylabs.com/preloved and use the promo code PRELOVED for 20% off your first order. DISCUSSED IN THE EPISODE: [2:00] Growing up in the fashion industry, where her father owned 13 clothing stores. [4:58] After going to school for art, Jaclyn ended up in fashion production afterall. [7:21] Jaclyn loved vintage after her dad started carrying vintage pieces from Antique Boutique, and she got her first pair of vintage Levi's. [14:16] Jaclyn's journey with sustainability was inspired by the people, and the garment factories, that she worked with while doing garment production. This led her to take a course on fashion sustainability at FIT. [17:07] While furloughed during the pandemic, Jaclyn rediscovered her love for tie-dying. [21:48] Jaclyn starts selling at the Brooklyn Flea Market. [29:33] Looking for interesting washes on vintage jeans. [32:35] NASCAR jackets have become a hot seller for Jac's Gold as of late. [38:39] Picking up her sewing lessons again. [46:00] Sourcing by bicycle in Brooklyn. EPISODE MENTIONS: @jacsgoldvintage Jac's Gold Vintage Bridgett Artise of Born Again Vintage Brooklyn Flea @bkflea Pre-Loved Podcast episode on the Brooklyn Flea Metropolis Vintage Alternew Manhattan Vintage Arielle Crawford @therealnesspreserve Alden Wicker from Eco Cult To Dye for by Alden Wicker Iki Kimono NYC Willis - @joysofanothertime LET'S CONNECT:
Explore the hidden gem of Clinton Hill, Brooklyn in this immersive episode of The Pocket Explorer. Discover the neighborhood's rich history, stunning architecture, and vibrant arts scene as we guide you through must-visit spots like the Pratt Institute, FiveMyles Gallery, and Mark Morris Dance Center. Savor the diverse culinary delights at local favorites like Tom's Restaurant, Speedy Romeo, and The Finch. Uncover nearby attractions, including Fort Greene Park, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and the bustling Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. From annual events like the Fort Greene Park Jazz Festival to unique shopping experiences at the Brooklyn Flea, this insider's guide to Clinton Hill, NYC has it all. Subscribe now and travel like a true local with The Pocket Explorer!
Pre-Loved Podcast is a weekly vintage fashion interview show, with guests you'll want to go thrifting with! For more Pre-Loved Podcast, subscribe to our Patreon! Today's show is a collective episode about the Brooklyn Flea, which re-opens for the season this weekend (April 1-2!). Founded 15 years ago, in April 2008 by Jonathan Butler and Eric Demby, Brooklyn Flea has grown into one of New York City's top attractions, operating flea markets that feature hundreds of top vendors of furniture, vintage clothing, collectibles and antiques. First up, you'll hear from co-founder Eric Demby, and then later on in the episode, three incredible vintage dealers who have been with the flea since its early days. We'll speak with Francois of Of Leisure who was a fashion photographer for 10 years before he started selling French and American vintage at the Brooklyn Flea in 2013. Then we'll chat with Travis, the owner of The Hood Haberdasher, who grew up between Brooklyn, Miami and Jamaica, and started his full time vintage passion about 15 years ago - bringing “statements, not staples”home to Brooklyn to the Flea. And finally we speak to Thea Grant, about the family first jewelry business she and her husband Nico started in Brooklyn, and their extensive range of vintage, antique and handmade jewelry. It was such a joy to hear from them what being a part of the Brooklyn Flea all these years has meant to them – so let's just dive right in! DISCUSSED IN THE EPISODE: [2:05] Eric Demby, co-founder of the Brooklyn Flea, tells stories about taking the train to New York City, as a teengager from Connecticut, to shop vintage. [7:00] While working in local politics, Eric notices that tourists start to visit Brooklyn, but they don't know exactly where to go. [11:42] Eric's partner, Jonathan Butler - founder of Brownstoner, hosted an event called ‘Salvage Fest' in 2007, in a schoolyard in Clinton Hill. [14:28] On the vintage scene in Brooklyn in 2008. [15:58] Etsy starts-up in downtown Brooklyn, but they're focused on handmade goods – not vintage – at the time. They have a booth in the early Flea. [19:21] Opening day on April 6, 2008 [25:11] Curating the selection at the Brooklyn Flea. [32:07] What to expect when the Brooklyn Flea opens for the season, April 1-2, 2023 [35:23] Francois, of Of Leisure, shares his story with vintage fashion, including learning to sell vintage clothes working at the flea market in Paris while he's there as a student. [42:44] On turn-of-century French vintage and workwear. [54:10] Travis of Hood Haberdasher shares his story with vintage and the Flea, growing up at the Flea, and meeting his wife there! [1:11:00] Thea Grant shares the story of the antique and vintage jewelry business that she and her husband Nico started in Brooklyn. [1:22:00] Around 8 years ago, Thea & Nico saw the wholesale jewelry business changing a lot and started to rethink how they would do business direct to customers. [1:44:55] On vintage Bakelite jewelry. EPISODE MENTIONS: Brooklyn Flea @bkflea @ofleisure @thehoodhaberdasher @theagrantdesign Brownstoner Beacon's Closet Salvatore Ricotta featured in the NYTimes Scavengers on the Urban Savannah story in the NYTimes Front General Store Heirloom Susan Blank - Blank Frames Devon Grimes Bill Cunningham is known for his French workwear jacket Vintage Bakelite jewelry LET'S CONNECT:
Pre-Loved Podcast is a weekly vintage fashion interview show, with guests you'll want to go thrifting with! For more Pre-Loved Podcast, subscribe to our Patreon! In this episode, I'm chatting with Maria, the owner of Animal Vintage in South Florida! We chat about how she first discovered the fantasy of vintage and secondhand clothing at a St. Vincent de Paul thrift store, her career in fashion, and lessons learned throughout many years of being a vintage dealer. *This episode is sponsored by Dirty Labs A big thank you to Dirty Labs for supporting Pre-Loved Podcast! You visit dirtylabs.com/preloved and use the promo code preloved20 for 20% off when you try them out. DISCUSSED IN THE EPISODE: [4:30] Maria's first adventures at the St. Vincent de Paul thrift stores in South Florida in the mid 90s [10:13] Working under Danny Santiago, now the costume designer and stylist known for his work on ‘And Just Like That' [13:40] The rave scene in South Florida, and selling vintage to finance her trips to shows [21:40] Maria's first time vending at the Brooklyn Flea [27:36] Maria's first Manhattan Vintage show in the mid 2000s. [35:46] Having a showroom for appointments vs. opening a store [38:28] Spending summers in Minneapolis (check out Pre-Loved Podcast episodes with Audrey Rose Vintage and the Minneapolis Vintage Market!) [42:18] Selling a Bob Mackie astrology cape - pictured here EPISODE MENTIONS: @animalvintage Animal Vintage Etsy shop @dannysantiago Foley + Corrina Resurrection Vintage Brooklyn Flea The Lucky Tiger @decadealchemy Manhattan Vintage @glamdiggersvintage @audreyrosevintage Jessie of Audrey Rose on Pre-Loved Podcast Bob Mackie astrology cape Fong Leng Artists & Fleas Gypsy Nation Vintage Liz Baca @selfishmaids in London @scoutla LET'S CONNECT:
Anna Gordon started selling her amazing cookies at the Brooklyn Flea in 2010 and has since created a delicious destination bakery in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. In this episode, we kick off 2023 with a vibrant conversation about Anna's love of creating layers of flavours and textures, visualizing the perfect day of a bakery owner, and what it's like to create a platform that does so much tasty good in her community. Helpful Links The Good Batch @thegoodbatch on Instagram Support the Podcast Here! Rise Up! The Baker Podcast website The Bakers4Bakers Community Mark's Blog, with the Bakernomics series Mark on Instagram Credits: Produced and hosted by Mark Dyck Theme song and music by Robyn Dyck Orange Boot Human logo by Fred Reibin
This week, Maya shares her latest last-minute trip to New York to see Sarah Silverman's musical, The Bedwetter, featuring lyrics penned by her late friend. It's a solo trip filled with tourist activities and big feelings including: A semi-psychic dream! 30-minute walk for a cannoli Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge! Brooklyn Flea! Rise of the American fashion designer exhibit at the Met. Enthusiastic theater patron sitting next to Maya and she gives it a pass Uncontrollable sobbing during live theater! The always important lesson: When something tastes bad…stop eating it and throw it away! Kate Bush is getting real paid for Stranger Things featuring her song Running Up That Hill! Maya admits in the past has lied to people and said she likes that song. Amy is really mad at Taika Waititi because he's upset about the use of Kate Bush's Running Up That Hill in Strangers Things. This brings us to the golden rule…don't yuck someone's yum! Then the ladies discuss Minnesota accidentally legalizing THC edibles. Amy tells her story featuring “Sweet Pea” singer Tommy Roe that involves a lasting scar. Next, Maya and Amy disagree with Rolling Stone Magazine's list of the worst songs of the 90s. And ask the question…what makes a “bad” song? Finally, Animal Report features a bi-pedal dog. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/the-spirit-of-77/message
After losing her job in the recession, Chrissy Fichtl had a lot of free time on her hands. While searching for a new job, Chrissy was looking for a hobby to keep her entertained in the interim. After a quick search on Google, Chrissy stumbled upon homemade soap. Several hundred dollars, and many ruined pans later, Chrissy had finally perfected her recipe. What initially began as a hobby in her apartment, unexpectedly became Chrissy's full-time career. Today, she is the proud Founder and CEO of Apotheke, a home fragrance brand that generates over $12 million in revenue annually. Even though Chrissy's company makes home fragrance products, she believes that her unique story sets her apart from the rest. Initially known as the lady who sold candles at the Brooklyn Flea, Chrissy has utilized her personal experience as the inspiration for her brand. While Apotheke has grown and changed over the years, the philosophy and mission remain the same—to provide hand-poured fragrances for all of life's special moments. Tune into this episode of DearFound Her… to learn more about the importance of building relationships with your customers, establishing meaningful partnerships, and making life convenient so you can leverage your story and transform it into the brand of your dreams. Quotes: • “We are in 500 of the best little shops all across America. I can name every single one of them and I know every single person in all 500 stores.” (27:38-27:57) • “I think a healthy business today in 2022 is a healthy division of wholesale, direct to consumer, and having a retail shop.” (29:35-29:50) • “As a company, we're very connected to what's going on with our customers.” (30:12-30:17) • “An important part about growing your company is knowing what your brand stands for.” (31:16-31:21) • “We have some really amazing collaborations happening. It's amazing and I am smiling thinking about it. I think it's so great because they have the same type of pillars as us about their employees, where they source their ingredients, transparency, and price point.” (47:58-48:43) • “If you believe in what you can do, but you know you need a little bit of cash, as long as you know how to pay them back, then I suggest asking for the help.” (50:26-50:39) Connect with Chrissy Fichtl: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apothekeco/ Website: https://apothekeco.com/ Please don't forget to rate, comment, and subscribe to Dear FoundHer on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts! Stop spinning your marketing wheels and start building a community you can monetize. JOIN ME for Big Impact Marketing for Small Business, a new way to work with me. REGISTER HERE Want even more resources for growing your business? Want even more resources for growing your business? • Grab one of Lindsay's FREE quick small business marketing guides: https://www.lindsaypinchuk.com/freebie • Follow Lindsay on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lindsaypinch Use code FoundHer for 50% off your first month with both HiveCast and Fireside Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm
Today, I’m talking LinYee Yuan, a design journalist as well as the editor and founder of MOLD magazine, which approaches food and the future from a design perspective. It’s one of the most innovative food magazines out there, with a global scope and an honest relationship to unpleasant realities like hunger, waste, and even fecal matter.We discussed how the magazine came to be, how its point of view has been forged, and its trajectory from the microbiome toward its sixth and final forthcoming issue about soil.Alicia: Hi, LinYee. Thank you so much for being here.LinYee: Hi, Alicia. I'm so thrilled to be here with you today.Alicia: Can you tell me about where you grew up and what you ate? LinYee: I grew up in Houston, Texas. I am a first generation Chinese American woman, and I basically ate all the things that kids in the ’80s ate in the United States. So Lunchables. I was obsessed with Cookie Crisps. I did the whole Pop-Tarts, all the things. But the difference is that my mother is a dietitian. And I just grew up knowing that those things were kind of foods that were just kind of special foods. So I would often go to friend’s houses to access those things. And because I'm Chinese American, we would typically eat some kind of Chinese-ish every night. My father is a man of ritual. And so, he's not super into being very exploratory with his kind of daily meal. So often growing up, my job when I got home from school–’cause I was a latchkey kid, ’cause it’s the ‘80s—my job was basically to make the rice. So I had to go into our chest freezer and dig out cups of rice, wash the rice, and then put it in the rice cooker. So that was very much kind of my experience growing up. My father was an avid gardener. And because I grew up in Houston, Texas, we had access to the water. And his other passion in life, besides gardening, is fishing. And so oftentimes, we would have fresh vegetables, fresh fruits from the garden, and fresh fish that my father had caught and then scaled and then cleaned and put them in the deep freezer. So that's basically how my parents still eat today. They do a lot of fish. They do rice at every meal. When the season is right, they eat a lot of vegetables and greens from their own garden. But we also would do at least a weekly trip to Chinatown to get Asian greens and other pantry staples that I grew up eating.Alicia: And so, what first interested you in food? Can you give us kind of a bio, a rundown of your career?LinYee: Well, I've always been interested in food, in the sense that food was always the centerpiece of any sort of familial gathering. As a child of immigrants, we would always make an excuse to come together over a meal. So whether that was just kind of weekend dim sum with my aunties and uncles and my grandparents, or going to my grandmother's house for a meal or something more celebratory. For example, now as adults, my family, we meet for Thanksgiving. And so, that's kind of our central purpose for meeting. Everything always revolved around what to eat. And so, I think that food always meant more to me than just a source of sustenance. There was always kind of a reason for celebration when it came to food. And it always meant family. And it always meant joy and connection. And so professionally, I have worked in magazines basically my entire career. And I was never really interested in food media and the way that we understand it today. I wrote about design. I wrote about culture. But the food media wasn't really something that seemed interesting or accessible to me. I wasn't really interested in restaurant reviews or recipe development even. But what I was interested in, especially in the kind of 2010s, was this culture of restaurant pop-ups. And so being from Texas, living in New New York, especially in 2010, there was no proper Texas-style barbecue here. And this was the kind of age of the Brooklyn Flea. And so basically, the moment I had access to a backyard in my personal space, I bought a smoker and started smoking brisket for friends with—over the summer. So I would host a little party at my house. And then I would just, I would smoke a brisket. And one of my friends who was also from Texas, who is also Asian American and first-generation was like, ‘Hey, we should just do this at the Brooklyn Flea.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, I just never thought about that. But ok, I'm down to try.’ And so we launched a little Texas-style barbecue business, and started slinging brisket sandwiches at the Brooklyn Flea. And so, that was kind of my first entry into a more professional understanding of food, besides being a waitress when I was in college and that type of thing. But again, not really interested in the traditional modes of working in food. I wasn't interested in opening a restaurant. Food has just always been part of my understanding of who I am and how I navigate the world and why I travel it. Why I would visit certain neighborhoods in New York, or even with friends at that age. And still today, we always gather around food.Alicia: Of course. And so, how did Mold come to be?LinYee: So I was working as an editor for an industrial design resource called Core77 when I started seeing a lot of really interesting food design projects. And they were primarily from students, often, or they were speculative in nature. But at the time, most design websites weren't covering anything to do with food design, because their focus was really on furniture and lighting, interior objects. And so I was like, ‘I love food. I'm interested in food. I am a design journalist. I'm very well situated to actually write about this.’ So I was like, ‘Well, let me just start a little nights and weekends project’ where I would write about these interesting food design projects that I would come across that didn't really have a lot of space in other places for publication. So Mold was just a nights and weekends project. I reached out to a friend who connected me with a designer. And I was like, ‘Hey, can you give me an updated Blogspot template, or maybe a Tumblr template for this project I want.’ And he was like, ‘Oh, actually, I can just design a whole website for you. It'll probably take about the same amount of energy.’ And so, I worked with him on creating a kind of vessel for these content ideas. And that was basically our online presence for the first seven years of Mold. And so, it kind of immediately became something that felt real. And that was the start of all of it. Alicia: That's so fascinating. Well, I worked in magazines, too. But I come as a writer from writing about literature, or writing about food, specifically on restaurants and the recipe development. So this whole other side of it that is more mainstream. And then recently, I've been reading so much about, not just with Mold, but also these writers, usually from the Netherlands, I don't know, doing, really thinking about food systems regionally and how design fits into all of that. And how architecture is a food systems issue. And things I hadn't thought about at all, because I never thought about those things at all. They weren't in my mental wheelhouse, I suppose. It's been so fascinating to find these actual connections, and I—it just seems such a lost possibility to talk about them more broadly, or in a way that's more accessible. It seems a lost opportunity for food media, specifically, not to be talking about how food fits into design and fits into landscapes. LinYee: I mean, it's insane because design is such this, a bit of an obscure profession in a lot of ways. Because on one hand, everything is design. Literally everything in your built environment was designed by a human. Somebody made a decision about the materiality, about its shape, about the way it was going to be produced, how it was actually going to—the system that not only makes the thing, but then gets it to you in a store or in your home is also designed. The system in which we live is designed. So everything that surrounds us is designed.Yet nobody talks about design as a lever, as a kind of invisible kind of layer into the world that we live in. I think often because design is about complexity. The way that we're educated, especially in the United States, is not about complexity. It's about creating a lot of dichotomies. It's about enforcing binaries. It's about telling stories around ways that things cannot change. And so, I think that by introducing design as this kind of wildcard within the conversation about food, it makes people nervous. Because it's hard to explain why we have apples 365 days out of the year at every single grocery store, deli, bodega, whatever. You can get an apple, or one species of banana everywhere, all the time. So why is that? It's a huge question that nobody really wants to answer.Alicia: It is so much complexity. And you're right. That is something we're trained not to do. I think the only time people in food media talk about design is to talk about a restaurant, how it looks. And that's literally the extent of it. LinYee: Yeah.Alicia: Yeah. [Laughs.]And so the one fascinating thing to me about Mold, and it's something that I'm—you can find in literature, you can find in art criticism, but you don't really find in food—is that it has a global scope. It's something that food magazines based in the U.S. tend to not be open to. Whetstone, always, is an exception, of course.LinYee: Stephen’s incredible. Alicia: Incredible. And so, you claim the phrase ‘the future of food,’ too, without it being solely about food tech. Which is something I've been thinking about so much, which is how this phrase has become, to be the synecdoche for this one way of looking at the future in food. And so basically, how did Mold’s point of view come about to be global in scope, to be about the future, but to be so broad, basically, in what it will look at?LinYee: So I started just being interested in food design as this weird emerging corner of the design world. And through the work of writing about a student project that was actually a poster project, I came to learn about the coming food crisis. And so in a lot of ways, this student project by an Australian designer named Gemma Warriner really did the job of what she had set out to do, which was to tell the story around the coming food crisis to raise this flag, that the United Nations basically warned that if we continue eating the way that we do today, that we will not be able to produce enough food to feed all 9 billion people by the year 2050. And that fact totally just stopped me in my tracks, I had A, no idea that there was a coming food crisis. B, didn't realize that it was literally like 30 years down the line. At that point, it’s 35 years or around the corner. And I was like, ‘That's within our lifetime.’ And there was consciousness around climate change at the time. But it's not the way that we talk about it, and the urgency that we talk about it today. And so, that student project completely shifted the course of the editorial focus for Mold, from being kind of a general interest in food and design into being kind of a warning bell to designers that, ‘Hey, you actually have the professional tools to offer solutions at various scales for this coming crisis.’ And so, that has been our focus and our mission since. And I think that the global scope of that is in a lot of ways the global nature of design, where oftentimes best practices and ideas from many different disciplines influence the way that we think about design. And also design, in some ways, it's kind of a—it's more of a scaffolding in a lot of ways. So designers are A, trained to ask the right questions. B, work in this very interdisciplinary way. And the future of design really lives in this idea of designing with people or designing with others, whether they're living or nonliving entities. And then there's a lot of space for that conversation, where that is not a—there's not enough space for that conversation in a lot of other fields. Just kind of planting my flag in the future of food was a way of signaling that we are facing this coming food crisis, but also to say, ‘Hey, we cannot address this in a kind of techno-bro kind of way.’ Design has always taught us that in order for something to be successful, it needs to be aspirational. It needs to be joyful. It needs to speak to the human condition. It needs to be emotional. And I think that those things, again, are kind of woven into the fabric of what design understands the world to be. And so, it's always grounded me in the fact that our solutions cannot be merely technological, especially when it comes to food. Food is not just a source of nutrients. Food is so much more, as your audience totally understands. And so, that's why I didn't think food tech was the sole answer. The other thing is that, let's just be honest, that food tech being heralded as the kind of future of food is about perpetuating systems of capitalism. Who owns food technology? I'm interested in design solutions or solutions that are grounded in systems that can be owned by people that are not—You don't have to pay somebody else to participate in this thing. But you have autonomy. You have agency. You have sovereignty to determine what your food future looks like for yourself, for your community, for your family. That's not the way that technology in the way that we think about it today works. It's very much about top down control. It's very much about hierarchies of like, ‘This is what you're going to eat,’ and this is how you're going to eat it. I mean, at the time, people were really excited about hydroponic greens grown in warehouses. And they were like, ‘That's the future of food.’ And I was like, ‘First of all, I am a person who doesn't eat salad, period.’ I mean, I do sometimes in the summer when I'm feeling a certain kind of way. But it's not part of my typical diet. And I'm sure, because I'm Chinese American, it's not part of a lot of people's diets. Basically, most of the people in the world are not eating salad every day. So I realized very early that those technological solutions were not for me. They want to try to solve for me. And once again, just being a little bit outside of that kind of, I would say, I—the person that those technological solutions are designing for allows me to be like, ‘Well, what else is there?’ and ask more questions.Alicia: No, it's really funny that you brought up the garden, the hydroponic gardens, ’cause that's exactly how—that was my kind of introduction to food tech, and then, and the solutionism of it. And I was like, ‘But what is the end result of this? Is it we buy lettuce subscriptions? Am I going to have a Spotify subscription for lettuce?’ And just, ‘is that what you're envisioning? I don't understand what the purp—How is this literally the future of food?’ Also, a lot of that hydroponic lettuce has no freaking flavor whatsoever. What actually are we trying—’cause I used to work at Edible Brooklyn. For a few years, they had this event called Food Loves Tech, which was just my absolute nightmare. And so yeah, just trying to deal with that perspective on the future of food. I was like, ‘None of this makes any sense.’ And then, it just kind of got worse from there.I think we're hoping, in a moment of a little bit of clarity around it. I don't know. This is what I'm asked to talk about to college students, like, ‘Wait? Are we supposed to be thinking about food like this? Is there another way we can think about food?’ So I'm hoping that we're kind of over the hump of food tech solutionism, because it is—It was a very troubling moment, and people made a lot of money off of it. People are finally kind of seeing the wizard behind the curtain of it all in terms of—Yeah. [Laughs.]LinYee: I don't think that there's a single silver bullet for the future of food. And if you are somebody who eats salad every day, which is a lot of people in the United States, it's a great thing to be able to grow salad greens hydroponically. You're probably not eating them because you like the taste of radicchio. You're eating them for a different reason. So it's ok that maybe it doesn't taste the best salad you've ever had in your life or—But I also am interested in how can we stop replicating the same extractive models that we have been working in over the last 100 years, this kind of industrial capitalist model? Where does that stop? And where can we find new models, or reach back for older models of producing nutrients, producing food that is culturally appropriate for the populations that are eating it? That reflect the actual capacity of the land that is being used to produce it? And I think that those questions are much more interesting than saying, ‘Ok, lab-grown meat or salad greens grown hydroponically is the only answer for the future of food.’Alicia: Right, exactly. Well, Mold has had—as you know—Mold has had five print issues so far. How has the point of view of the magazine changed or not changed over the course of that time?LinYee: So I think that this kind of interest in regional local solutions for our, models for our kind of new food systems, this interest has really come into sharp focus over the course of the last five issues. So if you look at the first issue, the order—The issues have been organized by scale, and in loosely, so from the micro to the macro. So the first issue was about designing for the microbiome. And the second issue was about designing objects for the table. The third issue was designing food waste. The fourth was about designing for human senses. And the fifth issue was about seeds, which we could talk a little bit more about later. But the idea was to go from the micro to the macro. And the first issue, there's a lot of kind of speculative projects. And I think that it was important to have more provocative ideas in the first issue, because it was a way to kind of capture our audience and engage them in these questions because they're visually interesting, but also asking you some hard questions about what your vision of the future of food should look like. But through writing about all these things, I realized that the most important thing is for us to actually have a relationship with our food, which is such a simple idea but one that is so divorced from our typical reality of eating and procuring foods. And so, now that we're kind of five issues in and then we're working on our final issue, right now, the focus on, ‘Well, let's ground these solutions in something that works for you and me, living in different places and recognizing that the solutions are probably going to be very, very different.’ There is not a single solution for the world. And there shouldn't be. That mindset is also a very kind of colonial understanding of the ways that work. So if we can just break out of this idea that there's going to be one answer for everybody, how does design that supports the kind of multiplicity, the complexity of living networks? And that living network includes the microbes in the soil, the pollinators in the air, the food itself that's being grown in the ground or not in the ground. All of these things are all networked together in this kind of what we think of as the food web. And what is the human place in all of that? How can it be more equitable for both—Or not both. Everything involved in this? Well, so that's kind of the progression. The nice thing about publishing an independent magazine without any sort of advertiser or kind of outside pressures is that we get to take that journey for ourselves. We get to come out the end and be like, ‘I'm in a totally different place than when I started.’ And I'm totally cool with that. But this is the thing that really gets me out of bed in the morning. These are the kind of intellectual—but also, I would say, life and death questions that I am most excited about talking about.Alicia: I love that so much. Publishing independently, I think, is the only way to answer, ask those questions. Only way to really be engaged with the world. [Laughs.]LinYee: And thankfully, we have new models and media that allow for that, because as you know, just a couple years ago, people were like, ‘Media is dead. Print is dead.’ And through that kind of fire, we have come with all these new, more interesting independent models that support independent people, independent ideas. And I'm so thankful for those conversations.Alicia: Absolutely. And one of the things that strikes me in reading Mold is that it is a food magazine. It's about food, but it also acknowledges hunger. And it acknowledges the unpleasant aspects of food and the unpleasant aspects of food systems. And whether that's waste that is wasteful in general. Whether it's hunger, whether it's literally the fact that we excrete our food after we eat it—LinYee: Well, s**t is food. [Laughs.]Alicia: S**t is food! And so—[Laughs.] I mean, we've talked about how you've developed your perspective on these issues. But are there other publications, other media, other writers? Have you seen a different approach to food system issues emerge? And how have you gotten new insight, new perspective from, in food?LinYee: Well, I think that the kind of reckoning of the last couple of years as mainstream food media has really brought a more, I'd say, global and diverse group of voices to the forefront. And I think that that's been very exciting for me, because we mentioned Whetstone earlier. But I love that Stephen has a South Asia correspondent for the work that he's doing. And even larger mainstream publications that we don't necessarily have to name are diversifying their editors and writers. And I think that's so, so critical just to have different voices that are going to reflect the reality of what it means to eat and drink today in the United States.What would be really revolutionary would be to have people from various classes, actually, being able to participate in more mainstream food media? Food media comes with this understanding that you have access to all these things. And that's not true for the majority of people living in the United States. And so, what does it mean to have a complete, joyful meal for Americans or