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Brooklynite Creates Realistic Sidewalk Sets Out Of Discarded Furniture
By
Jen Carlson
Published Sep 8, 2014
Modified Sep 8, 2014
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By
Jen Carlson
Published Sep 8, 2014
Modified Sep 8, 2014
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(Photo by Danny Gottleib)
Photographer Justin Bettman has gone Full Kramer with his latest project, which reuses discarded furniture to create miniature sets on the sidewalks. Certainly not for those with certain phobias, but a fun use of furniture that's just going to be sitting out there anyway—this latest one looks good enough to rent out on Airbnb! Bettman tells us:
"I realized, you don't need a studio space to build a set, you can do it on the street. I started to notice how much unwanted furniture and props I was seeing on the street, so I decided to start collecting all these items and trying to build a story around them.
The set that is currently up off the Morgan L stop (White St and Seigel St) is the second of the series. The first one I did, I took down right after I shot it. But everyone kept asking to take pictures there—so I realized that this was a missed opportunity and that it would be really cool to leave these sets up. So for this second one, I left the set up after I left, allowing people to shoot there. I started the hashtag #setinthestreet to aggregate all the photos people take there."
He plans on continuing the project, along with collaborator Gozde Eker, and they're currently looking for wallpaper and claw bathtubs for his next one, if you've got any hot tips.
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Jen Carlson
Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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