store
35 orchard street
in spring 2024, unisecon opened its first store on orchard street in new york’s lower east side.
the store is upstairs and the studio below. designing, pattern cutting, fittings and the everyday running of the shop all happen under the same roof.
the space was once a sandwich shop. we kept its wooden structure and french doors, and gradually brought in old furniture and objects nina had collected over time.
the colored-glass lamps were handmade by an old glass factory in shanghai and once hung in early residential houses there. a glass-beaded curtain from republican-era china hangs in the fitting room. much of the wall has been left empty, with picture rails like those found in older homes used to hang frames and clothes.
the objects come from different places and different times. there was no attempt to bring them together into a particular style. they have simply found their place through use.
upstairs and downstairs are not entirely separate.
new samples are made, fitted and adjusted downstairs, then carried upstairs. the clothes in the shop and the clothes being worked on in the studio come from the same place, at different moments in the same process.
it is a shop, but it remains a working studio.
from time to time, we also use the space for small workshops and gatherings.
clothes, unfinished samples, old furniture, objects and the people who pass through each day make up the life of the space.