MAD about New York

"Home" in Brooklyn

Just back from a great stay in New York in relation to an exhibition I was part of; Complete Parts. The show was right by The Highline in Chelsea, at The Highline Loft. It was a curated exhibition by DRAFTspace of 40 international jewelry designers, but more about that in a later blogpost.

I travelled with my friend Marlen Langeland Hagen, who is a painter and also runs the restaurant Jeppe at Stabekk. A great choice of companion it turned out since she had a great nose for sniffing up brilliant cafés and restaurants everywhere , with great help from a magic app called Foursquare. We stayed in Brooklyn through Airbnb at this fantastic town-house with the couple Silvano and Craig. They made us breakfast every morning in their spacious kitchen, and we had great conversations about every topic one can think of before we headed out to explore the city. I don´t think they have any trouble with getting guests, but we felt like we were really special, which we probably just weren´t:) 

---

KGD goes MAD
When I travel I always bring some samples of my collection, in case I come over some good places where i would like to showcase my jewelry. This time I had even managed to set up a meeting with a wonderful woman who is in charge of LOOT, a famous jewelry event at MAD (Museum of Art and Design). It turned out that LOOT was already set for this year, but she thought my designs would suit the prestigious The Shop at the museum.  So from this autumn on my jewelry will be found here, right by Central Park! Silvano, who is an accessories designer exclaimed that they were simply the best place in town to showcase jewelry:) Had some champagne that evening..
MAD has a most exquisite restaurant on the 9th floor, Robert, worth a visit

---

Marlen with a Citi bike

Biking in New York
We discovered New York had changed a great deal since last time, they have eventually grasped the idea that a flat city like New York should lend itself to bikes! They have a great bike path along the shore, lots of bike-lanes and it was surprisingly easy to cycle around Manhattan, Brooklyn and Williamsburg. At least not any worse than Oslo. They have the same system of renting Citibikes, great deal, great bikes, great day! In ten years I recon NY is bike-capital of USA. 

---

Home sweet Brooklyn

Nothing bad about Manhattan, but it is loud, dirty and stressful, so when we could bike across the Hudson over to Williamsburg and Brooklyn we truly felt at home. Williamsburg is full of small independent shops, restaurants and cafés. The buildings are low, there is a great sense of community and if you want to go rougher just travel on to Bushwhick. We didn´t do that this time, we enjoyed our neighborhood in Williamsburg and Brooklyn far too much. Next time I might not travel into Manhattan at all to be honest..