This year has forced us to look outwards and inwards at the same - being inside has made us both introspective and desperate to be in nature. The collection, Into the Forest, reflects the juxtaposition of inner feeling of connection to self and outwards focus of being part of the natural world - both forms of coming back to oneself. The colors, derived from deep forest colors of the late fall - russet, crimson, coffee, crimson and thrush, evoke a natural setting just before the branches go bare. The textiles and knits are blended to camouflage into the natural setting rather than to stand out - settling in for comfort and ease.

- Dan Snyder / Designer + Founder

As a child in rural Virginia, Ray Prunty would watch his aunts and grandmother craft comely crochet throws to pass the time. Today, the 23-year-old sales assistant in Richmond, Va., proudly plops a hat crocheted in a grid of “granny squares” by Philadelphia’s Stahl Knit on his head several times a week. Mr. Prunty, who said he “grew up on crochet,” was attracted to the cap’s prismatic color scheme and its cozy nostalgia value.

Stahl Knit is one of a number of small-scale labels—some with just one employee— producing colorful, handmade clothing using crochet, a traditional hook-needle crafting technique. These designs include a fluffy sweater pieced together from large red, purple and aqua granny squares by California’s Chamula; a delicate, almost lace-like crochet tank top from New York’s Bode; and a sprawling handmade scarf dotted with on-the-nose peace signs from England’s Story MFG. Some larger fashion brands also produce pieces that appear hand-crocheted but are machine-made.

Earlier this year, Brett Hymes, 29, a writer in Santa Clarita, Calif., purchased an oatmeal- colored granny-square cardigan from New York’s Corridor that was handmade in Peru. The sweater has a pleasing “grandpa vibe” to it, said Mr. Hymes. Indeed, crochet epitomizes down-home comfort. The tightknit sitcom family on “Roseanne” (which premiered in 1988 and ran for 10 seasons) kept a crocheted throw draped across its plaid couch throughout the show’s run.

Crochet also conjures the ’60s, when young people traipsed around in shawls and tops fabricated from multicolored yarns. Corridor’s cardigans were, in fact, inspired by an image of a shaggy-haired Paul McCartney wearing a bluish crochet vest on the set of “The Magical Mystery Tour,” the Beatles’ 1967 British television movie. “There’s all sorts of flower-power stuff happening now,” said Dan Snyder, Corridor’s owner, noting that his sweaters slot into a larger throwback moment.

Corridor: Tell us about yourselves?

Head Hi: We are the co-founders of Head Hi. Mösco is from Cuernavaca, Mexico (been living in New York for 21 years!) and Alexandra is from the mountains of Colorado (been in New York for 11 years). We left Manhattan for Brooklyn several years ago and absolutely love it.

We both have been immersed in the arts and in creative environments for a long time. Mösco is an artist and Alexandra studied art history and has worked for artists, in museums and non-profits. Books are essential to us and searching for special titles is our passion. Alexandra has a refined sense for finding incredible books, she’s extremely organized and has degrees in art history AND business/administration, which helps running our business. Mösco does most of the visuals and creative direction - he drew our logo and is an excellent barista!

What's the history of Head Hi? How long have you been around and how did the idea come about?

We’ve been open for 3 years now. We have both dedicated our lives to the arts. We have always loved the spontaneous dialogue, ideas and inspiration that is found at independent, off-the-beaten path book, record and coffee shops. We thought, “why not create that next in our neighborhood, a place that is home to many makers in the Navy Yard and surrounding area?” We also wanted to create a place to enjoy excellent specialty coffee, which was hard to find in our neighborhood before we opened.

Our focus is featuring mostly independent and self-published books on art, design and photography.

While the idea for the publication had been germinating for several years, balcony’s release was bolstered by the newfound free time brought about by the pandemic. “We found time to really connect with some great graphic designers to start getting this project going.”, Smith noted, specifically mentioning designers Ben Fehrman-Lee and Julia Novitch, who have been helping with the project from the very beginning.

A writer/editor and Sales Assistant at David Zwirner Gallery, Smith explains the origins of the mag. “It really stems from this interest in wanting to experience art and artists through a more humane and intimate lens.” Muñoz, a commercial photographer, designer and bonafide magazine junkie who’s new design space Estudio Piedras is currently in the works, notes that “the care that we have put into selecting and balancing the imagery together with the long-format interviews” makes it feel like a comprehensive and complete experience. “I think that people who are participating in the art world are going to relate to it and enjoy it”, he adds, citing the more-personal, less-stuffy style of balcony as a key factor.

By remixing the traditional artist profile, Smith and Muñoz blur the lines between the art world and the everyday. Smith states “I hope that balcony, in some ways, can sort of be the antithesis of what we understand as art journalism.”

balcony is available in print at Corridor Fort Greene, Corridor Nolita and online, here, at corridornyc.com

Cool, as both a doctrine and a virtue, is something I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about. The revolving door of coolness, just as quick to allow entry as it is to dismiss, is entrancing. The irony that my obsession is decidedly uncool is something that’s not lost on me. It’s alright though, pining after cool has always been an insular struggle, well except for now.

My endeavour to cool in New York has led me to many discoveries. Walking the Brooklyn Bridge gets relaxing two thirds of the way in from the Manhattan side, any L Train Vintage is usually a nightmare but the one in Prospect Park has probably had the fewest Tik Toks made about it, Williamsburg is nice for a day and don’t disclose the places you think are cool on the internet. New York is about discovery anyway. Sometimes the random book store you spot from the street happens to sell hand-painted tote bags it describes unironically as “spiritually essential”. As far as I’m concerned, any object atheistically described as spiritually essential is cool. Beyond the financiers, the wall streeters, the broadway hopefuls, this kind of wackiness is just as integral to the city’s identity.

With Covid came the dormancy of the city’s wackiest corners. New York will forever be associated with big industry, but for the cracks in it’s facade to be filled, it needs the living, breathing in between. As the tide of vibrancy has pulled away from the city’s shores, it’s beached some of the places that mattered most to New York’s ecosystem. What it’s also done however, is revealed the frivolity of cool. The Pavlovian anxiety born from cosmic uncertainty has pushed my obsession to the furthest corners of cognition. In spite of this, I know the hum of New York isn’t completely gone, it’s resiliency gives me hope that when I can blissfully return to my pursuit of cool the city will 'be ready for me.

“We've been working with this women's collective in Peru for the past few years and these have been in the works for over a year,” Dan said. “The flower cardigans are hand crocheted and take about 80 hours per sweater… First each flower is crocheted, and then all knitted together… The yarn is really nice too - it's a mercerized pima cotton which has a beautiful color.”

The floral motifs are perfect for swaggily camouflaging yrself at a BOTANIC GARDEN… (extra props if you accessorize with one of Story Mfg.’s floral-crochet scarves.)

We got Dan on the phone for more intel. “I was in Peru a year and a half ago and started seeing them use this mercerized cotton, which has this great vibrancy,” he said. “At the time I was listening to a lot of Beatles records, and my eye caught on this vest Paul wore during Magical Mystery Tour — it’s a similar hand-crocheted deal. I showed the workshop a picture, and we developed a stitch and played around with different yarns. It’s called a double rice stitch and it’s used a lot in Japanese knitwear. We combined that yarn with the Magical Mystery Tour thing, mocked up three colors, and boom.

“So those are made through a workshop run by this lady Eunice, and I’m on WhatsApp with her every day. I like working with small operations because you can f*ck around, you don’t have to produce huge orders. Then across town in Lima there’s this guy Froilan, who does a lot of space-dyeing.

“I wanted to use it for a cardigan, to get a kind of Missoni effect, but less precise.”