Today, Greer gives us insight on another side of the scene, through the eyes and experience of Sean, the 41-year-old man who has been working the bars in Tompkins Square Park for 25 years.
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Today, Greer gives us insight on another side of the scene, through the eyes and experience of Sean, the 41-year-old man who has been working the bars in Tompkins Square Park for 25 years.
Greer tells us, "Of the four corners in Tompkins Square Park, I've spent most of my time in the last few years at the North East corner. This is where the bars are - the outdoor workout space, park gym, whatever you want to call it. As with any space of public gathering, there are fixtures who you come to see as routinely as the rats.
I came to know Sean through my time training at the bars the same way I've come to know anyone over there; you become a familiar face, then you get a nod, eventually a 'have a good day' and finally you introduce yourself. Most people like to talk, even though most people keep to themselves. These communal spaces are special to me because they serve as meeting grounds for discourse. In this video portrait, I talk to Sean about his relationship to the bars - how he found his footing and what his experience is today."
Part "social network" and part shopping experience, the app is opening the door for anyone to become a seller, simply by creating a profile showcases your likes, IG handle and bio. Sellers are now offered the ability to utilize the familiar full-bleed short form video format that we've all grown to love through social media to increase interaction and create narrative around their products.
To better understand this major step into the future for Basic.Space, for mobile shopping — and for our creative community — we spoke with Basic.Space CEO and founder Jesse Lee. We also downloaded the app.
What’s the story behind Basic.Space? What inspired it’s creation?
The initial idea came about 5-6 years ago. I was surrounded by friends and family that were creative and multi-hyphenates yet not all were able to build a successful career from it. There were so many talented musicians, artists and designers that I knew - yet not all were famous or making real money. On top of it all, influencer marketing was nearing its peak and I genuinely felt that we could all use something better or at least different. Why not build a platform that can help discover and showcase individuals with good taste and let them earn a living by selling their own products - whether it’s pre-owned/vintage or new as many creatives have their own merch or a brand that they want to launch. As for the name itself... If you look at the literal definition of the two words, Basic is forming an essential foundation and Space is a continuous area that is free. We want entrepreneurial creatives to thrive in their own unique ways.
You’ve said that Basic.Space is less about being famous or influential, and at its core is about “having good taste”. Can you speak to that? How has that shaped the company?
Curation is at the core of what we do. When we first soft launched with a beta app it was mostly my friends who were selling their own pre-owned items - mix of vintage fashion/luxury goods, furniture, art, etc. Then when we decided to formally launch Basic.Space (the site) a little over 2 years ago we added sellers who had new, exclusive products or collaborations for us. Within the first year of the site launching, we had Naomi Osaka’s first NFTs to Virgil Abloh’s collab with Vitra as well as bunch of other, smaller but cool up and coming brands that people love like Aquatic Leisure Club (hats) and Ian Charms necklaces.
What was the mission from the start, in a sentence — how has the digital platform supported that, and how will the app continue to push for it?
Own the Future. is our globally trademarked tagline, slogan and the North star to everything that we do. It has a dual meaning to us - one is that it’s our mission to help discover and support entrepreneurial creatives everywhere to forge their own path. The other is that we have to continually design and build things (site, app, metaverse, etc) that are future-forward. It’s also why we experimented with NFTs and Web3 early on in the beginning of last year and we have Select.Basic.Space where you can experience and buy things in the ‘metaverse.' Last but not least, we want people to discover adn be discovered regardless of where they live around the world. You don't have to be living in the cultural meccas or major cities to be on the forefront anymore as the coolest things can come out of obscure places. On Basic.Space, innovators can find an audience and others can own a piece of their future.
What do you feel you built with the digital platform and IRL activations that the app is answering to? What is the purpose of Basic.Space?
I would say that we’re building a community or an ecosystem of other likeminded individuals (i.e. multi-hyphenates that don’t follow the conventional norm). To us IRL and URL are the same thing - of course they look different - one is a physical experience and the other is digital or virtual even. However we strongly believe that the feeling of discovery and community can be had the same way both IRL and URL. It’s why we host or support events during Art Basel, NYFW, PFW, Coachella, SXSW + NFT NYC, NFT LA and EthCC Paris.
Basic.Space speaks to the idea of community. Who is this community? And how do you see the app engaging and fostering this community?
We want the best in class creatives to sell things (whether it’s vintage clothing, luxury goods, a new hat or jewelry, even art/photography and NFTs. We then want our buyers/customers to become sellers themselves - this is why we’re launching a completely new app that enables our sellers (previous and new ones) to upload their own Experience videos with products as listings. We strongly believe that the new app will engage, foster and continue to grow our Basic.Space community.
From looking at and utilizing the app, it seems like you have found a few other apps in the e-commerce space and patched together their strong points, while maintaining your own voice and niche. What makes Basic.Space stand apart and stand out from other shopping apps and sites?
