Free City Shop, Los Angeles
Nina Garduno recently opened her shop Free City—a mix between an actual store and a design commune–on Highland Avenue in Hollywood. She started the company in 2002, inspired by her "hippie childhood" and creative communities like Christiania in Copenhagen: "places where people collect to experiment with different ways to live out their life." Unconventionally designed and riotously colorful, Free City is stocked with products, furniture, and clothing made exclusively by Los Angeles-based artisans—and occasional outsider collaborators like the Mission Bicycle Company in San Francisco. Almost everything in the shop, from the silkscreened t-shirts to the handcrafted wooden furniture, is made just five blocks away, by the dozen or so employees in Free City's workshop, none of whom are trained designers. "No one went to school to learn these things," says Garduno. "Whatever it is, we figure out how to make it ourselves."
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$85.00 T-Shirts? How Capitalistic of "Free city".
SERIOUSLY?! Am I supposed to be impressed by this space? WHY is Dwell wasting space by giving this structure any credit. My 6 year old could work a better space.
Re "Box Bike," I remember seeing a photo of a fully loaded Thai tuk-tuk for the first time at a sustainable transportation exhibit in New York City, and trying to picture what it would be like to encounter one in a Manhattan bike lane. Even more amusing: speculating on how seen-it-all cabbies would react.
Hi! I'm an editor at Dwell and the author of this slideshow and just wanted to chime in to say: I agree the t-shirts are exorbitantly expensive, but my main interest in this place was the funky handmade-feeling interior. Have any readers been to the shop? Curious if it's as welcoming and playful an environment as it looks in these photos?
Yeah, $85 for a T-shirt......come on now!!! Hey marc.....why so negative? That's not healthy. Anyway......I kinda like the place.
Hi there. I have been a Free City fan for years. While I do agree the t's and sweatshirts etc are exorbitantly expensive, I did actually purchase a Free City hoodie last year after visiting their Malibu shop because I was so in love with the art installation feel of the store. There really is just a feeling I get from being in the space of the shop that I haven't ever felt in another store. I think the point of buying a Free City t/ hoodie etc, isn't as much about having a t or hoodie as it is about supporting the message/intention of Free City. I actually am just about to head over to Hollywood to check out the new location and will let you know how it FEELS ;)
I have been to this store (more than once) and it is even more welcoming and charming in person. It's part clothing store, part museum. Everything is very colorful, yet warm and comfortable. There's so much to see, touch, and hear - you definitely have all your senses fed and leave the place feeling good (unless you get shopper's remorse).
Remember when green meant "frugal" and you "did it yourself". Now Yuppies and gen X and Y wander in and buy a $85 tee shirt to make themsleves feel good. That my freinds is a fine job of marketing green/art for profit. We had better and funkier stores in Toronto 40 years ago.
I really love this. It would be a great project here in the Deep Ellum neighborhood of Dallas. And yes, I too will comment on the $85 shirt. It's fine that they want to sell overpriced apparel but let's not mention it next time. Leave it out of the commentary. Otherwise a well planned and colorful shop.
I absolutely love the interior..there's a welcoming feeling to it..the design is pretty cool alright! :)
Recall Sister Corita serigraphs? - The impact these made on Nina when only eight years old -exposed to Sister Corita's work when Nina's older sister, Anna, went to Immaculate Heart High School. The graphic design pure colors -the message - simple words - inspiring messages - moving a little kid, to developing T-shirts to wear with soulful, simple, beauty - The artful craftsmanship and production of these T-shirts is the highest a quality, A fine art piece each T-shirts in design - handmade - Never repeated the design series -once sold - When you buy a FreeCity T-shirt it is an artful,tactile soft experience, colorful,inspiring, a note of fragrance - Inspiring the highest possibilities is what Nina cares about -She always has... Nina's mom
You can't argue with a mom's loving view of her daughter! Good for you, Nina's mom!
Nina has done a really amazing job but I read that the name Free City is not original and was actually taken from a similar market place in a foreign country. And,that "Let's Go" is part of Shell Oil's trademark name as seen in commercials. I guess that's ok to do but it's kind of not originality. Her online business could flourish, imo, with random 'hot sales' on her expensive line of clothes,especially. I'm sure the cost of renting space in Malibu or Hollywood has a direct effect on the cost of items sold. The landlord is the middle man that nobody wants. Nina seems to have the necessary & exceptional energy and drive. I wish Free City all the best!
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