Made in Hong Kong
Every so often, NYC design shop Kiosk rotates in an entire stock from an individual country. Past nations have included Japan and Sweden, and the latest is China, or more specifically, Hong Kong, whose wares were introduced last night. They range from a paper Ping-Pong set (made for burning during Chinese funerals) and a scarlet lampshade (insert "red light district" joke here) to so-called harsh tobacco, which is exactly what it sounds like (and comes in a cool matchbox-sized paper container). The selections are also online, where you can peruse owner Alisa Grifo's oddball product descriptions, like the one of the pictured handmade knife: "Zing! Only nine fingers left!" Sharp.
Kiosk, 95 Spring St., 2nd floor, NYC, (212) 226-8601, kioskkiosk.com
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02:43:23 PM on
03/15/08
Wow. It is amazing to see the price people will pay to buy trendiness. You can find the exact same stuff being sold in Chinatown for ... get this LESS THAN $10.
I can already hear the conversations:
"HAI GUYTHZ, check out this NEW and fabulous PAPER PING PONG SET from HONG KONG!"
"OMG, that is SO cool!!!!! WHERE did you GET IT?!!?!!?"
I am all for an artistic spin on or reinvention of mundane objects. Using luxury materials to recreate say a Mao era cap, and then selling it for 10 times what it costs. Sure. Why not? But reselling what you can find at any Asian community, with nothing creative in their selection or thought process other than an oddball product description screams greed and reflects the trend hopping thoughtlessness of the owners. Pathetic. Keep on endorsing, CondeNast.
Whatever. At least the self-satisfied and smug purveyors of this kind of crap will get off on the vapid compliments he'll indubitably receive from his "friends" because his purchases came from HONG KONG!
02:43:23 PM on
03/16/08
HI there
This is Alisa, one of the two owners of KIOSK. Since we are a small operation and care very much about our business I felt I should reply to you here.
We knew that some people would have this reaction particularly to Chinese products as they are so widely distributed in the US. You write you can find this "crap" in Chinatown for "LESS THAN $10". I don't think you can find most of these objects in any local Chinatown, but regardless, you are missing the point with your blanket statement. For example, the knife pictured here was made by a man who has a shop in Kowloon that has been in his family for 80+ years. He learned the trade from his father; now he is on the brink of closure BECAUSE of the $18 knives you will find in Chinatown. We buy the knives from him to support his business, as in our opinion, there are already too many outlets selling mass produced items and not enough buying from small providers. It is sadly people like you, who do not take the time to see the difference, that are driving him out of business.
Secondly, you are obviously either not understanding our concept or you are unwilling to consider it. For us KIOSK is not just about buying and selling things. We go on a trip and talk to people and write about the experience in our descriptions to share an experience, not just to turn over goods or as you write " reselling what you can find at any Asian community, with nothing creative in their selection or thought process ." Our descriptions are not just wacky stories for selling and what-not . Our GOAL is to open peoples minds up to what is out there and to inform people so they can understand more about the things they are buying and where the things are coming from. People will always want to consume things, we hope to give them something more when they do it. We like telling stories and others seem to like it. That is it, there is no major marketing strategy, angle or smugness behind it. We enjoy finding things, we like sharing the experience and we sell the goods so people can take away a bit of experience too and so we can fund our trips to continue supporting often "alternative" or small suppliers in the world.
I am really sorry you don't appreciate the idea or like the products but if you are going to write such negative comments about someone's work and possibly harm their efforts, at least do your research and be a bit more informed. Come by the shop on Spring Street, we are usually there; it would be great to talk.
One last thing I feel impelled to comment on, the Mao cap being made in a luxury material you refer to likely offends a lot more people than the paper ping pong set, think for a moment about what Mao represents to many people.
02:43:23 PM on
03/17/08
Dear Alisa, Peter from Sydney, Australia here. Just wanted to send my best wishes to the entire organization of KIOSK and wish you the best. I also wanted to agree with you, in relation to your comments, it is about getting people to open there minds to everything there is out in the world, something that truthfully, as an Australian isnt something we typically get from the US. Fantastic to see your team is forging a new direction, and a new benchmark.
As to Stuzzz1, I think you should look at all thats out there in context. Yeah, theres crap, and theres not, but it would be a lot smarter to visit KIOSK and pick up the true meaning of there work, before pitching comments like these.
Theres so much out there, KIOSK at least, are making an effort!
My Best to Everyone.!
Peter
Sydney, Australia