The owners of Kiosk, at 95 Spring between Broadway and Mercer in Soho, travel around the world finding cool stuff—fishing lures, pharmacist's bottles, toys. Then they display it, gallery-style, in their second-floor retail space, and sell it via customer orders. It's basically a combination of Target's affordable-design credo and Muji's commitment to simplicity, only without the sense that everything has been mass-produced in some faceless factory. All of the objects Kiosk displays are useful, and all come with a specific sense of place.
This time around, their quarterly exhibit focuses on America. Our favorite objects included a lollipop in the shape of Mayflower, goggle-eyed epoxy fishing lures, and mini piñata balls that came in a box labeled "SURPRISE BALLS IDEAL FOR PARTIES THE TOY YOU ENJOY TO DESTROY." (The patriotic theme is timely on purpose, by the way. At last night's opening party, they handed out Obama posters.) The exhibit will run for the next couple months, but we also recommend browsing the gallery online—some of the descriptions are highly entertaining.
· Kiosk [Official Site]For more stories from Racked, go to racked.com.
