Brooklyn's Progress
December 2006/January 2007

Some of Brooklyn’s best designers and manufacturers of contemporary furnishings, rugs, lighting and accessories are getting ready for the 5th Anniversary edition of BKLYN DESIGNS™, which is set to take place in DUMBO, May 11 – 13. The show, a Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce initiative to promote the borough’s creative economy, drew more than 6,000 consumers, architects, and design industry buyers last year.

Brave Space, a Bushwick-based furniture company that custom designs and builds its pieces, produces high quality furniture that is playful and modern. The designers draw from a common set of influences ranging from video games to minimalist sculpture.

Nikki Frazier, a co-owner of the company granted the following interview.

Who is Brave Space and what do you do?
Brave Space is a company of three, Sam Kragiel, Jesse Arnold, and Nikki Frazier.  We are a design and build furniture company.  We produce modern furniture pieces that have playful designs and are also hyper-functional.

When did you form the company and how did you end up in Brooklyn?
Sam, Jesse and I met in Gainesville, Florida.  We all went to art school there for sculpture, photography and design and then moved to Brooklyn in 2001.  We started out doing apt renovations in 2002.   Mostly loft spaces that people wanted to transform.  We were also building furniture that we needed for our own apartments.  Now we live with all the prototypes.   In 2004 we started designing strictly furniture and formulated our company, Brave Space. 

Where in Brooklyn do you currently work?
Our shop space is in Bushwick.  It’s a good area.  There’s still a lot of industry there.  That gives us a fairly large space that’s still somewhat affordable.  Well, for the time being anyway.  It’s changing pretty fast. 

How does living in Brooklyn influence your designs?
I’d say it’s definitely an influence on our work.  We love living and working in Brooklyn.  There is so much diversity and growth here.  It gives us potential as an up and coming business.

Brooklyn’s overflowing with small business.  We’ve got material providers here, suppliers of every kind and almost any kind of manufacturer you can think of.  And that’s just in our field.  Businesses can help and support each other here, in effect forming communities.

Our pieces are made to order for each customer.  A lot of the time we have our parts cut out by a local CNC manufacturer and then assembled by hand. This gives us the best balance that computer precision cutting and hand-made qualities have to offer.

How do the principles of sustainable design play out in your work? 
We started by researching material options.  We have certain designs that benefit from the qualities of sustainable materials and vice versa.  All of our pieces aren’t sustainable but we do look for ways that we can make our products eco-friendly.  We realize that as a manufacturing company our products should have a positive effect on the world.  In terms of quality, we aim for our furniture to have a long “happy” lifespan. 

Congratulations on winning a Best of Year Product Design Roscoe Award from Interior Design for 2006!
Hey thanks!  Our Tetrad Flat Shelving won the Best of Year Product Award for the storage category.  It was pretty great.  Honestly, we didn’t think we had a chance.  We were up against some huge companies.  We were really shocked when they called our name.  We felt like little fish when we walked up on stage to accept our award.  At the reception, someone told us that it was really good to have some “young” people here. 

What’s next for Brave Space?
New products, new materials, new tools, 2007 BKLYN DESIGNS show, and getting our business to a higher level of production.  We want to continue to make our furniture even more affordable and accessible for those out there who recognize the value and necessity of long lasting eco-friendly products.  

About Brave Space
Brave Space has exhibited at two BKLYN DESIGNS shows, and will do so again in 2007.  To view more work please visit http://www.bravespacedesign.com/.  Nikki, Sam and Jesse can be reached at info@bravespacedesign.com or at 646-831-2470.