It's clear now how much art is intertwined with Rivington Design House. Did you always intend on having a gallery space to exhibit work?

I had some experience with music by doing flyers and a couple of band logos, but besides that I was responding to ads on Craigslist, doing logos for like nothing, getting experience. I was finding the people I was influenced by and creating my own curriculum to make me who I wanted to be. Office opportunity came up and I was like what should I do with this space? Franco and I used to do these parties called Shindig, where we would do art shows with the guys from my family’s art store and our band, and put music and art together, and that’s where it all started. I had these empty walls in the office, and the idea was I’ll get friends of mine who can paint. We’ll do a show for a month and switch it out, no thoughts about it being an art gallery. It had like a very Paul’s Boutique feel. Literally the smoke from the hair salon would pour in during openings, and we’d have to ask them not blow dry these Dominican women’s hair right now because it was an issue, no one could breathe. And we would shut down blocks sometimes, with 500 people in a space that was 300 square feet, pouring out in the street. Rivington Design House
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