MOSS was a design store in Soho. A wonderful store that showcased very very modern design alongside porcelain birds and squirrels. A very carefully curated store. A store after Joie de Vivre's own heart. Beautiful displays, the first to show designers like Tord Boontje . . . and the "burned" show where a Dutch artist scorched almost beyond recognition iconic pieces of furniture . . . and the place I found my wine glass doorbell . . . a place I lusted for things I couldn't afford - for instance a $250,000 crystal chandelier, and bought a few things I could - a set of shot glasses. This afternoon I was reading the latest Metropolis Magazine and read that Moss has just closed - Various reasons were given from the health of its founder Murray Moss, to the way the web has made buying design products easier to an increase in rent - from an absolutely staggering $80,000 a MONTH to who knows what. (Guess Joie won't be opening in Soho anytime soon!) Anyway, I was a regular and happy visitor, and that block on Greene Street will seem oddly empty without it. 1994 - 2012. Moss will be missed.
One of the best things about being an author is having to visit my agent in SoHo (I guess I could do business on the phone, but I'd rather not...) Anyway, I always stopped in at MOSS. The only thing that I could afford were the t-shirts - as brilliant as everything else there - which had graphics matching their signs. "No Photography Permitted" and "Do Not Touch." My teenage son wore them until they wore out.
ReplyDeleteYou're my kind of person - old postcards . . . the Hen Cam - plus you like Moss ! (& Joie) Hen Cam and Moss are not two things I would necessarily put together . . . . . anyway, it was a great store - even if I was at times intimidated by the ever so hip slender all dressed in black staff . . .
ReplyDeleteSoho is now a rolling stone . What a genius store/ gallery ! Sad to see it disappear .
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