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December 14, 2012 1,796 notes

The Creators of NYC: Leather Craftsmen Billykirk
Josh Wool spent a decade as an executive chef, opening restaurants across the south. But all that changed in 2010, when the carpal tunnel in his hands meant he could no longer work. To keep from going stir crazy, he picked up a camera and found his next calling. Two years, thousands of portraits, and a move to New York later, Wool is documenting the people who inspire him on a daily basis. Welcome to Creators of NYC.
Billykirk
A simple, well-worn leather watch strap was the catalyst for brothers Kirk and Chris Bray to start a business. In the last decade they took an idea and built it into a thriving leather goods company called Billykirk, recently transplanted from LA. Their focus is on craftsmanship and quality, and it shows in their products. I first met the duo at the Pop-Up Flea Market in Chelsea, and they invited me out to their workshop just across the river.
Billykirk is making hard goods meant to stand the test of time, in an age where everything is disposable. What’s your philosophy on that?
Chris Bray: At a certain point you start to think about a product’s worth. Saving money versus an item’s longevity becomes questioned. I think we would all agree that, on the surface, saving money makes sense. However, peel back the onion and one quickly realizes that while you may get that initial satisfaction of saving a buck on a cheap suit or frying pan, that suit or frying pan will inevitably have a short life.

I imagine that can feel good, to know you’re putting out products that will last a lifetime.
Kirk Bray: We like to think of our items as ones that will be passed down to the next generation. In fact, over the last couple of years, Chris has had parents ask him to write notes of provenance to include with their worn-in Billykirk item when the time comes to pass it down. That kind of connection is about as good as it gets.
I hear you guys are into vintage finds. Found anything interesting lately?
KB: I found four Paul McCobb dining room chairs at a Salvation Army for $10 not that long ago. Thank goodness the previous owners recycled them. A perfect example of form, quality, and function.
You guys were just in design conference in Ireland. How important is it to build a sense of creative community?
CB: It’s refreshing to have conversations with customers who genuinely care how an item is made, where it’s made, and where the materials were sourced. This wasn’t the case a few short years ago, and I think speaks about the resurgence and relevance of the creative community you ask about.
What’s a typical day at Billykirk like?
CB: Depending on the time of year, we could be heavily engaged in designing, sourcing, preparing for a trade show, shipping … or, like this time of year, spending a good chunk of time on our web sales. Shipping throughout the world makes for a busy day.
Do you have creative outlets outside the shop?
KB: I am also a painter, mixed-media artist, and collector.CB: I enjoy furniture restoration, photography, collecting art, flea markets, and jogging along the Delaware River with my oldest daughter Matilda and our dog, Tuck.
— Photos and text by Josh Wool

The Creators of NYC: Leather Craftsmen Billykirk

Josh Wool spent a decade as an executive chef, opening restaurants across the south. But all that changed in 2010, when the carpal tunnel in his hands meant he could no longer work. To keep from going stir crazy, he picked up a camera and found his next calling. Two years, thousands of portraits, and a move to New York later, Wool is documenting the people who inspire him on a daily basis. Welcome to Creators of NYC.

Billykirk

A simple, well-worn leather watch strap was the catalyst for brothers Kirk and Chris Bray to start a business. In the last decade they took an idea and built it into a thriving leather goods company called Billykirk, recently transplanted from LA. Their focus is on craftsmanship and quality, and it shows in their products. I first met the duo at the Pop-Up Flea Market in Chelsea, and they invited me out to their workshop just across the river.

Billykirk is making hard goods meant to stand the test of time, in an age where everything is disposable. What’s your philosophy on that?

Chris Bray: At a certain point you start to think about a product’s worth. Saving money versus an item’s longevity becomes questioned. I think we would all agree that, on the surface, saving money makes sense. However, peel back the onion and one quickly realizes that while you may get that initial satisfaction of saving a buck on a cheap suit or frying pan, that suit or frying pan will inevitably have a short life.

Life Post Sandy: Scenes from Union Beach, NJ

Over the next week, photographer Ben Lowy will be documenting the destruction — and recovery efforts — in the wake of Hurricane Sandy in and around New York City, using nothing but an iPhone camera. Lowy spent yesterday in Union Beach, NJ. Stay tuned for more from Lowy from Tumblr Storyboard, or follow our instagram feed, where he’ll be guest posting throughout the week.

Left to right from top:

* An evacuated beachhouse.

* John Sochacki III stands in the remains of his bathroom. “We survived, but our community did not,” he said.

* Construction crews were at work trying to fix electrical and gas infrastructure.

* “I’ve never been this far north, but in the [North Carolina] outer banks, we know hurricanes.” said one resident.

* A torn American flag still flies on the union beach pier facing NYC.

—Photos by Benjamin Lowy for Tumblr

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November 4, 2012 484 notes

On the Jersey Shore, Cries of ‘Where is the Government?’
The Jersey Shore has fared its share of bad weather. As the Los Angeles Times points out this morning (in a piece well worth the read), there was the winter storm of 1846 that wrecked nine ships (still known as the Day of Terror). There was the 1962 nor’easter, which washed a Navy destroyer ashore. And, of course, there was Irene, the first time on record a hurricane had hit the region.
But Sandy remains unlike anything residents here have seen. It sent a roller coaster into the ocean in Seaside Heights. It wrecked part of the famed boardwalk in Atlantic City. And in the Barrier Islands, some residents now face a forced evacuation that could last eight months. Gas and sewer lines remain unrepaired.

Photographer Benjamin Lowy — covering the Sandy recovery for Tumblr from his iPhone — spent the day on the Jersey Shore, siphoning gas, catching a cab, then train, then renting a car and driving from Philadelphia, to get there. Amid the wreckage, it’s no great surprise that residents here are crying for help — wondering, as Chris Bieber (above) put it, ”Why is it taking so long to get help?”
(Photographs, clockwise from top: a slice of blue sky and sand amid the wreckage; a man in the lobby of Tom’s River High School, which has become a temporary shelter; a damaged billboard in Beach Haven West; and Bieber, attempting to fill up his tank in Bradley Beach.)
—All photographs by Benjamin Lowy. Stay tuned for more from Lowy from Tumblr Storyboard, or follow our instagram feed, where he’ll be guest posting throughout the week.

On the Jersey Shore, Cries of ‘Where is the Government?’

The Jersey Shore has fared its share of bad weather. As the Los Angeles Times points out this morning (in a piece well worth the read), there was the winter storm of 1846 that wrecked nine ships (still known as the Day of Terror). There was the 1962 nor’easter, which washed a Navy destroyer ashore. And, of course, there was Irene, the first time on record a hurricane had hit the region.

But Sandy remains unlike anything residents here have seen. It sent a roller coaster into the ocean in Seaside Heights. It wrecked part of the famed boardwalk in Atlantic City. And in the Barrier Islands, some residents now face a forced evacuation that could last eight months. Gas and sewer lines remain unrepaired.

Summer Art Fridays: Laura Petrovich-Cheney

For this week’s partnership with ArtInfo, we’ve chosen the work of Laura Petrovich-Cheney, an art teacher, sculptor, and photographer whose work is inspired by salvaged materials and quilt designs. The piece above, “Barn Razing,” is inspired by her summers spent on the New Jersey shore — and composed of old barn wood, boat wood and picket fencing.

Describe your process.

I give value to objects that are normally ignored, stepped on, tossed aside, or washed up upon the shore as debris. I use motorized saws to create new relationships between colors and textures. The work investigates how I manage life’s ambiguities.