What’s Happening: The Brooklyn nightlife destination beloved for its exceptional sound systems and plant-based cuisine turns a former guitar shop into an “acoustic vessel” for cocktails and community gatherings.

The Download: In 2017, Frank Harris and Shane Davis, and then-partner Erik VanderWal, came to see a vast 19th-century brick warehouse in Gowanus. At one point, it had been an outpost of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA); later, a church organ restoration shop set up downstairs, while an upstairs office became home to the cult guitar repair and supplier Retrofit. Harris, a DJ and musician, ran a couple of well-regarded record labels, Scissor & Thread and Kingdoms, alongside the beverage program at SoHo’s underground sensation Pravda. Davis, meanwhile, headed the real estate/arts consultancy Whitebox Collective. They had been talking about building a new concept from scratch: an all-day/all-night creative hub that looked as good as it sounded. When they found the building, Davis later said, “It felt like it was meant to be.”

The mix of their various skills and experiences formed Public Records, which opened in 2019 to immediate acclaim for the selection of records in the front shop, the elegant minimalism of its custom furnishings and ample indoor vegetation, a bar program bubbling under a glass atrium (named one of America’s best bars in 2020), and an inventive plant-based menu served in the central restaurant. But the most impressive feature is the incredibly clear sound system in the hospitality zones and the space in the back, fittingly called the Sound Room, where guests are treated to live performances and DJ sets.

There, within perforated wood walls and a bar serving cocktails in reusable copper cups, beats the heart of Public Records: a Douglas fir box framing a contraption of vintage speakers and horns, and a custom-made rotary mixer, by fidelity genius Devon Turnbull of Ojas, who has built systems for Virgil Abloh and the Nine Orchard hotel. On the right night—say, with Octo Octa or Ron Trent on the decks, or Laaraji live onstage—Public Records has the best sonance in the city.

In 2023, the ante is upping again. When Retrofit moved locations, Davis and Harris leaped to take over the second-floor space and are now ready to unveil Upstairs, a gathering space for and by the Public Records community. With some acoustic help from Arup and interior design by DLSV Studio, the pair has reconceived the retail space into a lounge that functions as a speaker. Walls fur out to direct the soundwaves with intention, while also forming crisp angles for banquettes; those waves are also elegantly shaped by expanses of acoustic fabric panels that soften the ceiling. Davis designed the low plywood-and-steel lounge chairs, and the columnar chrome tables, with Red Hook’s Joe Cauvel. The sharp metal lighting marking the entrance is by Cristian Andersen, as are the monumental black ceramic stools topped with foam.

The main attraction, of course, is the sound, and for Upstairs, Turnbull has outdone himself yet again, embedding subwoofer speaker cabinets directly into the walls to transform the entire envelope into what they call an “acoustic vessel.” A nearby coffee table sets up a pair of decks for DJs, which feeds into a slick stack of custom tube amplifiers—as does the reel-to-reel tape deck, which can record live sets or broadcast archival recordings. On a cold December night, over a pair of exceptional cocktails (014, a warming blend of Japanese whisky and black sugar with bitters, and another slightly saline and dangerous take on gin martini), Upstairs felt like the place to be and gives Brooklyn denizens and beyond even more reason to make the trip to the industrial waterfront neighborhood.

In Their Own Words: “We’re interested in utilizing design to create new typologies or ‘other spaces’ through iterative and collaborative processes,” says Davis. “This framework provides us with opportunities to explore our ideas, and to showcase those of our collaborators on various scales, whether it be a sound system, a chair, an event series, or a cocktail.”

Surface Says: It’s easy to find a record bar in Brooklyn these days, but nobody blends form and function like the Public Records experts.

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Name: Gleneagles Townhouse

Location: Edinburgh, Scotland

Designer: AIME Studios

On Offer: With the 33-room boutique property, Gleneagles Estate has landed its first getaway in Edinburgh. Unlike its Highland sister property, guests won’t find a dressage arena or fly fishing, but rather a cozy and familiar home base on historic St. Andrew Square from which to take in the historic city’s cultural scene. A smoldering fire in the lobby foyer warms the elegant Georgian interior, and those seeking refuge from Edinburgh’s famously damp, blustery weather. The rooms upstairs will help with that too, thanks to heated marble floors and Victoria + Albert cast-iron soaking tubs. Evergreen Brunschwig & Fils wallcoverings evoke the country idyll of Gleneagles Estate, while bath amenities come from the Strong Rooms health club located in the bank’s former vault.

Standout Features: Situated in the splendor of the former bank’s arcade, the lobby restaurant The Spence captivates with jaw-dropping 34-foot ceilings—accentuated by bespoke pain pendant fixtures from Northern Lights—while contemporary art by Glaswegian painter France-Lise McGurn provides a contrast to the baronial architecture’s buttresses and carved frieze moldings. Head chef Johnny Wright’s signature dishes shine especially bright during the festive holiday season. On Christmas day, diners at the Spence can expect champagne flowing fireside and menu highlights of chicken and truffle terrine, goat cheese gougère, roast turkey, and a Scottish cheese pear chutney.

When: Until Feb. 5

Where: Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg, FL

What: This group exhibition explores the entrenched power structures at work in the art establishment and how appropriation art—the “unsanctioned use of imagery,” in the words of curator Katherine Pill—can be used as a primer for change. Works by the Guerilla Girls, Deborah Kass, and Barbara Kruger serve as a lens to examine how women artists took control of the narrative in a historically male-dominated art world, while pieces by Kara Walker and Roger Shimomura address systemic racism within art history.

When Cortney Bishop isn’t dreaming up award-winning projects like Charleston’s free-spirited Ryder Hotel and residences with irreverent touches across the U.S., she’s frequenting art and design fairs like Salone del Mobile and Art Basel Miami Beach “where the artists push the boundaries of what can be created,” she tells Introspective. “I attend them to remind myself to be bold enough to mix things together and to go with what drives me.” Proof of concept: Album, a new e-commerce destination she’s created that cleverly mixes the worlds of design and music.


Album injects fresh new energy into the design e-commerce experience with product drops presented in music-inspired photoshoots. Each month, the platform will drop a shoppable “tracklist” of eclectic design objects handpicked by Bishop and curator Wills Baker, and themed to a corresponding song. The duo will situate each piece within a styled virtual setting that could easily double as an album cover. “It’s a creative outlet that, as a designer, allows me to play in a way that differs from the project work we’re doing as a firm,” Bishop says, explaining how each piece offers a glimpse inside her mind.

Tina Frey Designs draws inspiration from many sources. The fluid lines of her silhouettes are reminiscent of the sea, while the organic contours of each piece emulate other curves in nature. Creativity blooms from treasures found during travel, and mouthwatering colors spring from translucent popsicles and scrumptious jelly beans.

Surface Says: There’s magic in Tina Frey’s hands. The San Francisco–based sculptor handcrafts each piece in her streamlined collections and skillfully translates the clay shapes into metal and resin. The beauty of Frey’s home goods is compounded by their longevity and food-safe finishes.

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