2017
EMPTY GALLERY
By 2017 Family had completed a string of
Off-White boutiques, ‘each different, each
treated as if it wasn’t a store’. The inaugural
Hong Kong edition had shown Wong ‘how
well it works to conjure an unconventional
environment as a platform for a shop, rather
than trying to create the store itself’. When
a SoHo site appeared in New York City, the
designers sought to revive the district’s
once-thriving typology: the gallery. ‘We
went so far as to name it Empty Gallery, even
though it’s the Off-White New York store.’
The team transformed a former auto-
body garage into ‘the most typical gallery you
can think of’. A simple display system satisfies
the store’s rotating exhibitions, which change
every six months or so. The space received a
Treated as if it was a gallery instead of
a store, Off-White’s New York shop –
Empty Gallery – showed Wong what’s
possible with minimal means.new concrete floor and whitewashed walls.
Family’s main architectural intervention is a
semicircular backdrop that softens the room
and mirrors the ceiling’s oculus.
‘Empty Gallery is in our own back-
yard, but it represents some of our least
intensive architectural interventions. We’re
so used to dreaming up wilder concepts.
Strangely enough, it’s more challenging to
design something that feels familiar, even
when the context is not. The project taught
us how little you have to do to make an
interesting space.’
It was around this time that Stănescu
and Wong realized a professional split was
inevitable. Wong officially launched Food
in February 2018 but says the lineage of theoffice hasn’t changed. ‘I chose a new name
out of respect for our relationship, but the
staff stayed on and the projects kept going.
Because I’m the firm’s only director, things
are a bit more straightforward now. Is that
good or bad? I guess I’ll find out in a few
years.’ ●Dong-Ping Wong will speak at the Design Indaba
Conference 2019, which takes place in Cape Town,
South Africa, from 27 February to 1 March
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