Zeray

Ideas and journal. [email protected] for questions comments or anything

[luccazeray]

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Hey new work! Production design for @babble Director @gaelan_draper Producer @ann95s Dp @tylerclarkdp Dream team @i_want__my_sandwich @sea_der Fab @hookfabrication #productiondesign #setlife #orangepainteverywhere https://www.instagram.com/p/CG5ZUqTJdmT/?igshid=20e1gxqr3uej

[luccazeray]

Blondo, maple and shaker tape. A contemporary take on a colonial roundabout chair. 📷 @nicolasbruno #nycxdesign #interiordesign (at DDB | Decoration and Design Building) https://www.instagram.com/p/CGiFS2YF0k8/?igshid=ken60mhh234e

[luccazeray]

The 100% dresser in blue valcromat. No waste but sawdust, 3 sheets of ply. #newyorkdesign (at Sunset Park) https://www.instagram.com/p/CGatnNYlgcX/?igshid=s7c6xc9jd5nh

[luccazeray]

Hey are you working from home and realizing you aren’t super happy with it? You don’t have a desk? No place to relax? You need a new side table? Now is a good time to reach out, we can work around any budget 50$-50000$ And any size? We love experimenting with new ideas and new materials maybe now is your chance to scoop an interesting piece to make you now home office more livable! Slide in the dm or [email protected] https://www.instagram.com/p/B97AyowlOOB/?igshid=1n0a52rhxjbc9

[luccazeray]

Cyanotypes from the past year. https://www.instagram.com/p/B9hN69wlNM9/?igshid=13gxsdoiicp5d

[luccazeray]

Support you deli! To celebrate the state wide bag ban coming into effect I designed my favorite deli a cheep tote bag to give away. Also not everything is a bodega, there are Deli’s, green grocers, markets, corner stores and Bodegas. Show some love those who are always there when we need them. (at Sunset Park, Brooklyn) https://www.instagram.com/p/B9Kmmzeln7q/?igshid=xy00ooca6wmu

[luccazeray]

A Hymn for Home

Blessed be the patient TSA.

Blessed be the Hasidic Jews with Bluetooth headsets.

Blessed be the deli men who always have my ear.

Blessed be the medallion owners.

Blessed be the deli, green grocer, bodega corner stores.

Blessed be the bike messengers.

Blessed be the pot hole fillers and bike lane painters.

Blessed be the sanitation people.

Blessed be the institutions that have fed us for decades.

Blessed be the commuters, The ferry people The express bus people, Their travels are long.

Blessed be the buttered roll the dollar coffee the dollar dumpling the dollar slice.

Blessed be those who came to pray freely.

Blessed be those who came to be exactly who, they want to be.

Blessed be those who came with hopes for what it used to be.

Blessed be the public beaches.

Blessed be those who hope for rain just to sell you an umbrella.

Blessed be line cooks, wash and fold, carpenters, iron workers, masons.

Blessed be the page six.

Blessed be the front page.

Blessed be the garment racks that still roll around 8th ave.

Blessed be the 3am florists.

Blessed be the students teaching their parents English.

Blessed be those who came with no intention of leaving.

[luccazeray]

9th st Protected Bike Lane with Mixing Zone.

3/18/19

New Amsterdam is not Amsterdam. New York in the past 5 years alone there have been an estimated 140,000 more daily trips by bicycle according to the Department of transportation bringing the current daily ride count to 800,000~ daily trips.  New York’s only recently started embracing two wheel culture, prior to 2007 the bicycle in New York was simply for messengers, kids in parks, guys in spandex, and delivery men. Nowadays It is not uncommon for a young mother to pick her kids up from school by bike, or for 20 something year olds who just moved to Bushwick to feel safe enough to ride to the Grand Army Plaza farmers market on a nice Saturday. New Amsterdam is slowly but surely embracing two wheel culture, not only as residents but also from a city planning perspective.

