This New York Showroom Feels Like Your Fancy Friend’s Living Room
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The one thing Tariq Dixon has taught us to expect from him is change. TRNK, the studio and retailer he cofounded in 2013 and now leads independently, initially focused on furniture and product design. In the near decade since its launch, TRNK has launched collections digitally and physically, and Dixon has broached discussions around diversity in design and appropriation through interviews and exhibitions. In the same breath, TRNK also widened its reach dramatically and expanded to include curatorial work, production for smaller designers, and representation for fine artists. Art lives seamlessly alongside design in Dixon’s world: “Artists and designers should have complete freedom to practice across different mediums and price points without it being viewed as dilutive,” he says.
And of course, these pieces need a place to live. Thus far they have resided online, but beginning this week, they moved into the physical realm at TRNK’s new TriBeCa showroom, a space that is equally retail store and gallery. The 1,300-square-foot storefront feels more like a residence than a gallery, akin to the live-in shoppable SoHo loft Dixon opened (and inhabited) in 2019. “We broke the space up into smaller rooms, each serving separate purposes and with different points of view,” Dixon explains. “Parts of it are more of a gallery format and intended to be more rotational, while others feel cozy and lived in. Also, it’s our first ground-level space, which feels more like an open invitation.”
Through an arched passage, whose ceiling is hung with looped textiles that envelop you with the same floaty elegance as a poolside cabana, you can find the bedroom, with a bed of Dixon’s design, dressed with messy sheets, in front of a mirrored wall. The lights are dim enough for a doze, but each detail, including the Eva Hesse volume on the nightstand (art books litter the showroom), is illuminated just enough for a thorough appreciation. Along with the sumptuous sleeping nook, visitors can find a minimal kitchen worthy of John Pawson, several plush seating areas (one outfitted with the new Studio Anansi x TRNK collection), and a visually arresting stairway to nowhere, showcasing a collection of objects and vessels by AnnaLeaClelia Tunesi, Canoa Lab, Pretziada, Kansai Noguchi, Light + Ladder, and Disciplina Studio to name a few.
There is no buzzer or barrier of entry to visit, in line with Dixon’s democratic and welcoming approach to design. All are welcome, and Dixon made sure that, once inside, every pocketbook could find a piece within its budget: from a $30 art monograph to a $10,000 sofa. “We want to make sure that anyone who walks through the door feels welcome and invited to explore, and hopefully walks away feeling inspired,” shares the designer. “It’s certainly not lost on me that we’re in one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the world, and that alone can feel unwelcoming or inaccessible to many people, but we’ll confront that in different ways through varied partnerships, collaborations, and events. It’s a constant and imperfect interrogation.”
Dixon will continue to curate exhibitions, using this showroom as a point of origin for discussions around queer identity, changing familial structures, and domestic space and its manifold functions. If none of the above appeals though, you can trust the new TRNK to provide a deep sense of ease and a feeling of fun, which is what it’s all about at the end of the day, no?
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