Divine Details
CFW’s Gotham Alumnus Tina Chang and current Gotham Fellow Esther Mun of Little Fury have created a hybrid store/gallery that re-envisions the retail experience with a goal of honoring the Designer. Many in the Center for Faith & Work community have contributed to this endeavor and the pop-up shop is open through December.
Divine Details is an exhibit and store for extraordinarily well-designed everyday goods. A collaboration between AIGA (the world’s largest professional design association) and the downtown boutique design studio Little Fury, this hybrid store/gallery provides a thoughtful and savvy reprieve from the holiday shopping frenzy.
From November 1 to December 28, housed in AIGA’s gallery in the heart of the Flatiron district on 5th Ave., Divine Details will feature some of the world’s most beautiful and well-crafted common goods. From the perfect bottle-opener, to a shatterless crystal wine glass, to the most fashionable and functional tote for your CitiBike, this is a space for creator and consumer to connect in a whole new way.
Curated alongside each designer product is an accompanying fictional story, commissioned from some of New York’s most exciting writers, including acclaimed music writer Garnette Cadogan (Rolling Stone, Vibe), Brooklyn food blogger Cathy Erway (The Art of Eating In, Eater’s Top 10), and playwright Bekah Brunstetter (OOHRAH!, MTV’s Underemployed). In addition to daily store hours, the exhibition will also host a series of events entitled “Further Details” focusing on the collaborative relationships between design, food, music, and story.
“Divine Details is a place we built on one very simple idea: things matter. An object’s design helps us flourish or falter,” says creative director Tina Chang. “The exhibition/store reflects this in a unique way, but is also very accessible. We’ve created this space with AIGA to transform the holiday shopping rush into an experience that is thoughtful and imaginative, that engages culture as opposed to being consumers of it. It is an exhibition committed to the little ‘Ah-ha!’ moments we all have when a well-designed object comes to life.”
Upon the exhibition’s closing, Divine Details will roll into Divine Monthly, a subscription program where participants receive three Divine objects over three months, “perfect for gifting, keeping, or ogling” accompanied by an original commissioned story inspired by the product. The first season of Divine Monthly launches January 14, 2014.
The brains behind Divine Details, Tina Chang and Esther Mun—longtime Redeemerites—are the co-founders of downtown design studio Little Fury. As a team, Little Fury has designed for such clients as Johnson & Johnson, Help Remedies, and Vita Coco. Their design has been recognized by organizations and publications such as AIGA, Graphis, Communications Arts and the Art Directors Club. Brian Watkins acts as the head writer and creative editor for Divine Details. As a playwright, Watkins’ work was most recently seen with the downtown company Lesser America, as well as the recent critically acclaimed UK premiere of his play ‘High Plains’ with Underbelly at the Edinburgh International Fringe.
Divine Details is located at 164 5th Ave. (between 21st & 22nd Sts.), and open Monday-Saturday, 10:00AM to 7:00PM (open until 8:00PM on Wednesdays and Saturdays). Check out more about Divine Details at www.DivineDetailsShop.com.
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