Bike lanes only really existed on a few select avenues in Manhattan, the westside highway, and in sections of the still neglected east side water front “back in the day”. Flash back to 2007- 2012 Janette Sadik-Khan was appointed transportation commissioner of the NYC DOT under Michael Bloomberg, her effect was hard to miss across the entire city, 250 miles of bike lanes were added, pilot programs were instated and citi-bike became another way for Ny’ers to move around the city. The first protected bike lanes were piloted , the now common practice of painting green bike paths was instated and a bike share system was implemented. Under Sadik-Khan ridership increased 13% between 2009 and 2010 alone. She isn’t the reason cyclists started riding their bikes, but she is the reason they could do so safely. Little by little it became less “weird” to ride you bike to work, or to get groceries, or to the bar.

A few moths ago the DOT repaved the stretch of 9th st between 3rd ave and Prospect Park west. A fresh pave means, fresh road, which means fresh lines, which means, “hey should we put a bike lane there?” A newly paved street is a great opportunity to try out new lane markings or even a new protected bike lane. Street markings are relatively low cost to install, use little additional material and can greatly impact the flow of traffic and safety of the pedestrians. Bike lanes have been proven to increase safety of a street for every not just cyclists but for everyone. Slowing the speed of traffic and drawing lines marking where a bike lane starts and ends raises awareness, all of which is greatly increasing the chances of decreasing traffic accidents and fatalities.

The newly minted bike lane on 9th st did not remove a lane of parking like its 14 foot wide sister on Prospect park west, but simply traded locations. The lane is now sitting flush to the curb and the 4 foot buffer zone is between the passenger side doors of the parked cars, while the single lane of traffic and median remain unaffected. In theory the drivable road was unaffected. However 9th st is one of the many 2 way commercial streets in Brooklyn, there are multiple deli’s, restaurants, the YMCA, a massive grocery store, two new construction condo buildings, and other various small business. New York isn’t Amsterdam, most delivers are coming in 16 to 26’ cube trucks with no loading dock to pull into, people run errands in SUV’s, and plain and simply New Yorkers love double parking.

We are are creatures of connivance, when driving to get a quick carton of eggs, picking up take out or grabbing something from the pharmacy, we double park. Although illegal, it is out of necessity, finding a legal spot or even a metered one can reduce ones day to driving in circles looking for a place to park. It is completely irrational but, that is how we city function, we park in bike lanes, stop in the middle of the street, and drive unnecessarily large trucks and cars.  On any given weekday between the hours of 9am-7pm 9th st is a single lane of traffic.

The new 9th st protected lane marks a gentle culture shift. Bike lanes are ubiquitous throughout the city but not widely understood or accepted. Parking in a bike lane is accepted as the lesser of two evils in blocking the flow of traffic. That being said, traffic and pedestrian deaths have decreased severely in the past 5 years, largely in part of the current DOT commissioner Polly Trottenberg’s effort to get to zero traffic deaths. The 9th st bike lane like the other protected lanes (sections of: 9th ave, 2nd ave, Prospect Park West, etc) throughout the city is simply a joy to ride in, the buffer zone makes its irrational to be worried about getting doored, the lane is a great addition to the large network of NYC’s bike lanes.

The trouble that New York faces is in the next few years connecting the sections bike lane together will require reducing areas where drivers can double park “comfortably”and making pedestrian lives more protected.  Something is going to give, residents may start buying smaller cars, cube trucks might get traded for sprinter vans, and mom might start riding her bicycle to C-town instead of driving.

