Long Island City, c.1992-1996
A continuation of my story post— I was obsessed with photographing there.
I didn’t have a grand plan to document the area in any consistent way. Rather, I think it was just a visceral fascination with the “out-of-time” aura and wanting to preserve that.
The terrace atop the stavros niarchos library (aka mid Manhattan library) is a great vantage point from which to admire the old Lord & Taylor wordmark. I’ve always loved that logo. Oddly, it sat in my memory as more regular and traditionally mid century swash-y. I realize how much of a mess the letterforms actually are— very idiosyncratic and somewhat illegible really. It is a “sum greater than its parts” situation for me. Still, it telegraphs the spirit of an insouciant elegance and optimism that is gone from New York.
I posted this in a story but it was one of the top 5-10 things I saw on this trip, so here’s a closer look.
John Tann Ltd was the first British “safe” maker, established by his father, Edward, in London in 1795. The family had a factory in Hackney by about 1814 (and lived in an adjacent Georgian terraced house). They produced iron chests, boxes, iron doors and locks— the term “safe” coming later, after fire-proofing was perfected. John Tann Ltd had a prominent display at the Great Exhibition of 1851 at the Crystal Palace. This molded? or incised? advertisement on the side of the Georgian terrace, is said to be from about 1890. I’ve never seen anything like this— in method or scale. I want to find out if there were other carved advertisements!
The lettering has obviously been cleaned and restored because I found a photo online from c2013 (image 3) and it was in rougher shape.
V&A East Storehouse— audacious, lively, young— but I didn’t love it. I’ve not yet read any of the conceptual framework or any reviews. For me all the artifacts were equally weighted, flattened, swamped by the presentation. The packing crate aesthetic lends an air of conceptual art installation.
The strongest aspect of V&A storehouse is the assemblage, not any of the objects themselves. There was no single piece that stood out or made me curious enough to look for a QR to scan. V&A East opens later this year— I’ll be interested in how that shapes up. Anyone else been here? What did you think?
