We paid a neighborly visit to Open Air Modern, a new store on Manhattan Avenue in Greenpoint. Matt, the owner, used to run the show over at Airstream Books outdoor market in Williamsburg. He's relocated and expanded the operation a bit further north — but for good reason.
The new storefront features a wall of industrial windows that makes for a great view from the street. Beyond the physical space, the well-curated merchandise varies from vintage records, to affordable mid-century furniture, to a large selection of rare and out-of-print design books. Open Air Modern also sells contemporary best-selling novels for cheap, so forget trekking to faceless stores in the city for your subway reading material.
If you're looking for just the right thing as a gift for someone (or for yourself), check out the carefully-considered selection at this new neighborhood dispensary of special.
Jonya & Brad's Modern A–Frame 
Quick Cleaning Tip: Keep Baseboards Cleaner With Fabric Softner
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Profile Chair by Ma...
15 Essential Building Blocks for Quick Weeknight Meals
Summer Recipe: No-Bake Strawberry Icebox Cake
Comments (9)
It looks lovely but, my, how Greenpoint has gentrified since I lived there.
Not to be insulting, but is there not a chance you are part of that gentrification?
*were
It's not insulting. My family has lived there for 100 years. I don't think my couple of years there were part of the gentrification, just following the decades-long trend of landing in Greenpoint after leaving Poland, and staying with relatives before moving on.
Neighborhoods change -- it's just strange to me to go back there now and not hear Polish 24/7. And now, to see vintage furnishings! [Which I love.]
I live in Seattle, and found the perfect mid-century sofa on Open Air Modern's site. It was top dollar, but described as pristine -- the exact quotes include "like new" and "impeccable". The pictures, which only showed the sofa with the cushions on, also looked lovely. I talked to Matt Singer several times on the phone, who confirmed that the sofa was nearly perfect. When I asked about any flaws, Matt couldn't think of anything other than a small pull in the upholstery - it was that good! I told Matt I really had to put my trust in him because I was buying from across the country and couldn't check out the sofa in person, but he assured me it was in stunning condition. This was a very major purchase for me -- I paid, with tax and shipping, $3479.63 in mid-May. When the sofa arrived this Saturday morning, I saw that the entire front end of the sofa frame was badly warped/bowed; the front corner joints were split; the piece of wood that runs along the front of the sofa frame was splitting away from the body of the frame, and there was an old and botched repair job done with tape; and some of the elastic support bands that support the cushions were missing and replaced incorrectly with webbing that was literally stapled through the wood of the frame. I took photographs of all this with my cell phone. The delivery men showed me that all these flaws existed at the time they picked it up. I refused to accept the delivery. I called Matt on the phone and he didn't deny the condition issues existed, though he couldn't explain why he hadn't told me about them; but he agreed to refund my total costs this week. Today he wrote to me to say that he will no longer return the cost of shipping ($480) and that he will not refund the cost of the sofa when he promised, but only after he has it back -- and he expects me to pay to ship it back to him, another $480. He wrote that he did nothing wrong and "I see nothing that misrepresented the condition of the sofa". Interestingly, he did acknowledge the "slight bow" to the frame and "tiny openings" at the corners, but said they weren't "major detractors." (Prior to the purchase when I had asked him to tell me any and every flaw, he never mentioned any "slight bow" or "tiny openings.") So in any case, now I am going to have to dispute the Visa charge to try to get my money back. Pictures are worth a thousand words, so follow this link to the flckr page where I have put the pictures I took, as well as the screen captures of the Open Air modern website that describe the sofa. I showed these photos to a couple antique dealers here in Seattle; one told me it was "unsellable" and one said it "belongs in a thrift shop, not an antique store." I trusted Matt when he told me this sofa was "like new"-- anyone who reads this can decide for him/herself if this sofa is "like new", if It was accurately described by Open Air Modern, and if it was worth what I paid for it:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/35744427@N00/sets/72157624217198810/detail/
I bought an excellent vintage couch from Matt at Open Air Modern a few months ago and am VERY pleased with my purchase. I had been looking around for months (mostly in Manhattan) and found just what I was looking for at his shop in Brooklyn. Once I found Matt's shop he kept me in the loop about the different couches that came into the shop over the course of a few weeks and finally I found just the one I was looking for--a Dunbar 1960's designer couch in excellent condition for its age. I would buy from him again in a heartbeat.
I was so pleased to receive the mid century dining set. It is not only beautiful it is the perfect size and color.Thank You Open Air Modern and thank you so much Matt. It was a pleasure doing business with you. I would recommend his store and service to anyone. Enjoy.
Shill reviews - very classy!
This place is super SUPER expensive for what you really get : second life furniture.