people living in the United States who don't have access to a grocery store in their neighborhood? Or a relationship with a farmer? I mean, what can food media do to support the idea that every person living in the United States should have access to—that would support both agricultural systems that are really floundering in the United States? A lot of small farmers are not making it out of this pandemic, with the people who actually need those nutrients. There's just so many ways that, I think, by talking about the food system as this kind of naughty, complicated place that is designed in a very inequitable fashion, just starting from that place of understanding would allow for so much more conversation to be had. A big difference, I think, between when we started and today is that many mainstream publications are recognizing that we are facing a food crisis. It's something that they might be wedging into the larger conversation around climate change, which makes a lot of sense, because agricultural production is one of the largest producers of greenhouse gasses. But also architecture and building and construction is one of the largest contributors of greenhouse gas. I mean, obviously, climate change is this urgent thing. But the way that we eat is very much entwined and entangled in this conversation. The fact that food media isn't ringing this bell every day is very, very disappointing and also, I think, a huge disservice to the people who read and enjoy media. Alicia: Yeah, no, it's hard. I did an interview last week that—when it comes out, that'll be very weird. But I was asked, ‘Why do I talk about sustainability and making one's food life sustainable, as though it is challenging? Why do I say it isn't easy to be sustainable?’ And I was like, ‘Well, because most people are floundering economically. Most people do not have the time, the access.’ And she asked specifically. And I was like, ‘Well, eating, caring about your food is a privilege because it is time expensive. And I think that you do a disservice to not talk about that time expense.’And I think about that with how I write recipes, which is—A baking recipe is a different thing, because it's always going to be something kind of frivolous and unnecessary and whimsical. And that's what it's supposed to be. But when you're talking about a food item that you use to sustain yourself, it's like there's no reason for this to be unnecessarily complicated. There is a way to write recipes that tastes really good, but that are broken down into the bare necessities of what you need to get a certain flavor or a certain something. Basically I think that aspiration and accessibility can coexist. You just have to approach it in a way that is mindful of the constraints that most people live under.LinYee: Yeah. And the capitalist constraints, right? Not to be harping on the capitalist system we live in. But I just think that if we're going to talk about the food system, we have to talk about capitalism. Because capitalism is telling you that your time should be focused on working. You are a worker within the capitalist system, and before our work was actually caring for our families and producing edible things to eat. And that was the work that we did. And so, if you really want to get into it with the time constraints, I have two very, very small children, so completely understand the challenges of what it means to feed your family with time constraints. But also, I'm interested in what it looks like to cook in a non-extractive kitchen, where we use things like solar cookers, or rainwater catchments, or thinking about kind of the circularity of the systems. And those things, in theory, are incredible if you live in a sunny place that also gets rain. But cooking on a solar cooker takes a really long time, and a lot of planning that you don't typically have the mind space to actually consider. And so yeah, I mean, I really feel for single parents out there, people who have multiple mouths to feed in their homes while working while trying to make time for themselves. It's an impossible task within the system. I think food is one of the best ways to be able to talk about these things, because it is—it affects everyone. It is a source of joy, typically, for people. And it's easier in a lot of ways to talk about how you make rice and—than it is to talk about the system in which it's produced. So starting to tie it by talking about what it is that you love to eat, and why is a great way to have these long, larger conversations around what the future of the food should look like. Because realistically, we should all be able to have a kind of voice in that, shaping what that is.Alicia: Exactly, yeah. We've touched on it, but in the broader food media, because Mold is so singular and unique and cool in its design, what—Where do you feel that design and food media, outside of your own magazine, like are—Where could these intersect in a way that does make these subjects comprehensible for people or, where could food media be better about design?LinYee: I think that just A, recognizing that design is a factor in our food and our relationship with food, I think is a great starting place. Because there is a kind of focus on design as this tableware aesthetic, or what we talked about as interior design with restaurants, which also, there's a place that could be really radical and interesting. But it's not that accessible. And those aren’t necessarily the projects that are being spoken about. Because as we mentioned earlier, construction is a huge contributor to climate change. So what does it mean to build a place in which you are ingesting natural things into your body—Or maybe unnatural things. Whatever. But literally bringing things into your body to be, become the person you are? What does it mean to do that in a space that is equally considered as far as its materiality, as far as it's designed for the physical hands that are producing those dishes, or cleaning the dishes or cleaning the space? What does that look like? I just think that by focusing on the-Well, just recognizing that we're living in a very, very designed world is a huge starting place. I mean, Mold looks the way that it does, because our art director and designers are just incredible human beings. Eric Hu, Matt Tsang, Jena Myung, they really have created this very unique visual language for the magazine. And through their work, we have been able to reach our primary audience, which is designers. We want designers to pick up a copy of Mold, recognize that it is a design artifact to engage with and kind of dig into the more, I would say dense, naughty, complex conversations that are happening within the publication. And it's really through their design choices that that has been able to happen. And so, I just want to recognize that the magazine itself is very much a collaborative effort between our contributors, our editors, our art directors, our designers, to produce this really—I would say, we're kind of hard to pin down. We don't really fit in the current ecosystem of food media, which is great. And we don't fit in the ecosystem of design media, either. We kind of have our own little planet somewhere in all of that. So I'm totally okay with it.Alicia: Well, that is interesting, though, because I do—Why do you think food occupies such a strange space when we're talking about it as a cultural subject? Because it does touch on all of these things. There are political aspects. There are economic aspects. There are labor aspects. There are ecological aspects. There are design aspects. Like most aspects of culture, it touches on a lot of things. But food isn't taken as seriously as other parts. Do you disagree with that? Do you see food as something that is taken seriously as an area of cultural critique and study? Is it not? I consistently feel people don't take food seriously, but do take other things seriously.LinYee: Yeah, I agree. I think it's because food is multisensorial. And it's something that's kind of been historically relegated to the work of women. And so, I think that for those reasons, it's oftentimes not taken very seriously. I mean, our just weird society is just like, ‘Oh, anything that brings you pleasure? Can't be serious,’ right? I love sharing this little nugget of information, which is that eating is the only thing we do besides having sex that engages all of our senses. And it's a truth. And it speaks to how important it is to ground food and joy and community in being fully multi-sensory. Because we, as humans, are designed to experience it that way. But I think because of that, often, it's relegated to this kind of soft, murky place of