NEW YORK — For its debut runway show in 2001, Tsubi sent a slew of live rats charging down the catwalk. In 2003, the Australian design collective did a fashion show on a three-story cruiser and paraded the models into the Sydney Harbour.
Now, the Tsubi team — designers Dan Single, George Gorrow and Gareth Moody — is about to march into town with 900 pounds of llama-like sculptures.
The creatures were imported from Australia to NoLIta for tonight’s opening of Tsubi’s first American store. In the Mulberry Street space, formerly occupied by the Scandinavian boutique Smaak, the design trio is promising a seismic shift in scenery for a neighborhood trademarked by treelined streets and old-world chic.
The facade of the new boutique, designed by Gorrow and Urbanautics architect Stefan Röschert, has been sliced off and fitted with a glass wall. Inside, a trench tears through the mosaic-tile floor and runs up to the ceiling. Walls are left unfinished, with cutouts that expose the brick underneath. The army of llama-looking sculptures, designed by Australian artist Deshenka Wright, graze on Astroturf in the basement cellar, which is visible through a series of glass floor panels.
On a trip upstate, the Tsubi boys purchased a vintage desk from the Fifties, which they then cut in half and encased in a glass box. “We’ll have all of our jewelry [designed by River & Sons] on that,” Gorrow said. “It will be sort of like Damien Hirst meets the woodcutter.”
But as somber as all that may sound, the designers said the store’s theme is “Bring Back Life,” and the idea is to play to a light-shadow dialectic. It’s up to the merchandise to provide flourish in the otherwise sober interior. In addition to the label’s signature denim line, the boutique also will carry candy pink striped knits, colorblocked dresses, metallic cardigans and paisley-print cords, as well as accessories — most notably, a collection of eyewear designed in collaboration with Linda Farrow. “It’s all a bit disjointed, you know. It’ll be like jumping from frame to frame,” said Gorrow.
Meanwhile, Daniel Askill’s short film, “We Have Decided Not to Die,” will play against the dressing room’s inside curtain, and the store’s soundtrack will be John Justin’s “Insects in Amber,” a group of songs composed from insect sounds. Out back, an outdoor gallery will exhibit the work of Australian artists.
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All this, is only phase one for the Tsubi boutique. Come mid-April, a mesh cage will cover the store’s glass facade. Filled with dirt and laced with “seedbombs,” the Röschert-designed structure will give the notion of company growth a new meaning. “From inside, you’ll look through the glass and see the dirt, the roots of the plants, the worms,” Gorrow said. “From the outside, [the foliage] will grow and change with the seasons. Sometimes it’ll be lush and romantic; at other times, it’ll be brown and wintry.”
So what do the neighbors think of this retail-cum-art installation that’s about to invade their quaint stomping grounds? Nick Mathers, owner of the adjacent Ruby’s Cafe, certainly won’t complain. A friend of the designers and an Aussie émigré himself, Mathers is now also Tsubi’s new store manager.