MY HELL’S KITCHEN
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Happy After 9/11, Nicki and Luisa were looking for somewhere with heart. They found it in Hell’s Kitchen Photograph Phil O’Brien Our HK story After 9/11 we had an epiphany, like many New Yorkers, and decided we wanted to work together in a business with more heart. People were going out less, nesting more, and entertaining friends and family at home. We decided to open a store that catered to those feathering-the-nest needs. We never looked anywhere other than Hell’s Kitchen. We always liked this neighborhood because it’s like a village within the city. The sense of community is very strong and we would see people greet each other in the street all the time (and that hasn’t changed). We opened the store on November 29, 2002, the day after Thanksgiving, so this year is our sweet 16! Our mission from the beginning was to bring items sustainably made with love and pride by artists and artisans, and pay them properly for their work. The community immediately embraced us and what we stand for, not just by purchasing our goods, but by showing kindness in so many ways, like bringing us home-made food on long-working days, or sharing an article we may be interested in, or giving us theater tickets. There are so many people in the arts in HK and they really appreciate that most of our items are not mass produced. You won’t see us next month We close the store each January and travel to a different country to source products and work with artisans all over the world. We feel a responsibility to keep crafts alive that otherwise would be lost to
BIO Disillusioned with their careers in fashion and catering, Nicki Lindheimer and Luisa Cerutti left the rat race and now run Domus on W44th St – which has just celebrated its 16th birthday. domusnewyork. com NICKI AND LUISA’S HK The Marshal, 10th Ave 44th/45th St Wine Escape, W44th St 9th/10th Ave Sullivan Street Bakery, W47th St - 10th/11th Ave B-Side, W51st St - 8th/9th Ave Nizza, 9th Ave 44th/45th St Taboon, 10th Ave - 52nd St
mechanization. Our favorite destinations are in Southeast Asia, and we have gone to remote villages on the mountains where ethnic minorities cultivate hemp, weave it, dye it with indigo, and embroider it. They create garments and accessories of stunning beauty. We have pillows made by Black Hmong tribes that could grace a contemporary NYC apartment, yet the makers have never left their hamlet on remote mountains. But we bring a piece of New York with us Because so many of these tribes are isolated, many are unaware of modern technology, so we bring a portable printer and set up photo booths, where we take photographs of local villagers, print them, and hand them out. The results are at first disbelief that such thing is possible, then the joyous smiles come out as everyone scrambles to put on their best clothes and jewelry and they go and grab children and husbands to have their photo taken. One of the most touching stories was from an elderly lady who invited us for tea with her daughters and told us she could die in peace knowing that her daughters would have a picture to remember her by. The best thing about HK? There is still a strong community of people in the arts, but the high rents have pushed a lot out, and the new high-rises are filling with people less vested
in the neighborhood. Our wish is for the newcomers to cherish the human contact HK offers, from the chat with the Yemenite at the deli counter, to the interaction with the Korean dry cleaner, or the sparring with the Italian store owner. There is so much we can all learn from the wonderful melting pot that is this city and this neighborhood. Our tribe We are so rich in friends here – we seem to gravitate towards people in the arts and people that have traveled, people with many interests and a curiosity. They have enriched the fabric of our life. When we’re not at the store … We love the food at The Marshal, especially on cooler nights, and really appreciate their locavore philosophy. For a glass of wine, we are very lucky to have Wine Escape right here on W44th St, since it’s the only wine bar we know where the music is mellow enough to actually have a conversation with friends. We love bread and have two of the best bakeries in NYC right here, but because I’m Italian, we gravitate towards Sullivan St Bakery – they have some of the best Italian bread in or out of Italy. For good pizza (a life’s necessity) we like B-Side, Nizza, and, for a big-splurge occasion, we love Taboon.
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