Get To Know Your Local Basic.Space Sellers

Introducing Carol Li of Janky Jewels, Juliet Johnstone, Chad Senzel, Serena Nickson, Lucas Capozzi-Shanks of Who the Fuck Are Tens Club?, and Gigi’s Little Kitchen, office had the opportunity to speak to these sellers who work with Basic.Space to get to know about them and their craft a bit more.

Janky Jewels

In 2018 Carol Li founded Janky Jewels in the city that she calls home– New York. She tells office that the process of designing her jewelry is never linear and that it’s important to incorporate mindfulness as at times, she can be her own worst critic. However, through playful designs and unlimited imagination, Janky Jewels is reminiscent of wearable aquatic fantasy. When asked about her process of designing her jewelry, Li states, “My process is all about building up– so I start with a silhouette or a material I want to utilize, and I go from there.” For her collection featured on Basic.Space, the designer draws inspiration from fish tanks and candy-making TikToks which she mentions reminds her of flame-working.

She emphasizes that Basic.Space is mainly centered around community and an organic structure that works well for her brain. By welcoming her into their space and lending their resources, Basic.Space has allowed Li to grow as an artist all while respecting her vision and integrity. She mentions, “I love when I get a text at a random hour from the team and it’s like, ‘I have this idea that we could work together on! Are you down?’”

Serena Nickson

Introducing Serena Nickson, a New York-based artist with work consisting of portraiture inspired by religious and spiritual iconography. However, her art can be seen on more than just canvas, as for Basic.Space, she hand paints clothing with natural dyes. She began painting with dye on tank tops in the summer of 2021 and casually sold them through her Instagram stories. While at first reluctant to sell her clothing on a website of her own, she decided to partner with Basic.Space which allowed for her to reach a larger audience and aligned with her vision to maintain small collections. From denim pants to silk mini dresses, the artist showcases her talents and paints designs with a focus on floral and lunar arrangements.

However, the inspiration for Nickson is boundless as she mentions that in addition to the iconography, she gathers inspiration for her fabric work from tarot cards, Victorian textiles, dancers, and Fluorine Stettheimer. While the two mediums are different from one another, they work in tangent as her oil paintings are more so inspired from French Impressionism and textures like lace, or glass. When asked why Basic.Space is a good fit to showcase her artwork, the artist states, “I think it’s really refreshing to see a platform that specifically highlights smaller brands/sellers while remaining curated and cohesive.”

Photos by Lucia Bell Epstein

Juliet Johnstone

In a creative capsule of her own, LA-based artist Juliet Johnstone proves that imagination is limitless. With no two art designs alike, the artist and designer speaks true to her audience as customers and admirers of her work race to her platforms to secure a JJ original of their own. From her cut-and-sew carpenter pants, baby tees, and tanks, to trucker hats to even a couch that is featured on the Basic.Space site, the painter invites us into a JJ world filled with fantastical nature and flowers alike. We asked Juliet how she envisions JJ World expanding, she mentions, “I want to put my artwork on everything from random walls, galleries, a custom JJ airplane, shoes, and maybe even a JJ hot air balloon.” She proudly mentions that Basic.Space gives her the platform to showcase those new and exciting ideas that she has. She says, “They are open to new creative ideas which is exciting when doing a partnership!”

Photos by Brittney Christie

Chad Senzel

Vintage collector and dealer Chad Senzel is no stranger when it comes to securing hidden gems and giving clothing another life. Having masterfully created an assortment of designer clothing mixed in with curated items of the 90s, Senzel hones in on the nuanced revitalization of the reselling market. When asked if there was a dream item to source that he’s been on the hunt for, Chad mentions, “Most of the items I’ve wanted to source, yet have been unable to, are things that I want for my collection. There’s a specific Ralph Lauren hoodie from the 90s that has different pant leg style cargo pockets, yet on the front of the sweatshirt. I know of a handful in existence, yet have never encountered one for sale, even at a high price.”

While he is known for having a rack on the streets of Ludlow and Canal, he has opened up his own vintage showroom right in the heart of Chinatown. Not to mention, having a curated collection of his own for sale right on the Basic.Space website making it easy and accessible for those to shop who are not in the city. In addition, the dealer states, “All of the selling that I do is in person and Basic.Space enabled me to have my first online presence. With their platform and presentation, I think the site showcased my edit and approach to vintage clothing quite well. While I love the face-to-face connection of selling in person, many special pieces get purchased quickly and don’t get to be appreciated after the fact. Basic.Space in some ways serves as a gallery of my taste and what I have to offer.”

