I love listening. It is one of the only spaces where you can be still and moved at the same time. — Nayyirah Waheed — Wednesday September 24th — —

“What art does — maybe what it does most completely — is tell us, make us feel that what we think we know, we don’t. There are whole worlds around us that we’ve never glimpsed.” Greil Marcus — Wednesday September 24th — —

The idea is to die young as late as possible. — Ashley Montagu — Wednesday September 24th — —

Chamber

Chamber is an exciting new boutique of limited edition design, objects and art, which opens today in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. The space’s unique concept and retail experience is the vision of Argentinian-born Founder Juan Garcia Mosqueda. Critically acclaimed architectural practice MOS has designed the interior of the space. Taking the Renaissance-era Cabinet of Curiosities as its inspiration, Chamber will be a twenty-first century reliquary for unusual objects and a platform for design experimentation. Every two years, Garcia Mosqueda will choose a different designer or creative to curate the shop’s entire program, bringing their unique viewpoint to Chamber through specially commissioned works, and rare and vintage items. For the inaugural curatorial period, he has selected designers Studio Job, who are working closely with a dynamic group of established and emerging designers and artists to create Chamber Collection #1.

The driving force behind Chamber is to elevate the status of designed objects through the communication of their narratives. I am as fascinated by the stories behind the objects as I am by the stories of collectors who share in this passion. Their collectibles mean something to them, bring something fresh to their lives and speak to who they are. Chamber aims to be a destination for these lovers of discovery of the unique.

A shared passion for collecting was what led Garcia Mosqueda to choose Studio Job, avid collectors themselves. As with each Curator, Job and Nynke Smeets are also serving as art directors, intimately involved in the concept and execution of many of the pieces. Studio Job will also design a new series of objects for the collection, along with a special edition of their Lensvelt furniture collection introduced at Salone del Mobile in 2013. Job Smeets on his love for collecting:

What I like about collecting is that it says something about time.

Studio Job and Garcia Mosqueda are working together to bring an impressive array of makers to the program—from emerging designers such as Formafantasma, Esther Janssen, Cmmnwlth., Jantine van Peski, Dirk Vander Kooij, and AANDEBOOM to established creatives such as Piet Hein Eek, Maarten Baas, Nacho Carbonell, Matali Crasset, Tord Boontje, Tom Dixon, Gijs Bakker, Alessandro Mendini, Wim Crouwel, Stefan Sagmeister, Neil Denari, and more. Mosqueda sees Chamber as an incubator of new ideas and practices, and to this end, Studio Job have chosen a number of young designers who are just beginning their careers and will show their work in the United States for the first time.

Chamber will also present vintage pieces such as a 1956 Borsani desk for Tecno, 1950’s Dutch toys from ADO and Delvaux purses from the legendary Belgian fashion house. These will sit alongside carefully selected rarities by respected designers, including Nendo’s Glas Italia bookshelf and vessels from his Coca-Cola series, an edition of Irma Boom’s The Architecture of the Book and Mae West “tit lamps” by Studio Job for Venini. An eclectic and very exciting selection to say the least!

Chamber is located underneath the High Line in the HL23 building, designed by Neil Denari, at 515 West 23rd Street and will be open until the 23th of September 2016 after which a new designer or creative will take over the curation.

For more information see here