Inside Seed Brklyn, a New Artist-Founded Concept Shop in Bed-Stuy
A new retail concept coming to Brooklyn aims to create a community hub for creatives across the New York City borough.
Called Seed Brklyn, the new 5,000 sq. ft. store, located at 1217 Bedford Avenue in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, features a café, retail shop and art gallery.
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For Christophe Roberts, the Brooklyn-based artist and founder of the store, Seed was developed as a space to “nurture” some of Brooklyn’s brightest and emerging creatives all while “honoring” the borough’s history of cultural architects that have influenced the world.
“Why does everyone have to cross the bridge to Manhattan to interact with fashion and art,” Roberts told FN. “Brooklyn is filled with artists and people working in creative fields, yet the borough lacks spaces where these same people can shop, grab a latte, and check out some art. I want to change that with this space.”
The first area consumers will encounter when entering the store is the Greenhouse café, a plant-enshrined space serving La Colombe coffee along with vinyl collectibles from Funko and Super 7, books from Taschen and Rizzoli and plants for purchase.
Greg Travers
Next comes the Garden, a retail space on the first floor and mezzanine level featuring both established and emerging brands including Martine Rose, Rains, Maharishi, Undercover, Against Medical Advice, 100 Wolves, 424, Prmvto, Socialite Archive and Jason Markk. Also located on the first floor of The Garden is a Japanese-inspired sneaker laundry for shoe lovers to wash their favorite kicks in-store.
As for Seed’s footwear offerings, Roberts told FN that the shop currently offers the Clarks x Undercover collab as well as styles from Martine Rose and Rains. “We’re working on building out our sneaker offering and check back soon to see some of our new drops,” he said.
Greg Travers
After the Garden, consumers reach the Oasis, an experiential space and NFT gallery dedicated to immersive events featuring state-of-the-art technology for a unique art viewing experience. The first of these experiences with be “Seed the Blockchain,” an art exhibition featuring artists and designers Vince Fraser, Shay the Surrealist, Dante Beals, and Ceej Vega. Roberts added that Seed will also be dropping a free community membership NFT that will provide access to exclusive products and experiences.
What’s more, Roberts hopes to continue his approach while giving back to the community once the opening celebrations are complete this weekend. “Before we even started construction on the store, we worked with a public school in the Bed-Stuy area to create a zen garden for the kids,” Roberts said.
Looking ahead, he plans to continue giving back to the neighborhood with general classes regarding entrepreneurism, freelancing and more. “I really want to teach creatives how to protect their assets in between shows,” Roberts said. “We’ll have workshops to teach financial literacy, 3-D modeling workshops, designer and artist events and even yoga. This is really the space of my dreams and a space that the community and this neighborhood deserves.”
Greg Travers
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