The sparklingly new Feliz (185 DeKalb Avenue, Brooklyn, 718-797-1211) is Fort Greene’s latest home furnishings shop. Fort Greene, a National Register of Historic Places-listed neighborhood in Brooklyn, is a popular neighborhood of classic brownstones, good restaurants, and strong arts facilities.
Owner Genevieve Platt opened Feliz on May 15. The shop is so new that there isn’t even a sign outside announcing the shop’s name yet. Inside, Platt has curated a comfortable collection of objects that nods gently to South America, the Middle East, and down-home Americana.
The collection is folksy and imaginative. “I call it a variety store because I’m not good at classifying things. We sell everything from fish plates to sandals,” says Platt, adding: “I’m sure the collection will evolve over time.” Her objectives are simple. She seeks to stock her shop with attractive, well-made, affordable, and functional items, avoiding knick-knackery that will just gather dust on forgotten shelves.
Some of the best items are the least expected, like the shelf of yerba maté from Argentina and Uruguay or the collective-produced Senegalese baskets from Fair Trade Federation member Swahili Imports.
Other standouts include piles of cottage industry-crafted espadrilles from Spain’s La Rioja region and vintage American kitchen and dining products. Some of the latter are quite whimsical, and include a butter mold and a tea bag holder that looks like it is part of an antique chemistry set.
Beyond these, there’s a deep collection of other highly useable objects throughout: Tocca‘s bath and body beauty line products, cards, books, contemporary jewelry by local artist Naaima Z, candles, candle holders, and incense. A few items are produced in-house, as well: some beautiful pillows (raw silk and denim) and refurbished furniture.
Platt, who has lived in the neighborhood for ten years, hopes that Feliz will be the sort of shop that everyone in the neighborhood will feel comfortable visiting. She’s off to a good start.
Yu Interiors, with its outstanding mix of vintage modernist and smart new items, is located just two blocks away. With two carefully selected home furnishings shops in close proximity, this Fort Greene microhood (what would it be called? GreLaDe?) is slowly strengthening its home furnishings credentials.