Gigi's Little Kitchen

What started off as baking in her kitchen in Brooklyn in 2021, Gigi’s Little Kitchen blossomed into what it is today. Baking dreamlike cakes filled with a youthful whimsy, Gigi has made over 250 custom cakes– all while being vegan and dairy free. When asked about the inspiration behind her creativity, she mentions that growing up, her parents encouraged a very hands-on approach to whatever it is that she was creating. However, she places a heavy emphasis on maximalism and color and the collective feeling of wanting to party and to indulge as the creative force behind her pastries. While being in lockdown during the pandemic, the extra time at home allowed for Gigi to hone in on her craft and create the wonder-like creations we see today. She mentions, “I think post-pandemic everything bigger, glossier, and crazier feels right. And the growing number of bakers and food artists on Instagram is a testament to that. What’s cool about the cake world is that cake is inherently celebratory. Knowing I’m building something fun, unique, and one-of-a-kind, specifically to adorn a celebration, is thrilling.”

While Basic.Space is known for bringing creatives from all over different sectors together, all while celebrating and amplifying their differences, it is no shock that Basic.Space has welcomed Gigi into their collective creative force. We asked Gigi why Basic.Space is the place for her work and she states, “Basic.Space is unique because as a seller, you’re folded into a network of other independent artists– some further along than others, but all stellar. Being on Basic.Space encourages authentic collaborations and connects creatives with ease. Having the infrastructure and support of Basic.Space makes expanding my brand– like dipping into merch– seamless.”

Who The Fuck Are Tens Club?

Lucas Capozzi-Shanks founder of Who The Fuck Are Tens Club? is the go-to destination for everything vintage and everything soccer. What started out as just a weekly newsletter, WTFATC has turned into your archival destination for 90s/2000s athletic apparel with weekly capsule collection drops. With the continuous crossover of fashion and sports, we asked Cappozzi-Shanks how he would like to see this crossover continue to grow. He mentions, “We live in an era of the pregame tunnel fit and what an athlete chooses to wear on gameday is often the only real glimpse we get into their true personality. They are media-trained professionals, their social profiles are sanitized, and even their fashion choices can be a bit contrived at times, but it’s all we have! So my hope is that personal style continues to be a gateway for athletes to be more unapologetic, not just about their personal style, but their life, culture, and politics as well.” He continues, “There’s no shortage of sporting inspiration if you’re willing to travel and dig for it. I think that’s why vintage sportswear is increasingly popular, in terms of quality and fit that are closer to what we expect from modern fashion. In short: sports are more interesting when viewed through the lens of personal style, and fashion is more approachable when it takes cues from sports– so the more these continue to overlap, the better.”

With a curation highlighted on Basic.Space, one can head over to the site to shop pre-owned vintage jerseys all with ease. The creative mentions, “The site is populated with such a wide range of goods, so clicking around feels pioneering in a way that other sites don’t (let alone the goddamn algorithm). I like the idea of someone discovering my brand because one of my vintage jerseys caught their eye, even though they were originally there looking at a hand-painted ceramic vase or something. There’s a tasteful unpredictability to the whole Basic.Space shopping experience.”

Photo by Matthew Stith

Culture

The Club Is Coming to the Stage

We enter and make our way to what is approximately front left of the DJ booth, where we’re accustomed to dancing at clubs in New York. “So is this a techno club or a dance performance?” yells an uncertain participant in my boyfriend’s ear. He laughs, bouncing along to Ben UFO, and yells back, “It’s both!” The club has long been a hot topic in European contemporary dance but it is only now making its way into New York performance venues, largely through transatlantic tours. R.O.S.E. follows recent examples like Michele Rizzo’s HIGHER xtn. at MoMA PS1 (May 2024), (LA)HORDE’s Room with a View at NYU Skirball (October 2023), and Gisèle Vienne’s Crowd at BAM (October 2022).