feelings, you know? And that’s not considered serious. It's also just so fundamental. We can give a biennial to architecture, right? It’s in Venice. But once you talk about the biennial of beans, which is the thing that I want to produce and make in my life, nobody wants to talk about that. It's the foundation of the things that we do, every day we eat.Alicia: How do you define abundance?LinYee: This is such a critical question in the world that we live in today, because I think the concept of abundance is a very radical concept within a capitalist system. Because capitalism tells you that we—luxury is about scarcity. It's about what I can afford that you can't afford. There's only so many of these things, these wedges, and I have to own one. Whereas if we look to nature, we see that there are models of care models of network systems, trust and interdependence, that consistently tell us that nature is abundant. You think about a single seed creates a single plant that then creates hundreds, if not thousands, of more seeds. If that kind of scale of one to 100, or 1000, doesn't indicate abundance, then I don't know what does. If we can all understand that implicitly we are connected to one another, there is more than plenty for everyone. It's just about understanding the systems in which that interaction, that interdependence is nurtured and cared for as opposed to squashed and us living in these weird isolated bubbles. And that's a very long definition of abundance. But that's how I think about it. I look to nature to kind of help me understand and remind me because I'm not always living in an abundance mindset. The other day the Spanish fashion house LOEWE, they dropped a Spirited Away collaboration. And I was just on the Internet window shopping, I was like, ‘Ah, I just went $5,000 so I could buy this T-shirt.’ I'm not a perfect example of that. But we do what we can. And honestly, just gardening, every season, planting seeds every season, knowing that some of those seeds aren't going to germinate. Some of them will, some of them won't survive when I put them outside. But then the ones that do survive will give me more seeds for next year. That cycle is just so humbling, and just a reminder that if we can just trust a little bit, that there's a lot more to access in the world that we can maybe understand in this moment. Alicia: Well, and for you is cooking a political act?LinYee: Oh, without a doubt. I didn't fully understand this, or have the language for it, until I read this zine that came out in 2020 from Clarence Kwan. And his Instagram is thegodofcookery. And he is a Chinese Canadian creative director, but also cooks at a Chinese restaurant on the weekends. And he put this little zine out called Chinese Protest Recipes. And it just reminded me that cooking the food of my family of my ancestors is a form of resistance. Sure, I love to cook whatever thing is in vogue. Sheet pan dinner is great. I do serve that often for my family. But when I cook the food that reminds me of my grandmother and serve that to my children, it's a way of saying that like, ‘This cannot be homogenized. This can't be taken away from me. It can't be taken away from my family or my children.’ And I think that that is a great reminder for all of us, that what we cook and what we feed our families, what nourishes us, can and should be an act of resistance.Alicia: Thank you so much for taking the time today.LinYee: Oh, thank you so much. It's just been such a pleasure to speak with you.Alicia: Thanks so much to everyone for listening to this week's edition of From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy. Read more at www.aliciakennedy.news. Or follow me on Instagram, @aliciadkennedy, or on Twitter at @aliciakennedy. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.aliciakennedy.news/subscribe
For this episode, we welcome Matthias Hollwich, Founder and Partner of the architecture firm HWKN (“Hawk-in”). This episode takes a deep dive into 25 Kent, HWKN's recently completed commercial building on the Williamsburg waterfront in Brooklyn. Totaling 500,000 square feet, the development is divided among office, light manufacturing, and retail. It includes 1.8 acres of open space and, for grateful dog owners, a pop-up puppy spa and camp. The owners of the project are Heritage Equity Partners and Rubenstein Partners.About Matthias HollwichMatthias started his firm in 1999 after working for the world-renowned architect, Rem Koolhaas. He knew before setting out on his own that he would need to take time to understand his individual design point of view instead of simply replicating the style he learned from Rem. He experimented with teaching at ETH in Zurich, founded an architectural tech company at the height of the dot com bubble, and traveled through Europe before moving to the US. Only then did he found his firm, HWKN. Matthias describes HWKN as more than an architecture firm. It is “a collection of design, construction and communication specialists led by an architect and tech entrepreneur”. Particularly in the early days, Matthias knew that he didn't want his work to be defined by one thing. Instead, he used experimentation to take on many different projects, clients, and theories. It was that same sense of curiosity that drew him to Toby Moskovitz of Heritage Equity Partners.Finding the Right Development PartnerWhen Toby Moskovitz called Matthias about the opportunity to design a large project in Brooklyn, HWKN jumped at the chance. It was clear, however, that Toby wasn't the typical development partner. Although she specialized in tech investment out of Israel, she wanted to make a name for herself in New York real estate. She had a vision to create a building that embodied the future of real estate while acknowledging the DNA of the location, in this case, Brooklyn. Together, Matthias and Toby walked the waterfront of Williamsburg, admiring the old warehouses that have come to define the neighborhood. It was the warehouse aesthetic that surfaced as the primary inspiration for 25 Kent after multiple design workshops were completed together.Designing for the FutureThe design of 25 Kent established more than an aesthetic, it created an intent for how the site should and would be used. By breaking away from the typical office dimensions, structure, and materials, Matthias was able to design a site that feels more like a campus where the ideals of collaboration, the collective, and cross-pollination could flourish. This shift in thinking about 25 Kent as an asset for the future means Mattihaus believes it will not suffer from criticism surrounding open office and coworking. He believes 25 Kent can adapt to the needs of workers now and long into the future. It can also easily accommodate uncommon tenants such as Brooklyn Flea and Smorgasburg. This flexibility will make it a site designers and developers admire and draw inspiration from for years to come.About your host: Atif Qadir is the Founder & CEO of REDIST, a technology company making it easy for commercial real estate professionals to find and use the $100B of real estate incentives given out every year in the US.
It's the most wonderful time of the year in the most wonderful city in the world! @biancabahamondes is here to share where the locals go and what they do in New York City! We may not be traveling but we've got some great places that deserve a bookmark from you! SHOW NOTES Where to stay: The Lotte New York Palace, The William Vale Hotel NYC Where to eat & drink: 230 Fifth Rooftop Bar, Mr. Purple, Eataly - Flat Iron, Pier 17, Rolfs (closed during covid-19), Oscar Wilde, Miracle on 9th Street, Sippin’ Santa (pop-up), Sunday in Brooklyn, Loreley Beer Garden, Kindred, Cafe du Soleil, Sushi Lab, City Winery, Levain Bakery Favorite hot chocolate spots: MarieBelle, Maman NYC, Angelina Bakery NYC, Martha’s Country Bakery, Dominique Ansel Bakery, The Chocolate Room, Bibble and Sip, Blue Stripes What to do: Iceskating-Rockefeller Center, Bryant Park Winter Village, The Rink at Brookfield Place, Vale Rink at The William Vale Hotel, Holiday Train Show at the New York Botanical Garden and lights and window displays all down Fifth Ave, Sak’s Light Show, Macy’s, LuminoCity, Dyker Heights (neighborhood) Where to shop: Winter Village in Bryant Park, Virtual Grand Central Holiday Market, Brooklyn Flea
A heated debate over the sexiness of creamed spinach threatens to forever destroy several long-standing friendships. Kyle Huebbe has been running the show as the Director of Markets at the Brooklyn Flea and Smorgasburg for about a decade now, and is known for his award-winning hamburgers and his love of classic steakhouse cuisine.
