[caption id="attachment_5650" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="It's Spring and the flowers have sprung here in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn."]
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And I'm feeling right at home with my new friend, Ed Roth, founder and creator at Stencil 1 (which, by the way you, have to check out at www.stencil1.com). Although I've admired his urban and playful stencils and books for years, we've only recently become acquainted. But, I know we're going to be fast friends when he guides me to our first stop, an adorable vintage shop on Roebling Street called RePop:
[caption id="attachment_5652" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Ed's already making a purchase- man, this guy doesn't mess around!"]
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We saunter down a quiet old block of homes...
to another quaint little shop, Brooklyn Reclamation, with old things so carefully curated and clean- it almost feels like the home it likely used to be.
I see this cool old free standing mirror that I'm pretty sure I must have... that is until the store owner says he thinks it's from a sanitarium in Pennsylvania (um, never mind, but thank you!)
Just around the corner across from new construction (there's a lot of it in Williamsburg)...
and tucked next to a genuine Social Club (complete with pet turtle and late night Salsa music, I'm told)...
is Ed's friend, Patrick Bradley's studio.
Of course, I immediately appreciate his work with it's layers, textures, and colors.
[caption id="attachment_5666" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="I especially like the wood grain piece tucked just one layer behind the front paintings"]
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And the three of us continue on wandering down gritty vibrant streets to more clever cool stores like:
[caption id="attachment_5703" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Nightwood: reincarnated textiles, interiors, and furniture"]
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There's so much to see in this up and coming pocket of Brooklyn- too much to capture in a day (or even in a blog post) so we stay focus on vintage decor (there are so many other kinds of shops and restaurants here!) and urban art... here are just a few more of my many and diverse impressions from the day...
[caption id="attachment_5679" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Ed's sweet stencil of his mother. She's watching over the progress at Grand Ferry Park"]
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[caption id="attachment_5682" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="My favorite discovery- this wallpaper reminds me of my chalk drawings and actually makes me a little homesick- but we power on. There's too much to see to be sad about home."]
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[caption id="attachment_5675" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="Another crack in the urban landscape- I love these colors!"]
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[caption id="attachment_5677" align="aligncenter" width="500" caption="As we rest at Grand Ferry Park we decide we'll each pick one photo that we've taken today as kind of a tryptic memento of our day..."]
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Here's Ed's Photo (see more of his pics on Instagram!)
Patrick's photo (he's got plenty more on Instagram too!)
And my shot of Hotel Delmano, where Ed treated us to old fashioned cocktails and conversation.
Ed Roth and Patrick Bradley were fantastic tour guides of Williamsburg, a gritty, vibrant neighborhood of contrasts and Creatives making their statements with food, clothing, art, furniture, interior design, and landscape. And all this in spite of the stark new condo construction and other homogenizing signs of gentrification casting shadows on the time and color weathered streets. To symbolize the contrast I choose two colors today to add to my Brooklyn palette:
