- Missy Hammond Dunaway’s painted notebooks depict the Kentile Floors sign.
- Missy Hammond Dunaway
Commuters on the F and G subway trains may no longer have an up close view of the Kentile Floors sign in Brooklyn, which is being dismantled to later be relocated.
But the sight of it may never be too far.
Fans of the iconic sign, which began being taken down letter by letter last week, used to show their appreciation on Instagram and Facebook. Now, the sign will live on through T-shirts, totes, nails and even body art.
Pete Hildebrand, owner of Live Poultry Apparel, which has New York-inspired handmade clothes and accessories, said his Kentile Floors T-shirts have sold in the thousands since the sign became endangered.
“It’s been crazy, I feel sort of bad about it,” Mr. Hildebrand said. “It’s sort of bittersweet—I’d much rather see the sign saved than sell shirts.”
- Scaffolding covers the Kentile Floors sign in Brooklyn on June 5.
- Keith Bedford forThe Wall Street Journal
He created a design for the sign about six years ago, painting the image from a photo and making it into a graphic, only changing the color of the sign from red to yellow.
“I made this shirt thinking nobody would buy it,” Mr. Hildebrand said.
But it turns out he was wrong about the popularity of the sign. He said he has met many people who have memories of the sign because a family member worked there or it was an indicator on the subway ride that they were close to grandma’s house.
“It seems to cut some sort of nerve with Brooklyn people,” said Mr. Hildebrand, who moved from Seattle to Manhattan in 1991 and a few years later to Brooklyn. “It’s sort of the Statue of Liberty of Brooklyn.”
The owner of the building on which the sign stood, Regal Home Collections, applied for a permit earlier this year to tear down the structure. Once it is fully dismantled, the Gowanus Alliance will bring the letters to one of its warehouses where it will further document and assess the status of the sign and find a new location for it, according to Paul Basile, president of the Gowanus Alliance.
- Kim Dalve shows her Kentile Floors sign-inspired nails in Brooklyn on Wednesday.
- Tadej Znidarcic for The Wall Street Journal
“The letters have quite a bit of weather to them,” Mr. Basile said. “Part of our vision is to have the letters retain some of the scars from over the years.”
There is currently no set time for the rebuilding of the sign, but Mr. Basile said when it gets to that stage, the community will be very involved.
Shirts are only one way people have been commemorating the sign. Others have chosen even more personal means. Kim Dalve, who moved to Brooklyn from Florida two years ago and writes about beauty and lifestyle on her blog, painted her nails with the image of the sign on his back spread across her fingers.
“I took pictures of it all the time,” Ms. Dalve said. “It was a fun reminder I was in the city.”
Nail art of the sign was a way to combine two of her favorite things—and it was also a way for her to talk about the relocation of the sign on her blog.
“I hope they find a good place for it,” she added.
- David Dyte’s back tattoo piece features the sign.
- Andrew Lamberson for The Wall Street Journal
Ms. Dalve and many others said the sign was a tribute to the history of the borough.
“I think it’s very much a time of old industrial Brooklyn,” said Lisa Pines, a teacher who commutes from Carroll Gardens to Bensonhurst on the subway and has two Kentile Floors shirts. “The sign connects people to that.”
Ms. Pines has a personal connection with the sign as well, having taken a picture of it every day for the past two years. She hopes to turn her work into a photobook when the sign is completely gone.
And even when that day comes, the sign will always be near to David Dyte, who moved from Australia to New York in 1999. Mr. Dyte has the image of the sign as part of a Brooklyn-themed tattoo on his back, with a passing subway, the skyline and all.
“It’s a beautiful symbol,” Mr. Dyte said of the eight-story sign. “It’s a fantastic piece of design.”
Mr. Dyte first moved to Manhattan, but didn’t like it. He loved Brooklyn though, and was first introduced to the sign when he was taking pictures around the city.
“There’s the home where you’re from, that’s Australia,” he said, “and there’s the home you make.”
For Mr. Dyte, that is Brooklyn. And for many, the Kentile Floors sign represented it.
- The Kentile Floors sign adorns t-shirts and shopping totes by Live Poultry.
- Live Poultry
from WordPress http://ift.tt/1q3kW6q
via IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment