HAPPENINGS
18
creative on a regular basis to make time for one
another as a couple and for family and friends.
Do you have a favorite item in your home?
Stewart: No. People ask us that all the time. It varies by
the month, season, what iteration our home is in. I’m
looking at what is around me. And I really love — there
are some paintings we sourced from someone who is a
collector. He reached out to us because he purchased
an entire storage unit. Thousands of items. We ended
up buying almost all of it right before our August
recess. There is a painting sitting in our bedroom by
Clara Jones. It’s really special. That’s my favorite piece
right now in this particular room at this moment.
Handy: This is like an I Spy. We have a 1930s Panasonic
radio on hairpin legs. The cool thing is it’s one of
the first projects we did together. I love when we are
able to showcase in our own space an item that has
been reimagined.
Tell us a little bit about the photo series you do on Instagram
called “We Been Inside.”
Stewart: We were inside. This was at the very start of
the pandemic. Right when we had closed down the
shop. The next week we were thinking what it was
going to be like to be indoors indefinitely. We typically
show an archival video or photos interspersed
throughout offerings on Instagram. It’s nice to provide
context, and we come across lots of vintage
photographs. It was nice to give it a theme. I didn’t
realize we’d still be going at this point. But notable
heroes, people we look up to, are regular people and
they spend time indoors. To me, it’s impactful to see
Muhammad Ali talking on the phone or Audre Lorde
sitting at her desk writing, or Josephine Baker tending
to her garden.
Do you have any advice to others on finding their path?
Stewart: In a lot of ways, I have done what has felt
right to me. It sounds wrong when I say it and doesn’t
sound like — I have followed my intuition about what
felt right to me and matched that with what I needed
at that particular moment. There was a time when I
didn’t know what my career would look like. I was in a
graduate program. I was asking myself what are my
interests. I felt good when exploring those interests,
working with students, working on marginalized communities,
queer communities. It was fulfilling even if it
wasn’t the salary I wanted. Those are things that can
be negotiated — I found a profound sense of joy and
fulfillment when doing them.
Handy: I would advise people to choose a path, it
doesn’t have to be the right path. Second is knowing
when to walk away from certain things. We both were
working on a college campus, working as administrators,
it was fulfilling and impactful, I felt I could do it
forever, but at the end of the day you look in the mirror
and you’re not happy doing this work. Am I going
to move forward, I don’t feel I am living up to my
potential, there’s something else I’m missing. That’s
the piece where you’ve got to listen to your gut.
Can you share any tips for displaying art, books, records,
and other collectibles?
Handy: I’m a fan of the book stack. What are the artifacts
you want to preserve and what are the books
you want to throw out on the coffee table. You can
be creative in where you put them or you can bookend
them with a mirror or have some symmetry
somewhere. There are so many ways you can use
books. They don’t have to live on a bookshelf.
Stewart: Start with the thing that is most interesting to
you. So many people have things that have been passed
down through the family and they never thought about
using them in a decorating way. Lot of people have
pictures. Having those photos framed and by a bed or
at an end table or table before you leave the house is
an easy way to incorporate vintage into your space and
in a meaningful way. Even if you’ve got letters, records
— you can frame them or put them up on a stand. Start
with the things that are meaningful for you.
You also design interiors for clients. How did that evolve?
Stewart: We launched the interiors part of the business
two years ago. There was a natural connection
between the work we were doing to source objects
and putting them in context and think about function
at the same time. We have always been sourcing to
keep — to keep and to, ultimately, furnish our space
or spaces. We launched after some consideration. We
have done quite a few projects, mostly home projects.
We did a coworking space and home offices.
But mostly residential. Mostly people who have a few
things and say I don’t know the steps to get it looking
like what I want. They don’t know how to get from
three pieces of art I have to a place that feels like home
to me. They’re all people who identify as Black and all
people who are looking for a way to get a space that
reflects them. Who these people are is a fundamental
part of the process of working with them. It starts with
what do you do in the space, how does your space
function for you, how do you envision yourself and
how do you want your space to serve you? Those projects
are fun. Folks now being home are really thinking
about I’m here, let me make the investment in making
this space work for me.
What are your plans for the future?
Stewart: We have so many. We’re always thinking
about what BLK MKT Vintage looks like outside of
Brooklyn. Possibly West Coast, Atlanta. Spaces where
there is a high population of folks who look like us.
More locations, more interior projects, growing our
team. We’re interested in projects that can center Black
vintage and Black history.
Photo by Primo Supremo Photography, courtesy of
BLK MKT Vintage.