(Our friend Ward Long is guestblogger-in-residence on ACO.
Let’s hear it for WARD!)

Kristin Dickson runs IKO IKO, a conceptual art gallery in the guise of a home furnishings store. It’s a delicate mix of furniture, ceramics, sculpture, plants, magazines and clothes, all humble expressions of big ideas. The store started on a strange stretch of street in Echo Park, but now it’s an island of calm and inspiration on an equally weird block in West Hollywood. Kristin also designs limited run clothing as Rowena Sartin, and her partner Shin makes furniture as WAKA WAKA, and you can find both lines at the store.

Hey Kristin! Did Rowena Sartin start before Iko Iko? I’ve been making my line Rowena Sartin on and off since 2006. It came to a point where I wasn’t really sure about how to make the wholesale equation work with how I designed, so I wanted to find a space to create a context for it.

Did the store start as a showroom for your line? I think the store was a way to express my way of following through on ideas. A way of sharing who and what I admired.

Were there other spaces or places that served as points of reference? I wanted things to feel less like a retail store and more like a personal space. A guiding point is maybe the idea of replicating a feeling—the sense of discovery or surprise which may offer a connection to a customer. When we go to Japan and visit a gallery or store that has such a clear identity or a really innovative way of sharing their product, you can start to imagine what the owner is like, what they value, what they find beautiful. The why. That is what makes me want to patron a place.

You recently moved from Echo Park to West Hollywood. How did the change of physical space and neighborhood context affect the store? I really enjoyed how intimate our space in Echo Park was…sort of like a clubhouse or a closet. I’ve met so many wonderful people through the original space. Moving to our new location gives us more room to grow and expand both the audience and artists. White walls, tons of light and a more active pedestrian/neighborhood lifestyle.

What’s a typical day for you look like? Morning walk, any downtown errands then to the studio. Quiet studio time till 11:45 and then prep the store space. Depending on the flow of customers I go back and forth to the work table and the store space.  Emails and internet wanderings at lunchtime. Nighttime is a rotation of home cooking, entertaining friends, a little Netflix, or reading.

Museums, stores, and homes can be physical expressions of an idea about the good life, and a visit to Iko Iko often makes me want to lead a more considered domestic existence. I leave the store wanting to learn more about floral arrangement, to look up new recipes, or to take up woodcarving. Do you feel the store embodies any particular values? Yes! I think the store and how we develop the agenda there is again, really personal for us and especially because it is built around things that we are making and concepts, patterns, values that we put in the making of those things. The grouping of artists we show is also a reflection of our identity. There is a connection we feel to the work and an attention to who these makers are, what is important to them, how their work is different, the personality and confidence in that work. I hope people see possibility and positivity in what we are doing…something enhancing if you are open to it.

What’s something you’re looking forward to? Taking Shin to Texas for the first time!

IKO IKO   //  Another nice interview