Photos by Eric Ryan Anderson
By Shannon Manning
This amazing space has only been open a few weeks so expect new things every time you visit. The front of the store features a showroom of wearable, useable, playable art pieces by Beth Goldowitz and Sharon (Sascha) Ascher, joined by John-Michael’s fashion. Beth primarily works in felt: installations, rugs, furniture upholstery, bags, whimsical dolls in the shapes of animals, Humpty Dumpty, goddesses, aliens, soaps with felted wool covers, and intricate bead work jewelry and purses. Sascha’s work involves taking natural elements like leaves and flowers and fusing them with fabric to create sliding panels for space dividers that allow light to flow. Fabrics are also stenciled, dyed, and silkscreened, and turned into panels or pillows, or fused with glass to create tabletops, walls, installations, or smaller display pieces. The ladies of Greenpoint View also provide interior design and consulting for business, institutions, and homes, especially children’s spaces (felt is great for kids’ spaces.)
John-Michael presents his Artists and Revolutionaries line of fashions for retail and wholesale. His clothes are unisex, one-size-fits-all, hand-washed and dyed, and preshrunk. For low carbon impact, he only uses fabric that is locally sourced, remnants from major designers, so no new fabric is made specifically for his line. He even used some crisp fabric from duvet covers left behind by the buildings’ last tenant, a feather factory. His pieces have flowing soft lines and a casual elegance, which translates into wearability for both men and women. His tops transformed my hiking shorts and T-shirt combo into a put-together ensemble, so try it on, don’t be all pre-judgy like me. It’s a great place to pick up something reasonably-priced, unique, and locally-made.
Beyond the storefront space is a spacious, sky-lit workspace where they offer workshops to teach adult and children to felt, crochet, paint on silk, make bookcrafts, and all kinds of cool handmade stuff. You can also suggest a class; if you can get three people, they’ll do it.
Finally, other artists can get an atelier membership which includes studio access, use of the sewing machines, the 60” felting machine, a wholesale purchasing club which buys direct from local farmers, a retail showroom, their annual showcase, and a web gallery.
Greenpoint View Textile & Atelier
82 Oak Street
(646) 546-8908
www.greenpointview.com
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