Today in the Side Hustle Pro guest chair we welcome Lorraine West, the Founder of Lorraine West Jewelry. Lorraine developed an affinity for creating and donning unique jewelry at a young age and says she’s been an artist since she was in the 1st grade. Her mother's love for ornate pieces was the inspiration for her to delve into jewelry design while studying Illustration at the Fashion Institute of Technology. After teaching herself how to manipulate various metals into beautiful original jewelry pieces, and with the increasing demand from family and friends to create custom designs, Lorraine West Jewelry was conceived. Understanding that she needed a steady income to support herself as she grew her business, she worked for 4 years as a full-time employee then another 6 years freelancing as an illustrator, as an assistant fashion and prop stylist on video shoots and through other part time gigs besides selling her own work on the side. She became a full-time entrepreneur in 2010. Lorraine met Erykah Badu, early in her career, who attended the same poetry event as her. Lorraine’s work spoke for itself and she was commissioned to make pieces for Erykah Badu, Andre 3000, Common, among many other artists. As a full-time entrepreneur, Lorraine started bringing in consistent income by selling her jewelry at the Brooklyn Flea from 2010-2014, launched her brand e-commerce website in 2015, launched the custom fine jewelry division in 2011 which grew the business exponentially since. In episode 195 of Side Hustle Pro, Lorraine shares: What led her to start selling her jewelry How she came to design custom pieces for artists like Erykah Badu, Common, and more How she side hustled before she could work on her jewelry business full-time Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Soundcloud, and Stitcher & sidehustlepro.co/lorrainewestjewelry This episode is brought to you by: Causebox Go to causebox.com/hustlepro and use the code HUSTLEPRO to get your first box for 30% off Blinkist Go to blinkist.com/hustlepro to try it FREE for 7 days AND save 25% off your new subscription. Links mentioned in this episode Lorraine West Jewelry Multiply Your Profits - Flourish & Thrive Academy Everything is Figureoutable: How One Simple Belief Can Help Us Overcome Any Obstacle and Create Unstoppable Success Click here to subscribe via RSS feed (non-iTunes feed): http://sidehustlepro.libsyn.com/rss Announcements Join our Facebook Community If you’re looking for a community of supportive side hustlers who are all working to take our businesses to the next level, join us here: http://sidehustlepro.co/facebook Send questions to “Ask Nicaila” You can now send questions for the new “Ask Nicaila” segment that’s coming to Side Hustle Pro. Once I get a critical mass of questions, I can start rolling out this segment. Just email hi@sidehustlepro.co and put hashtag #AskNicaila in the subject. Social Media Info Lorraine West Jewelry (Instagram) - @lorrainewestjewelry Side Hustle Pro – @sidehustlepro #SideHustlePro
Nekisia Davis is the founder and creator of Early Bird Foods & Co, known for their signature granola made with olive oil, salt and love. Nekisia was managing at the famous Brooklyn pizzeria, Franny's, when she started baking, bagging and selling her own granola. Her signature recipe and unique ingredients made her granola an immediate hit at the Brooklyn Flea and local NYC markets. Martha Stewart was one of the first outspoken fans of Early Bird Foods, and others quickly followed suit. Early Bird Foods now offer 6 granola flavors and even granola bars. Beyond making delicious granola - Nekisia is passionate about sharing enjoyment and pleasure through food, and life. We talk about living without the rules or restrictions, finding enjoyment and spreading love through her brand and it's message. I can't wait for you to hear more about Nekisia and Early Bird Foods! Website: EarlyBirdFoods.com Early Bird IG: @earlybirdfoods
In this episode of Gamechangers, Savannah talks to Molly Andrews Burke the founder and owner of Chairloom, an antique and vintage reupholstery design business that is changing the way people work with furniture. Molly talks about how she started the business showing at local trunk shows and quickly evolved to be the darling of the Brooklyn Flea, getting press and accolades from huge hitters including House Beautiful, New York Magazine and Design*Sponge. Today her very cool business model involves primarily working with subcontractors instead of investing in a huge in house team, often serving as both designer & upholsterer for her many clients and always recognizing the importance of building strong and genuine relationships. Follow along for more insider info, community resources, tips & tricks and work/life inspiration: Join our Facebook Group: “The Gamechangers Mastermind” Follow along on Instagram: @savannahhayesstudio Check out the Shownotes: savannahhayes.com/gamechangers
Ever since he moved to Brownstone Brooklyn in the early 2000s, Jonathan Butler's entrepreneurial projects have fostered a unique Brooklyn brand, which has since spread to other cities. He's the creator of some of the borough's most transformative projects, including 1000 Dean, and co-founder of the Brooklyn Flea and the food market Smorgasburg. The blogger who started Brownstoner, shares his story with Ofer Cohen as they reminisce about the early days of Brooklyn's transformation. In their conversation, Jonathan talks about leaving Wall Street to become a Brooklyn blogger, his love for flea markets, and the unique energy of Brooklyn’s creative community.
We caught Eric Demby just before launching his next big venture: Smorgasburg LA. It features highly curated artisanal makers, local food sellers, and other vendors in a marketplace patterned off of his prior successes in Brooklyn and New York City, starting with Brooklyn Flea in 2008. Eric gives advice for artisans looking to launch their own products in outdoor market, and tells stories about the rollercoaster ride of Brooklyn Flea and his colorful vendors over the years. He was a huge force in stoking a culture of manufacturing local artisanal goods in Brooklyn over the past decade. As he sets his sights on Los Angeles, what is it like for him to try to create culture and community in a city you don't live in? And surely this isn't the first artisanal market in LA. Will he be able to rise above the noise and get his new venture in an overlooked industrial part of Los Angeles get off the ground? For show notes: http://makeitinla.org/ericdemby
This week we head to a small and sleepy island town, that somehow exists in quiet isolation in the shadow of New York City. In this episode, you'll meet a New York mother who wanted her kids to have the free and easy childhood she had in 1970s Oregon; the man who saved his family home by turning his father's hoarding into a business of selling nostalgia; and a young man who has used his political career to help revitalize the island he grew up on.But just as I was about to finish the episode, something happened. A community came together to help save one of their own, in the most touching way.//This week's guests: Jessica Wolk-Stanley | Jessica is an illustrator and the creative dynamo behind The Friendly Robot Studio, headquartered on City Island in the Bronx. She and hard-working robots specialize in fun and silly illustrations for the children's and teenage market. If you ask very nicely though, she also does character design, caricatures, hand-lettering, comics, logos and even maps. // Dan Treiber | Dan is a City Island native; a clam-digger. He turned his father's hoarding habit into an industry of selling nostalgia, first at the Brooklyn Flea, and then eventually to a storefront on City Island Avenue. He used this business venture, Dan's Parents' House, to buy the house he grew up in. And then to buy the building his store is in: a historic building on the island, which he is now restoring. Dan is at the forefront of the movement to turn City Island into a tourist destination. // John Doyle | John has lived on City Island for twenty five years, since he was five. It was there that John first became involved in civic justice, organizing protests against the surge in Iraq and forums to support living wage jobs for college workers. John has been involved in politics ever since, and is now considered the unofficial mayor of City Island. He's currently running for City Council. // Rabia Graney | Rabia is a retired nurse and has lived on City Island for close to twenty years. She is an active member of the City Islanders & Friends Facebook group, which led to her taking the lead in the search and coordination of services for Jen. // Our Americana is produced & hosted by Josh Hallmark. Learn more at www.ouramericanapodcast.com // Sponsor Our Americana at www.patreon.com/ouramericana -or- www.ouramericanapodcast.com // Featured Music: Dave Depper - Perspective; Modern Language - The Reprise; Lee Rosevere - Let's Start At The Beginning; Lee Rosevere - Looking Back; Michael Howard - Child Come Home; Alex Fitch - We Call This Home; Aaron Mist - Whales Inside; Alexandre Navarro - Dust v1 Music available at: www.freemusicarchive.com
RecordNerdz are back from a brief hiatus! Join them as they discuss their Record Store Day 2016, Utrecht Record Fair and Brooklyn Flea experiences, and catch up on all the latest vinyl-related news.