Do these performances compromise the club’s spirit — a space idealized for its anonymity, dark lighting, and thundering music? The notion of the club as a utopian escape is admittedly just that — an ideal — because of how its intense conditions can create barriers to entry. Still, the club remains sacred for many, a place to forge connections and embrace an alternative state of being. Looking at how performances transfer this spirit to new settings reveals what aspects of the club are essential and those that aren’t.

Sharon Eyal, R.O.S.E. 2024. Photography by Stephanie Berger, courtesy of Park Avenue Armory.

Eyal’s dancers make their entrance. The lighting shifts from roving blue to yellow spotlights as Ben UFO’s tracks transition to more melodic beats. Clad in deconstructed lace Dior lingerie with dark red tears painted on their faces, the dancers move cautiously in a tightly maintained pack, slicing paths through the horde with hoof-like steps and jerky leg extensions. After around ten minutes of this controlled choreography, the dancers vanish as the lighting shifts back to blue and Ben UFO picks up his dubby beats. The club, as we knew it, resumes. This cycle of tightly executed movements and free-flowing club-goers repeats several times, each time emboldening the dancers to plunge further into the crowd.

Clubbing in a building once built for the U.S. Army National Guard on Manhattan’s Upper East Side turns out to be surprisingly successful — at least for the audience. What starts as an awkward, scattered group searching for their non existent seats gradually gels into an engaged, bouncing crowd that erupts in cheers each time the dancers enter and exit. Performance patrons who might never step foot in a club find themselves swept up in its potential for communion, moving in unison with fellow ticket holders. But it isn’t until the very end of R.O.S.E. that the dancers finally break free from Eyal’s choreography and join the fired-up audience in a brief moment of improvisatory movement with the music. By keeping her dancers at arm’s length, Eyal seems more interested in the club as a backdrop for her signature movement style than wholly as a space with meaningful stories to be told.

Michele Rizzo, HIGHER xtn. 2024. Photography by Cameron Kelly courtesy of MoMA PS1.

Back in May, I attended Wire Festival, a multiday electronic music event at Knockdown Center that had no shortage of organically united dancefloors. It attracted a crowd of seasoned ravers who were eager to celebrate the start of spring as they danced alongside DJs who played well into the daylight. I left Wire in an afternoon daze to see Michele Rizzo’s HIGHER xtn. at MoMA PS1. My sleepless euphoria only deepened as the performance unfolded, starting with a lone dancer who looked plucked out of the festival.

The dancer, dressed in sneakers, baggy jeans, and a tight tank top, shuffled slowly into the gallery, perfectly in sync with the looping bars of an understated electronic melody. Soon, other dancers, clad in the same staple rave uniform, joined him — each having traveled from Europe for the U.S. museum debut of HIGHER xtn., which premiered at the Stedelijk in Amsterdam in 2018 and quickly became a fixture at kunsthalles and festivals across the continent. As the score’s tempo climbed, the choreography locked into a 16-count sequence, which the dancers executed with precise synchrony. They remained intensely focused, never making eye contact with each other, as they sought release in the endless repetition of synthesized beats. Once the dancers reached their limit, they stopped the sequence and exited the gallery, one by one.

HIGHER xtn. used the focused daylight of the gallery to highlight the meditative release found in the repetitive movements that dominate dark dancefloors. The performance’s restraint brought more consistency and intentionality than Eyal’s all-encompassing club construction in R.O.S.E. Yet both performances offer enticing entry points into club culture for those who may not frequent raves. Rizzo’s ecstatic, hypnotic repetitions reveal how the club can mirror other meditative practices, while Eyal’s interpolation of performance and clubbing helped hesitant audience members blossom by the end. Still, both works overlook one of the most underappreciated aspects of clubbing — its potential for individual expression. HIGHER xtn.’s pristine uniformity especially risks promoting the outdated techno trope that there’s a “right” way to dance to electronic music.

Maybe this shortcoming is, in fact, a benefit. For habitual ravers jaded by one too many sunrise sets, it’s a reminder to return to the club with more intention. If you pause and peer through the darkness, you’ll see hundreds of people moving to the same beat, each with their own subtle variations. This collective choreography is a ready-made spectacle that doesn’t need validation in a theater or museum. And when the music shifts slightly, you can watch the ripple effect sweep through the crowd while feeling the new beat in your body. Maybe this small bit of magic is best left on the dance floor.

