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The Madison Square North (or NoMad) area of NYC has become a hospitality, culinary, beauty, lifestyle, and now design mecca. Hotel brands like the Nomad, Ace, and the upcoming Virgin have been popping up in this burgeoning neighborhood alongside new office spaces and salons. It’s no wonder that beloved fast casual restaurants like Inday, SweetGreen, Dig Inn, and Mulberry & Vine have made their mark, as well. Now, hot category to break onto the scene is design—and these destinations have a real community feel.
Here are seven of our favorite new local haunts to check out for everything from vintage furniture to wallpaper to ramen.
Project No. 8
Located at the Ace Hotel, 22 West 29th Street
An elegant and cheeky answer to the hotel gift shop, this art, design, and travel boutique in the Ace hotel has a little bit of everything. Elizabeth Beer and Brian Janusiak’s Project No. 8 focuses on objects, garments, accessories, books and furniture. The design duo love to showcase emerging talent (Slow and Steady Wins the Race) and international designers (think Maison Martin Margiela) alongside quirky stationery and vintage offerings.
Rizzoli Bookstore
1133 Broadway
Storied bookstore Rizzoli has moved from its longtime Midtown townhouse digs to a landmark masonry building on Broadway. The 5,000-square-foot bricks-and-mortar store in the Beaux-Arts Saint James space harkens back to the area’s Gilded Age heritage. In the digital age of e-books and e-commerce, it’s nice to have a literary mecca like this with a focus on art, design, interiors and fashion tomes. Book division CEO Laura Donnini of RCS Libri, the parent company of Rizzoli, concurs: “Sophisticated consumers’ desire for a personalized and tangible encounter has created a newly robust market for an elegant, intelligently curated, and customer-service-oriented bookstore experience….We expect this customer—both New York-based, and visiting from all points national and international—to embrace the 21st century version of their favorite bookstore.”
Art et Maison
12 West 29th Street
After 12 years of business in Tribeca, Art et Maison has moved into a full service home furnishings showroom offering exclusive Italian kitchens, bath, furniture, lighting, and case goods. “It’s clear that the NoMad neighborhood is having a revival and is now a destination for home, lifestyle, and luxury retail,” says co-founder Olga Sivkova, “and we’re excited to be a part of it.” The new space has undergone a full renovation to accommodate the brand’s growing selection of contemporary furniture and objects from manufacturers like Maistri, Toscoquattro, Former, Casamilano, and Italamp as well as to better suit the needs of a full-service design center.
Wagamama
210 Fifth Avenue
The chic, much-beloved London Asian restaurant has arrived stateside, and of course NoMad is its first outpost. The bi-level restaurant, with entrances on both Fifth Avenue and Broadway, is sleek and modern with exposed brick walls, pendant lamps, a long marble bar, and dark wood accents. Cozy booths and long, minimalist wood communal tables with metal stools offer an industrial chic vibe. Paul Wainwright, of the design firm Black Sheep, designed the space which is the perfect setting in which to enjoy crowd-pleasing dishes like teppanyaki, gyoza, steamed buns, chili squid, curries, and katsus. It’s the perfect venue to relax, enjoy a cold beer and some piping hot ramen while you cool your jets from holiday shopping.
Jung Lee
25 West 29th Street
Jung Lee’s stylish “dream home” boutique features designer housewares (from tabletop to décor) and great gift ideas of one-of-a-kind products sourced from all over the world. The store’s loft-like residence with an open floor plan includes a foyer,
casual and formal dining rooms, bar, living room, library, and greenhouse. The store is teaming with a mix of dining and serving essentials, specialty furniture, home décor, stationery, art and books, outdoor, and garden items. It’s a perfect destination for a special hostess gift.
Marimekko
200 Fifth Avenue
Situated in an old Toy Center, Marimekko chose NoMad for the Finnish brand’s first freestanding retail store in the U.S. to show off their signature textiles, fashion and household goods. The flagship carries a wide selection of Marimekko’s interior collection including glassware, serving pieces, bedding, kitchen accessories and textiles—all in their colorful, bold prints. Dozens of the company’s iconic fabrics are available by the yard and the in-house sewing team can help craft tablecloths, pillow cases and more. “It is crucially important for us to be able to introduce our customers to the whole world of Marimekko in our own way,” says the brand’s executive chairman Mika Ihamuotila. The store is a huge win for lovers of Scandinavian design and the space itself designed by famed Japanese architectural firm IMA.
Furnish Green
1261 Broadway, #309
Furnish Green’s owner, Nathan Hescock, began selling antique and vintage furniture out of his dance studio almost 10 years ago. With the help of Craigslist, Furnish Green grew into the eco-friendly and design-oriented brand that it is today. Every piece of furniture in the shop is hunted, rescued, reclaimed, repurposed, and refinished for New York City living. The company’s new showroom space provides shoppers with unique, well-made, thoughtful, and long-lasting pieces of furniture priced for its function, rather than its history.