Tune in for a special show with the Brooklyn Brew Shop this week on Beer Sessions Radio! Host Jimmy Carbone and producer Justin Kennedy are joined by Erica Shea and Stephen Valand, the owners and founders of Brooklyn Brew Shop. They started the Brooklyn Brew Shop out of the Brooklyn Flea in the summer of 2009 to get space-strapped New Yorkers brewing. With the idea that making beer (real beer from real ingredients) can be simple, tasty, and most important, fun, they created stylish, easy-to-use Beer Making Kits designed especially for stove-top brewing and ingredient mixes for seasonally inspired beers. This program was brought to you by Union Beer. “We don’t sell beer – we sell the promise of it!” [11:00] –Erica Shea on Beer Sessions Radio “We’re working on helping a whole new generation of brewers in China and Taiwan” [31:00] –Steve Alano on Beer Sessions Radio “The quality of home brewers has gone up drastically in New York City recently” [49:00] –Justin Kennedy on Beer Sessions Radio
On this week’s episode of Let’s Eat In, Cathy Erway is joined in the studio by Julie and Greg Van Ullen, the owners of Brooklyn-based OMilk. OMilk makes artisanal almond and cashew milk that is free of stabilizers and sweetened with organic agave nectar! Hear how Julie and Greg got their start making nut milks, and how they came to sell their product at the Brooklyn Flea. Can you make ice cream with OMilk’s almond and cashew milks? Listen in to learn why Julie and Greg decided to use raw nuts and flash-chill their milks. Hear about their romance, and what they look to cook at home! Homemade pasta and Southeast Asian cuisine? Sounds delicious! This program has been sponsored by Susty Party. “We didn’t know, as non-vegetarians, how many people wanted a high-quality dairy alternative. And that was kind of surprising!” [7:00] — Greg Van Ullen on Let’s Eat In
On this week’s episode of Let’s Eat In, Cathy Erway is joined in the HRN shipping containers by Jean Devine and Kate Suhr! Jean and Kate make delicious granola and beautiful ceramics at The Brooklyn Flea and Smorgasburg. Their business’s name? Well, it’s simply Jean and Kate! Tune into this episode to hear how Jean and Kate met while volunteering, and how they decided to start cooking and crafting as a business. Hear about Jean and Kate’s supper club, Jean and Kate Plus Eight, and how their events feature only handmade tableware and homemade food! Jean and Kate talk about the importance of sourcing, and listen in to hear about their experiences at the cranberry bog! Also, find out what Jean and Kate would make for their ideal date meals. This program has been brought to you by S. Wallace Edwards & Sons. “Being busy is, in a funny way, very energizing. And to devote something to ourselves and the community around us really keeps us going.” [22:00] — Jean Devine on Let’s Eat In
On this week’s Snacky Tunes, Greg Bresnitz is once again without Darin, but is instead joined by a group of awesome guests. Alessia and Allegra Antinori stop by the studio to talk with Greg about Marchesi Antinori’s SoHo pop-up dinner event. Cantinetta Antinori will be at Mondorian SoHo from Oct. 3rd – 6th, so get your tickets while you still can! Alessia and Allegra talk about the Italian wine terroir, and why their wines hold deep nostalgic meanings for them. Later, Amanda from Other Music joins Greg in the studio to talk about the Brooklyn Flea Record Fair on Saturday, Oct. 6th. Hear about the labels, the DJs, and the food that’s going to be available at this special event at the Smorgasburg location. Beacon plays live in studio; tune in to hear Beacon talk with Greg and Amanda about working with record labels, and dads learning to cook. This episode has been brought to you by Tekserve. “Antinori represents our family because there’s a lot of tradition, and 600 years of history in our family. Also it represents innovation, because we made a lot novel wine in the 1970s.” 10:00 — The Antinori Sisters on Snacky Tunes
On this week’s episode of Let’s Eat In, Cathy Erway is beating the summer heat with Nathalie Jordi of People’s Pops. People’s Pops is an ice pop stand with locations at the Brooklyn Flea, the Highline, and Chelsea Market that combines local fruit and cocktail-inspired flavors. People’s Pops is taking back a symbol of of the industrialized food system and making something fresh, refreshing, and low in calories! Tune in to hear about some of People’s Pops most popular flavors, and their new ice pop cookbook. Hear about how making pops stretches the longevity of fruit, and creates a value-added product that supports local farmers. Pick up the People’s Pops cookbook, and make some of your own frozen treats! This program has been brought to you by Hearst Ranch. “So we just figured if you pumped it [an ice pop] full of fruit instead of high fructose corn syrup and colorings and gums and stabilizers, it had to be good. We didn’t even consider that it might not be…If you’re using high-quality fruit, you just can’t go wrong.” — Nathalie Jordi on Let’s Eat In
On this week’s episode of After the Jump, Grace Bonney is in the studio with Eric Demby and Jonathan Butler of The Brooklyn Flea and Smorgasburg. Listen in to learn about how Jonathan and Eric met, and how they decided to become partners and begin The Brooklyn Flea. Hear about the diversity of vendors at the market, and how it naturally produced the food-centric Smorgasburg in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Jonathan and Eric also discuss the beginning years of The Flea, and how it progressed from a struggling market into a Brooklyn social institution. From Thurston Moore to Anne Hathaway, everyone is at The Flea- so check it out! This episode has been brought to you by Cain Vineyard and Winery. “Antiques are always the heart and soul of the market.” “Brooklyn food isn’t a trend anymore, it’s become a reality.” — Eric Demby on After the Jump “Brooklyn is the perfect intersection of critical mass and a sense of community.” — Jonathan Butler on After the Jump
This week Snacky Tunes takes us back to 1970’s and to the golden age of disco with guest DJs Andy Pry and Lloydski, founders of the Tiki Disco parties here at Roberta’s every other Sunday during the summer months. Also joining this weeks program is Eric Demby of the Brooklyn Flea/Smorgasburg who talks about the flea’s humble beginnings and where they are going from here. Tune in for real Brooklyn talk and some smooth jams.
This week on Let’s Eat In, Cathy talks with Will Griffin and Jonathan Meyer, the sandwich makers at I 8 NY who currently vend their fare at Brooklyn Flea. They discuss the advantages of vending over owning a restaurant. Later, they discuss the viability of making gnocchi on a first date. This episode is sponsored by Fairway Market.
This week on Let’s Eat In, Cathy talks to the author of the “Hip Girls Guide to Homemaking”, Kate Payne, about quick pickling, mending parties, and more. Kate takes us inside the re-appropriation of homemaking with an emphasis on community and crowdsourcing. Don’t miss out on her ultimate date meal or missing her and Cathy at the Brooklyn Flea this May! This episode was sponsored by Hearst Ranch.
This week on Let’s Eat In Cathy sits down with Liz Gutman of Liddabit Sweets, who call The Brooklyn Flea their home. Liz talks about her favorite items from Liddabit, her super-quick trajectory from amateur confectioner to food world star, some chocolate Thanksgiving treats, and the profit potential behind Candied Bacon. This episode was sponsored by Cabot Cheese of Vermont, Dairy Farm Family owned since 1919.