Buying and Selling at the Brooklyn Flea

This spring, I’ve set up shop twice at the famous Brooklyn Flea in Fort Greene. The first time I did it, it rained, so I only got in half a day’s worth of selling. Though that day was cold and dreary, the die hards still came out–people with a good eye, looking to see if I knew my stuff. I was excited to see that people had sophisticated tastes. I sold a few things and then packed up when it started to drizzle. 

Two weeks later I set up again. This time, I could not have asked for more perfect weather. I sold a lot of $15-$20 items, a few $60-$80 items, and two $400 items–an original LCM Eames chair and an action painting by artist D. Aron. It was definitely worth the effort.

The following day I went to the same Brooklyn Flea in Williamsburg (they do Fort Greene on Saturdays and Williamsburg on Sundays), but this time, I was a buyer and not a vendor. I spent money from my flea sales on a vintage Panasonic Tourist for my son Axel, who is leaving for college soon. I’d been looking for the perfect collegiate style bike for several months, and I finally found it. Thanks, Brooklyn Flea!

I’ll be back as a vendor before the summer is over. Stay tuned!

More about the Brooklyn Flea:

Brooklyn Flea operates New York City’s best markets, every weekend of the year, featuring hundreds of top vendors of antique and repurposed furniture, vintage clothing, collectibles and antiques, as well as a tightly curated selection of jewelry, art, and crafts by local artisans and designers, plus delicious fresh food. The New York Times called the Flea “One of the great urban experiences in New York”; Country Living, Budget Travel, and Delta Sky ranked the Flea one of the best markets or antiques shows in the U.S.; andTime Out NY named the Flea one of New York’s Essential Pick-Up Spots.

Since April 2008, Jonathan Butler, founder of Brownstoner.com, Brooklyn’s biggest blog, and Eric Demby, former communications director for Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, have operated the Brooklyn Flea, a weekly outdoor market in Fort Greene and other “pop-up” locations that features 150 local and regional vendors of antiques, vintage clothing, handmade items, jewelry, food, bicycles, records, and more. In its first three years, the Flea has grown into a New York City institution, garnering local, national, and international press for its diversity of vendors, for the quality of food and merchandise, for the inclusive community aspects of the market’s atmosphere, and for the economic stimulus the market provides to both vendors/entrepreneurs and local businesses.

My Favorite Living Room

I often find myself sipping white wine and eating shrimp cocktail in the living room of my good friends Susan and Rich Lobel of Brooklyn Heights. It is one of my favorite places. Not only are the Lobels (and their two very charming and talented children) so hospitable but they occupy three stories of a brownstone that was masterfully renovated and designed by architect Brendan Coburn and Joseph Smith of Coburn Architecture in 2005.

Both Susan and Rich have a great eye for furniture and art. One evening when I invited myself over once again–sipping on vodka this time–I discovered a new painting adorning the wall above their piano. I knew it had to be something special. I felt even more excited than when I’ve scored at a flea market or at an auction.

Sure enough, the painting which is plastic and oil on canvas, was an original mid-century piece done in 1959 by Herbert Ferber. Ferber is known for his sculpture but was also a serious painter. His work was part of the early Abstract Expressionist movement in post World War II America and was exhibited alongside the work of de Kooning and Pollock, among others.

The piece was purchased by Susan’s mother (who still goes antiquing at Brimfield every year, you go girl!) from Knoedler Gallery in New York. When Susan’s mom recently moved to a smaller place the painting went to Susan and Rich.

So now my favorite place is even more special. It’s like having your own private museum without paying the price of admission.

PS. They have two of Ferber’s outdoor sculptures on their property in Woodstock, New York. Guess who’s coming to visit this summer!

Modernism in Brooklyn's Public Housing

From my assistant, Blaise:

Ilya Bolotowsky's first study for the Williamsburg houses mural, 1936.
Photo: www.artnet.com

Photo: www.nyc-architecture.com

I’ve walked by this corner several times in Williamsburg. It’s hard not to notice this striking structure — so different from neighboring buildings — but I never knew its significance until Jim Clark, one of the artists represented by Corinne Robbins Art & Design tipped us off on the history.

The term housing project often brings to mind disregarded, depressing, style-less concrete structures that are simultaneously sprawling and confining. But in 1936 William Lescaze, a Swiss-born modernist (who later taught industrial design at Pratt Institute), teamed up with Empire State Building architects and, in collaboration with the Federal Public Works Administration and the newly formed New York City Housing Authority, embarked on creating the Williamsburg Houses. It was the first instance not only of modernism in American low-income housing, but a demonstration of innovation and care devoted to a gravely overlooked and underserved population. The result was a revolutionary 12.8 million dollar design bringing European aesthetics and International Style architecture to Brooklyn and the U.S. at large.

The Williamsburg Houses is a 4-story, 1,622-apartment complex covering 23 acres that transformed 12 extremely bleak slum blocks bordered by Bushwick Avenue and Leonard, Maujer, and Scholes Streets. The buildings which house roughly 6,000 people are angled at 15 degrees to the grid to allow for more sunlight in the homes and breezes through the courtyards. The housing is adorned with tan brick and blue tiles and stainless steel canopies over the doorways, and boasts landscaped parks, playgrounds, commercial storefronts, a community center, and a junior high school. The New Deal-era Federal Art Project also integrated art into the collaboration and commissioned two murals, one by Francis Criss who created a marouflage of the L train, and the other an abstract work by Ilya Bolotowsky.

By the 1960s the Williamsburg Houses were in steady decline. While hailed by many critics, it was also criticized for its shoddy construction and problematic design mechanics. In the mid-1990s extensive revivification began at the behest of NYCHA.

The restoration project was deemed “the best public housing project ever built in New York” where, reportedly, the quality of living has drastically improved. By 1993, the Williamsburg Houses were designated a city landmark.

Historic aerial view. Credit: www.nyc-architecture.com