It’s not a secret that short form videos have ruled social media in recent years so we wanted to tweak our prior Experience video format on web to make everything shorter (30 - 60 seconds) in the app. Additionally, we purposely designed the browsing / shopping function to ‘float’ on top of the videos so that you don’t have to leave the page to shop. Why not allow the users to scroll up/down for the videos then swipe left/right to buy something from the seller? We hope it’s a seamless, fun ’social commerce’ experience for everyone.
Who are your favorite sellers?
I can’t answer this one as we have hundreds of past/current sellers that all have unique POVs and great listings. I am grateful though for many of our early, original sellers who continue to support us as well as sellers that come up with really creative Experience videos alongside their products.
What do you want to see from Basic.Space, and where do you want to see it in the next few years?
At the moment, we’re still a niche, cool marketplace amongst certain psychographic/audience. We’ve been able to remain authentic and grow in a very organic manner. However, we do want more people around the world to discover who and what is next - whether it’s fashion, design, or art - and we want to help democratize access to ‘cool things.’ In a few years, I would love to see Basic.Space as our friends and their friends’ favorite destination to discover, buy, share and sell things that are unique and special.
office had a chance to hear from Rebekka Bay, Creative Director of Marimekko, who is taking the brand into the future with changes that both respect and evolve the house heritage.
This store was announced with the closing of the flagship in the Flatiron District last year. How does this new location in Soho speak to the essence of the new space?
This new store concept in Soho is designed to embody Marimekko’s optimistic and creative lifestyle philosophy. For those unfamiliar with Marimekko, it is a brand that is quite hard to pin down in one category – we have always walked our own path in the boundaries between fashion, design, art, and architecture. Back in the 1970s, our founder used to say that Marimekko could have equally taken any other form than the art of printmaking: It could have been a flower shop, architecture, or even modern jazz. Whatever we did needed to bring joy and empowerment to people. Now, in New York, we are building on that foundation with a new store designed to host inspiring visual activations and regular, even surprising events together with local creatives. We want to bring the Marimekko experience to life in a hyper-local context, and Soho felt like a natural choice as it feels like a very local neighborhood. It is full of buzz but is still walkable. It feels both familiar and very New York.
Are there any themes that grounded the approach to designing this new store?
Our theme for the store concept is “work-in-progress". The space is an ever-evolving concept and experience, which is most visible in the wooden grid that surrounds the interior of the store, much like the foundation of a building. The grid allows us to move things around easily, to test and evolve the space over time. The space also takes inspiration from the Shaker movement. In essence, we wanted to create a space that is inviting and easy to approach, reflecting our values of embracing authenticity, inclusivity, and equality.
What was the most memorable part of the design process?
For the space, we collected lesser-known Finnish vintage furniture pieces that are both pragmatic and sculptural – the beginning of an ever-expanding collection. In addition to that, we have brought in industrial trolleys from our Helsinki textile printing factory, which is at the heart of the brand in many ways.
How does this store fit into the Marimekko design philosophy?
Marimekko has never been about trends, but rather about relevancy in time through creative dialogue, both on and off product-level. In addition to allowing the space to be easily transformed, the idea of a modular store also reflects the way we build our collections. Our goal is to create designs that help our customers build a capsule wardrobe consisting of timeless pieces they do not want to throw away, but rather that that they can mix and match over the years.
What are some of your favorite decor, design, or architectural elements in the new store?
The space is very honest, no fuss and functional, which are all typical features of both Finnish design and the Marimekko way of designing. Sustainability in material choices was a key consideration in the design process, highlighting especially the importance of durability, reusability, and recyclability of materials. One of my favorite design choices from the store are the Moderno stools by Finnish design icon Yrjö Kukkapuro, which reference the colors found in Marimekko’s textile printing factory in Helsinki. We have the mesmerizing electric blue used in the silk screen frames, we have the bright red from handrails and the sunstruck yellow from the factory stairs.
What does it mean for this store to be a "work-in-progress"?
It means that it will live and evolve over time in dialogue with New York and its inhabitants. Accepting a work-in-progress mindset allows our creativity to expand and evolve. In addition to being a store, the space will act as a venue for different kinds of creative encounters and events. This weekend for example, we will host a holiday table setting workshop with Flynn McGarry, a New York based chef we admire.
Finally, what is your vision for the new store and how does it fit into the future of Marimekko?
We believe that people around the world share the same desire to find joy in the small and big things in everyday life. Even in the digitalized world, creative and experiential physical retail concepts have an important role as the hearts of brand culture. New York represents one of the most important cities in the global fashion industry, having a wider impact for building brand awareness and positioning which also extends to our other key markets. Ultimately, I hope that this space would become a creative hub for Marimekko’s community, and a New York destination for fun and meaningful creative exchanges.