[luccazeray]

Let's get it, heading into the new year with a cover coming out this week. Thank you to the whole crew, it is always amazing how much work goes into making something look like there was little work out in. We built a 950 gallon pool inside the pier filled it and kept it heated to 87 degrees. Shot by @carinbackoffphoto Model @ashleygraham Production @izzy_cohan Sets by @zerayzeray https://www.instagram.com/p/Bsau4hvlIdJ/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=pn27z0ls2u9g

[luccazeray]

Not much to complain about. Everything was smooth even the hiccups. @mikeleethomas @danmartensen @tomviney @izzy_cohan @jtangyong @miss_coburn @kikimonoo And a bunch more who's handles i cannot spell. Such a pleasure to work with. Thank you. https://www.instagram.com/p/BpKklJNFFkO/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=s9nqnmov2rh8

[luccazeray]

Very excited to share @kaikainoa and i submission for the #betterbinnyc competition. The dsny is the single largest sanitation department in the entire world. So excited to have the chance to design something for our city. Thank you. #betterbin #betterbinnyc (at New York City Department of Sanitation) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn9e5SiBlxA/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=mqfguqe37qbq

[luccazeray]

Very excited to share @kaikainoa and i submission for the #betterbinnyc competition. The dsny is the single largest sanitation department in the entire world. So excited to have the chance to design something for our city. Thank you. (at Sunset Park, Brooklyn) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn9cIgCBMpz/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1t0u0ezd0kfmx

[luccazeray]

Birthing stool in white oak from a fallen tree on Bedford and dekalb. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn1HsUFlY1a/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=yijy1fg98tjm

[luccazeray]

Sunset Park Pool 9/1/18

I recently had the privilege to get out of New York and take a small trip, upon traveling to the gate at Newark international you go through a TSA checkpoint where you take of shoes, belts, necklaces, go through a full body scan, Xray all personal items, take out laptops, large cellphones, get pat down get through it all and then have to frantically redress and sprint to the gate. Flash forward to a few days ago when it was 90+ degrees days before Labor Day in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. It being too hot inside and too hot outside only leaves the next best option, public pools. Walking up to the Sunset Park pool one is faced with a NYPD squad car, police barricades, crime scene tape and two exhausted Parks department workers who then asks:

Do you have a lock?

Does your bathing suit have mesh? (For mens suits, and yes they check).

Is your magazine bound?

If you do not have a lock, you cannot enter, if you have a shirt with any pigment it must stay in the locker, if you have boots on you cannot enter, you cannot bring “unbound periodicals” on the pool deck, you will be ask to shake out your towel to prove you do not have anything illicit in it.

The sunset park pool recently got new locker rooms that are made of cedar and polycarbonate storm panels, a contemporary update to the pools new deal era, vaguely art deco style brick that is synomous with the parks department and New York state infrastructure as a whole. The locker rooms smell like a cedar sauna, are clean of graffiti, and are full of light but still provide shade on a 90 degree day in August.

After changing in to your suit you are most likely greeted with parks department worker who is is amazed you still don’t fully understand all the rules, you will have to leave all teeshirts with pigment in your locker, shower off in front of them (yes they watch and yes they will chase you if you don’t), you will have to shake your towel out again. Once showered and proven innocent there is ample seating, and lounge space. Unique to the Sunset park pool is a small astro turf green space with two seven foot tall lumps righting the middle. This green space becomes a sunbathing, stretching and tag playing area shared by all ages and cultures. The younger mandarin, English and Spanish speaking children run back and forth and play tag together while the 20 something year old white people lay and read the New Yorker or the new Zadie Smith novel.

I got to watch a swim team that seem to not be related to a public school, parks department or a community association. I got to see a family of Bengali children and there mother all jump in off the pool deck, I got to see a Parks department worker get into a full on yelling match with a what seemed to be a 10 year old about not showering. The pools all closed this past Sunday marking the beginning of the countdown till June 27 2019.  

[luccazeray]

Tawa in Purple Heart. (at Chair Gallery) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnjIZd7FvCj/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=19pczizx5dogd

[luccazeray]

Saratoga Springs, Truro ma, Weesp NL, Amsterdam NL 2x, Berlin De, Brussels, London.

[luccazeray]

@mirmaid54 and I went to a few places and bought a few things. (at Hard Rock Cafe Brussels)