Come Together: Fanaberie Windows

Have you walked by Fanaberie on Nassau lately and noticed the creative window display? It’s up until Thanksgiving and is a marvelous collaboration between store owner Ella, a long-time Greenpointer originally from Poland and Charlotte a Greenpointer originally from Louisiana. Yes, they were not born here and I am calling them Greenpointers. Do you have a problem with it? I don’t care. I don’t want to hear it anymore. The absurd questions (and insults) the website receives. “Are you born and raised in Greenpoint?” one person asked or “Go back to Kansas.” Once and for all, who cares? We all live here and love it. No one choses where they are born, but they do chose where they live and Greenpoint it is. It’s nice to see what can happen when we get along!

Ella was designing the windows herself until she met Charlotte who was one of her first customers when the boutique opened a year and a half ago. With the help of her employee Ewelina, they create a “unique and friendly environment…so we are not only the store but also a social circle of customers that often are becoming our friends.” This is the perfect environment that fosters such creative endeavors. With a “yearning to do something with no boundaries creatively,” as Charlotte describes, she was inspired to ask Ella about the collaboration. On the Falling for Fanaberie window display Ella says: “I love the outcome of our little collaboration, Charlotte is so creative and she delivered exactly what she promised…In the past every change of the windows generated interest, comments and compliments; and this time specifically we are getting twice as much of compliments!”

Behind all great work there is a narrative. About the windows Charlotte explains: “It’s a love story. Falling for a summer fling. A transition. A change in seasons. The fling and Fanaberie are interchangeable. I’ve always thought of summer as a season to be free and to meet new loves, and fall is when you get to snuggle down with the most special one you met over the summer. This is a fairly tale. Real life comes what may. The story is personal, and I think that is why it’s been so well received.”

Perhaps its about falling in love with Greenpoint. I myself am smitten and can relate. When I asked Charlotte why she decided to live here she told me, “I fell in love with the neighborhood, instantly. The vibe of the neighborhood was great. I also love the authenticity of the neighborhood. My neighbor has lived here all of his life, he keeps me up to date with the goings and comings of the rest of the people on our street. I’m friends with the family that owns the corner store. Once I came home late, was hungry with no money, and he loaned me $2 for a slice. The neighborhood looks out for one another. It reminds me of home.”

Fanaberie
102A Nassau

Charlotte’s Websites: Work; Blog; Love