April 2023

Jillian & I were living together in my 10th Street apartment at the time, fully in that shared hustle rhythm. We were setting up outside Sahara East regularly, and Ahmed showed real love letting us rock out front. That stretch of the East Village became our open-air showroom for a while. Locals, regulars, late-night wanderers, construction crews grabbing food, everybody got to catch a glimpse of us in motion.

It was actually the perfect moment to release my construction-themed pieces. The environment matched the concept almost too perfectly. Cones, scaffolding, jackhammers humming somewhere nearby, steel toe boots passing all day. Real working class energy moving through the block. Those designs weren’t hypothetical, they were speaking directly to the people walking past.

It felt grounded, collaborative, very human. Those East Village days carried a raw authenticity that still feeds the brand now.