Although the global pandemic has led many retailers around the world to shutter their brick and mortar stores, the Asian design brand Stellar Works has moved in the opposite direction, opening its first permanent US showroom in New York City. Located on the busy and colourful thoroughfare of Canal Street in Manhattan, Stellar Works occupies the ground floor of a historic Italianate building, which was formerly home to the local icon, Pearl Paint. Built in 1880 and designed by the architect John Snook, known for designing many of SoHo’s cast iron buildings, the airy, 4,000 sq ft space not only provides enough room for Stellar Works’ growing furniture and accessory collections to breathe, it also houses the first-ever physical space of the Brooklyn-based design studio, Calico Wallpaper.
Explore Stellar Works’ New York Showroom
‘When Covid happened, everybody was so nervous. The situation was very bad in China, but I decided that we should do the opposite and we should be more aggressive,’ says the company’s CEO and founder Yuichiro Hori, who is based in Shanghai. ‘I knew that SoHo was very quiet and so we went on a property hunt. We wanted a bigger space and this location between SoHo and Tribeca is very convenient for us. Following a challenging year of relative isolation, we are truly excited to establish a physical presence in New York and at the centre of the American design industry.’
Stellar Works’ New York home is a glassy, light-filled space with soaring ceilings and two entrances – one on Canal Street and the other on the quieter Lispenard Street. Its collections include designs from Neri & Hu, Space Copenhagen and Nendo, elegantly displayed alongside a gestural wallpaper design by Sam Baron for Calico Wallpaper (a company similarly familiar with collaborations), as well as tableware and small accessories from Yabu Pushelberg’s Departo line, which Stellar Works produces.
The New York foothold, whose interior renovation was overseen by David Bench of Inca architecture studio, is to be followed by a sister space in Los Angeles set to open in November 2021. With new collections from Meyer Davis, Bassam Fellows and more from Neri & Hu and Michele de Lucchi to be revealed before the end of the year, Stellar Works is fervently making up for any lost time. §
