Woohoo! We’re bi-coastal! Our new studio is a light-filled retreat in Long Island City beside the moorings of the Queensborough bridge, just one subway stop from Bloomingdales and midtown Manhattan. The complex, known as The Foundry, is a former 19th century varnish factory that by 1906 had become a metal foundry. We’ve got the second floor and it’s paradise. We can’t hear cabs, only birds. There’s a beautifully planted and cobbled interior courtyard and the brick walls are covered in ivy from top to toe.
We’d been contemplating the establishment of a beachhead on the East Coast for a while and are pleased how things are humming along. Considering that most of our installations are in Southeast Asia, we wanted to make a concerted effort to explore work in our own country and neighboring Europe by plugging-in to the New York design community. Nikolas gave presentations to the talented team of architects at Grimshaw and to our old friends and engineers at Arup, and he will be participating in the Visiting Artist lecture series this spring at ShOp Architects.