Culture

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Culture

Porsche SCOPES Brings Art, Music, and Design to Toronto

The festival was a full immersion into Toronto’s dynamic creative energy. Day one set the tone with DJ collective Living Room, followed by an experimental performance by Claire Rousay that captivated the crowd. Jewelry designer Steff Eleoff unveiled her Porsche Taycan 4S art car installation—a bold fusion of automotive and wearable art inspired by her Sedona ring—while OVO Sound’s Naomi Sharon and DVSN wrapped up the night with powerful, genre-defying performances.

We witnessed SCOPES Toronto bridging underground and mainstream with day two’s lineup. DJ Korea Town Acid’s set paved the way for Angelphroot and Dameer’s debut of BASSMATI, a track blending South Asian influences with bass-driven sounds. Chippy Nonstop’s return to Toronto and Richie Hawtin’s extended set were milestones of the evening, proving that the city’s underground scene has a global resonance.

The final day featured standout performances from local pianist Harrison, Indigenous artist Tia Wood, and hip-hop visionary Sean Leon, who elevated his set with a live choir. Moonshine Collective’s film and musical performance explored themes of African utopia, showcasing art’s power to bridge culture and technology. Rising Toronto star SadBoi, who paused her tour to perform at SCOPES, further underscored the festival’s commitment to nurturing local talent.

Throughout the weekend, we experienced installations from artists like Mitsu Mitsu and culinary creations from Bar Mordecai, capturing the multifaceted creativity Porsche SCOPES brought to Toronto. This milestone 10th edition, open to all, allowed Toronto’s vibrant arts scene to thrive, underscoring SCOPES’ mission to celebrate local talent while connecting it to a global audience.

office had the chance to connect with rising star SadBoi ahead of the event. In our conversation, she shared insights into her creative journey and reflected on what performing and growing up in Toronto means to her and her work.

How are you, and where are you at right now? You told me you were traveling.

Um, I’m good, I’m feeling really good right now. I’m traveling back to Salt Lake City. I had a show yesterday in Seattle. I’m on tour right now with Coco and Claire.

How is touring life treating you? Do you like it?

I love being on the road. To be honest, I feel like I don’t know—like I’ve had good experiences and bad ones—but this time it’s really fun, especially with the people I’m surrounded by. It’s also the longest tour I’ve been on; I have about four more weeks to go. I’m trying not to think about how many days I have left.

Do you feel homesick?

Yes, because when I start thinking about how many days are left, I start to miss my dogs. I’ve just been trying to stay in the moment—I don’t even know what day of the week it is, to be honest with you.

Oh, sweet! What are your dogs’ names?

Jillian and Winston. I know, they’re crazy names.

You’ll be performing at SCOPES in Toronto, which is where you grew up. Do you feel like the crowd is different when you perform in Toronto compared to other cities?

Yes, I mean, Toronto just feels different because it’s home. Every time I come back to perform, something in my career has changed. The last time I performed in Toronto, people just wanted to have a good time, and I’m excited to perform back home again to see everyone’s reactions. I know it’s going to be different from the last time. It’s exciting to see your own growth. Toronto is a tough crowd, though. If we’re with you, we’re really with you.

So, they’re super picky? You have to gain their respect, or what is it?

I think Toronto people are in their own world, but when something really connects with them, they’ll lose themselves in the moment. But it takes something to bring them out of that. Toronto crowds are tough because even if they like you, they won’t show it outright until they’re really vibing with you.

It’s like a vibe check, right?

Exactly. They’ll enjoy your performance, but it’s hard to explain. When people visit Toronto, they often say, “Oh, you guys are so nice,” and I’m like, “I don’t think we’re that nice, we’re just polite.” Like, you can walk down the street, and no one will say anything, but it’s just our mannerisms.

You mentioned Toronto can have a moody energy, especially at night, and that the underground night scene there really inspires you. Can you talk more about what makes Toronto's nightlife so influential for you?

Absolutely, Toronto has this unique energy that comes alive at night. Similar to New York, there are the popular clubs everyone knows, but you need to find your niche—the people who know where the real parties are. I remember going to raves in high school yards, sneaking in because I wasn’t old enough. Events like Baby, Jerk!, and Yes Yes Y’all were pivotal, exposing me to DJs blending dancehall with EDM—something I hadn’t seen before. Toronto nightlife is moody and intense, but when everyone’s out, it’s like the whole city is alive.