About Michael
Michael was born and raised in Seattle, and has lived in New York since 2009. He’s done graphic and interaction design for Pentagram and Local Projects, and is currently a designer at the Google Creative Lab.
http://www.mikemake.com
Current city: New York
Michael was born and raised in Seattle, and has lived in New York since 2009. He’s done graphic and interaction design for Pentagram and Local Projects, and is currently a designer at the Google Creative Lab.
 
Strand is a castle of books. It claims 2.5 million new and used books, across 18 miles of shelves, cared for by 200 employees—so set aside a couple of hours. Plenty of art books and good prices. Get your healthy huff of that old book smell.
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Geek out over the massive menu of Belgian beer at Spuyten Duyvil. Relax in the backyard seating and say, "Ooh, I gotta remember this brew," without realizing you probably won't see it again elsewhere. Then cross the street to Fette Sau, a BBQ experience equally well designed because it's owned by the same couple, the Carrolls. Order from their wide selection of meat cuts, served by the pound on butcher paper. The sides shine too, with the best potato salad and best BBQ beans I've ever had.
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Occasionally I'll look at the Manhattan skyline and wonder what it was like in 1931 when people around the world were saying, "Holy shit, did you hear what they just built in New York?" Just get up there and trip out about humanity. And be sure to keep an eye out for the unmarked locked door guarding a set of stairs leading to a hidden terrace that was originally designed as a fucking docking station for zeppelins.
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I read that the design of Central Park's curving spaces was a Romantic counter to the geometry of Enlightenment-era gardens. I heard this design was influenced by landscape painting, where its foreground, middleground, and background constantly shift as you walk the paths. I find new pockets and features every time I'm there. One of my favorite spots is with the Central Park Dance Skaters, a group that roller skates in circles all day to vintage electro funk. These characters generously lend you the feeling of being in your own 1980's New York film.
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More People in New York 387

Leticia Wouk Almino is a Brazilian architect based in New York, NY. She has lived in Brasília, Washington, San Francisco, Lisbon, London, and again in the Brazilian capital before moving to the United States for her studies. She most recently completed her Masters in Architecture at Yale University in New Haven, CT and is currently working at Robert A.M. Stern Architects in New York. She draws her inspiration from the world of cinema, as she is interested in exploring the interstice between architecture and fiction, real and imaginary, public and private space. She is looking to publish her book, Capital Urbanism, a comparative study of public space in four capital cities in Portugal and Brazil.
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Sebastian Chen Speier is a Creative Director and Product Designer in New York. He is currently a Design Lead at Instagram. Before that he was the Global Design Director on Nike SNKRS.
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Mexican photographer currently based in New York, also Founder and Creative Director of P Magazine ( A hardcover limited edition art book published annually as a collector’s edition, curated by Monumento and Mariana ) — Her work is a combination of disciplines, such as portrait, editorial and reportage, among others. Constantly trying to capture fascinating moments that could be translate into beautiful, elegant pieces of art, tell stories and make them last forever.  
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Chris Ballantyne’s work focuses on vernacular architecture and observation of the American landscape.  Banal features of suburban and industrial zones are sources for paintings that highlight the quirky and absurd.  Ballantyne states that, “Growing up in a military family and moving to different parts of the country, there was a certain familiarity to the kinds of houses and neighborhoods. They were a series of suburban developments built in separate regions of the country, always on the outskirts of larger cities, at the exit ramps of interstate highways, and all very similar in age and design.  My own notions of space developed out of this cultural landscape which was striving for an indidvidual sense of personal space,  consciously economic, and somewhere between urban and rural.” Dysfunctional structures are flawless in their strangeness, made beautiful through symmetry, simplified lines and flat, subdued colors. Ballantyne eliminates detail to emphasize the subtleties of the way we experience space and our attempts at containment. He extends these concepts further by expanding the imagery of his paintings beyond the picture plane and onto the surrounding walls. “Most of my works involve combinations of various places, drawn from memory. As well, my own interests in skateboarding and surfing altered how I saw  the use of these structures ranging from empty pools, sidewalk curbs, to ocean jetties in a way that tied in to my sense of this larger push and pull between culture and nature.” With shrewd restraint, Ballantyne accentuates the antisocial effects of our built environment with a hint of humor and plenty of ambiguity. A curious emptiness permeates the work of Chris Ballantyne. Graphically rendered buildings, pools, parking lots, and fences take on new meanings and amplified significance, isolated on flat fields of color.
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Johanna Goodman is an Artist and Illustrator whose work seeks to explore a range of themes in popular culture including the role of the individual in fashion, in history, and in the artistic imagination. Her work draws its inspiration from Magical Realism, Surrealism, and Symbolism and references such cultural artifacts as talismans, idols, and totems. Goodman's work can be seen on posters installed in Subway stations throughout NYC, on skateboards, magazine covers, textiles, ceramics and a gallery wall near you. Her work has been featured in Marie Claire in France, The Guardian in London, Farhenheit Magazine in Mexico, Ms. and Bust in the US and on design blogs like Trendland, Colossal, Vice's The Creator's Project, The Jealous Curator, and the Fox is Black.
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