Introduction
It is officially Fall in NYC and what better way to celebrate than with another Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center Studio Crawl! We at Tomorrow Lab have so been enjoying learning more about our neighbors and what they excel at! During mid-September we had the pleasure of welcoming students from SVA’s Products of Design masters program to Tomorrow Lab’s office for a tour and presentation – Tomorrow Lab’s partners Ted Ullrich and Pepin Gelardi will be teaching a course to these students come Spring 2025! The students were able to join us on the studio crawl right after, this time with Works Manufacturing, Klein Reid Studio and ending with Volvox Labs, quite an eclectic mix! Our gallery wall continues to be a hit with all our visitors! You can spot some development boards up high from past projects: Sympl Brush, Teralytic and Waycount.
Off to the Crawl
Again, everyone convened at Tomorrow Lab’s shop and office for refreshments, a tour of our space and we got to share what it is we do all day! We had a great mix of GMDC tenants, students, friends and even some folks who follow Tomorrow Lab and were invited to join. It made for interesting and varied conversation and Q&A at each stop.
The first stop was to Works Manufacturing, which is a custom design and fabrication shop known for their hand-crafted products and fine craftsmanship. Founded and run by Aleksey Kravchuk (the gentleman in the blue shirt), Works creates pieces on the larger scale ranging from full commercial build outs, custom staircases, facades, lighting, furniture, and even custom art pieces. All products are made on-site in their expansive commercial shop which showcases quite the collection of industrial machinery. Lots of attendees asked about the machinery in specific, with very large CNC mills, metal cutting waterjet equipment and welding tools a plenty; but many also asked about where they could find Works’ pieces around NYC. While many projects are for private residences, us locals can find Works’ commissions in hotels and restaurants like the Eleven Madison Park, Maison Premiere and the Wythe Hotel.
Next up, we got a peek into KleinReid’s ceramic studio, who are pioneers in ceramic design and the maker movement, since 1993. Their work is known for “its elegant shapes, translucent porcelain, artisanal glazes, design integrity and impeccable craftsmanship,” as their website’s about page exclaims. The studio creates their own hand-mixed recipe for their porcelain and also creates their own glazes, when combined with their unique shapes makes for a truly extraordinary product. There were lots of questions about their process, their business history and what makes their designs stand out. The owner duo James Klein and David Reid shared stories about their still best-selling collection made in collaboration with artist Eva Zeisel. The studio only creates approximately one new collection each year, focusing on quality over quantity and each piece goes through a rigorous testing process including 28 steps to get their desired end result. The quiet elegance could certainly be seen and felt during this studio visit.
Finally, we headed back to Volvox Labs and this time were treated to a fantastic presentation from their new CEO Michael Luck Schneider. Volvox Labs is an interactive new media art studio that ‘seamlessly fuses the digital and physical to create work that moves, inspires and elevates the human experience,’ as their website explains. They specialize in 3D and 2D animation, high end simulations, sound composition, interactive content design, among others that are paired with physical structures to tell the client’s story. Michael spoke in depth about how their work is driven by nature and is made to “trigger deep emotional and physiological connections.” Revisiting their space we were greeted with new installations, like the light green circular structure you can see in the photo above and at the very top. These interactive structures were made for the launch of Prada’s new Paradoxe perfume for NYC Fashion Week this fall. The bespoke scent-infused bubble machine drops a large scent and fog bubble every few seconds, inviting passersby to interact with the bubbles, delivering a beautiful and memorable experience and reminder of the iconic scent and brand.
Our second studio crawl was again a success and we cannot wait to meet more of our GMDC neighbors, along with our new friends down the hall and on the ground floor! A big thanks again to Works Manufacturing, KleinReid and Volvox Labs – click these links to follow them on Insta! And don’t forget Tomorrow Lab too!
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