Don’t sleep on it: weR2’s Dream Machine pulls up in the Hamptons
Pop-up boutiques and restaurants have, in 2015, become a ubiquitous part of urban landscapes across the globe, whether London, Paris or New York (and beyond). But here's one that's totally out of the ordinary – the 'Dream Machine', a bullet shaped Airstream trailer conceived and designed by Suchi Reddy's and Sara Meltzer's weR2 studio, emblazoned with one of Ryan McGinness' psychedelic patterns and packed with contemporary artist-designed products. The Machine will be parked outside the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, New York, just in time for the 4 July weekend (though it will be cruising over to the Silas Marder Gallery in Bridgehampton the week after).
It's not the Dream Machine's first outing. 'We had one set up during Art Basel Miami Beach and [at] the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, as well as at the base of the [New York] High Line last year... the reception was amazing,' says former Chelsea dealer Meltzer, who co-founded weR2 just two years ago, as 'a collaborative venture for housewares and accessories'.
She and Reddy – an architect and interior designer who has created boutique interiors for Henri Bendel and Jimmy Choo, and commercial interiors for the Lever House – zeroed in on an untapped market, collaborating with artists and designers.
'At the end of every project, when it came to the stage of finding intelligent, beautiful and fun accessories that enhance or make a design, I saw that my clients had very limited choices,' says Reddy. Enter the Dream Machine – weR2's most ambitious project to date, the duo have been involved in every step of the development process, right down to the selection of production materials for the featured products.
The artists and designers under their wing are hardly novices – McGinness' work is included in such prestigious institutions as the MoMA and the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Castilla y León in Spain – and weR2 commissioned a range of lauded practitioners to come up with products to sell as part of the pop-up: from multidisciplinary artist Kelly Lamb's bronze candlestick holders, through to cloth napkins by Kate Shepherd, abstract canvas throw cushions designed by minimalist painter and sculptor Eric Brown, and a 'hemp tote bag with embroidered cannabis and premium rolling papers' by Francesca Gabbiani, among other covetable wares.
'The Dream Machine,' Meltzer concludes, 'is all about extending the art and design worlds – and in this case we're reaching the Hamptons.'
ADDRESS
Parrish Art Museum
279 Montauk Highway
Water Mill, NY
11976
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