introducing PHIL PANZA

ept: so what makes hvk park special?

p: herbert von king is right in the middle of it all. it feels central to friends, home, and work.

plus the community is the best-when you come in here on the weekend there's usually a dj playing, or a concert in the amphitheatre. the vibes are just great. i love bedstuy.

it's a historically black and brown neighborhood and it's stayed like that, whereas some neighborhoods have gotten washed out. it's comfortable to walk around in and fun to be outside.

"When you're playing, you're in a flow state and it's like your conscious and subconscious going back and forth with each other, so things kind of come out of nowhere."

ept: how do you feel fun comes through in your work?

p: honestly, it's just watching and observing. the littlest things spark ideas when you let yourself play. when you're playing, you're in a flow state and it's like your conscious and subconscious going back and forth with each other, so things kind of come out of nowhere. that's always been there for me.

something gets started or ignited when i see something-like that kid over there playing with a stick, poking it into a ball. that gives me an idea, like what if there were more sticks on that ball, you know? it's the little things. i don't know exactly where inspiration will come from or when, but i know it's about observing and paying attention. it could even be something like watching somebody walk by with a different outfit that gets me excited for colors or the textures in the clothing they're wearing-how it fits with the backdrop of the park greenery. just seeing things in different ways.

i'm always looking and processing, kind of downloading it. it comes in certain ways, but i think it's just about having that energy when you look at the world. you've just gotta get out and be in the space.

honestly, sometimes when i'm walking around here or chilling, i'm not even thinking-i'm just being. then the thoughts come when i'm in the studio, surrounded by materials, and i ask: what do i wanna make? what is this making me wanna do? it all comes from these moments.

ept: we're at dear friend books. what makes it a go-to spot?

p: the homie christopher is the manager here-he's a very great dude. coming in here is humbling because he has a son, and every time i come in they're usually just playing chess.

i'll come here by myself and i always meet new people. i'll leave knowing at least two more people. just good community and good wine & tea.

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we take a walk through bushwick on the way to our next destination, pointing out favorite spots, recalling what different buildings used to be, and stopping to admire slabs of granite and marble at phil's hardware connect

ept: where to next?

p: we're going to 101 wilson.

ept: what makes it a go-to spot?

p: 101 is just a super safe space. if you like a good time and you enjoy some easy drinks, that's the spot. it's always fun-djs, music across the board. they always play skate videos and snowboard videos, which brings me back to when i was a kid going to the skate shop. it's a spot where you can just meet up with friends and have one-or ten-drinks.

ept: we talked about bedstuy earlier. what do you like about life in bushwick?

p: bushwick is where i started my nyc career. the first apartment i lived in was over here. now i'm back living on that street but in a new spot, a little closer to the bedstuy side. bit of a full-circle moment. the thing about bushwick is my studio is right over here. there are so many factories and fabricators of all kinds-metal, stone, wood. it's pretty easy to go around and shop for materials. it's a very free space.

ept: what have you been working on recently? what's next in your world?

p: a lot of furniture, which is great, but i've been trying to wean off the furniture a little bit and just focus more on sculpture. i already like going into furniture looking at it as sculpture-it's just functional sculpture. but i don't think furniture gets the same love as sculpture. people seem to keep them separate but i think function and art can be one in the same. what i'm going for is making spaces more fun and having my art be an extension of the person, like how we treat clothes. i started in fashion, and i think it's just as important to have a space that feels like your own, feels comfortable to you, and expresses you just as much as the things we wear. so yeah-just really focusing on doing more sculpture work, which has been fun. it's been a bit more free-flowing. focusing on more custom pieces for people's spaces.

ept: what inspires you? there's a lot of wordplay in the names of your works. where does that come from? what's the process like of turning words into visual art?

p: i feel like it comes from my grandma. i grew up with her a lot. she's been my main inspiration for making. she taught me how to sew. my mom had me quite young, so i would always go to my grandma's house. she was always so creative-scrapbooking, sewing clothes for my uncles or my mom.

she taught me to sew super early on. she would say the craziest, kookiest sayings, and at first i thought, "what the heck?" but then i inherently started saying them. there are so many ways of making something, and that was the thing that got the gears going.

i like funny phrases. thinking about what that phrase would look like as a piece and then just doing it. i did a couple and realized it's actually fun pro-blem-solving, which i love. how does that work in piece form? does it make sense and start a conversation?

i look at the workshop like a playground. i want to come in and be inspired. i want to play with things-have everything within reach to put together, manipulate, and experiment with.