Long before the 2016 opening of its storefront in Midtown Kingston, Joshua Vogel and Kelly Zaneto, owners of Blackcreek Mercantile & Trading Co., made a commitment to the district’s revival. They started the company — which prides itself on local small-scale design and production of wooden kitchenware and furnishings — with a manufacturing facility in a Midtown building. Now that facility is in a larger building on Teller Street, just blocks away from the serene, elegant showroom at 628 Broadway. Celebrating 10 years in business, and with 10 employees, the enterprise is firmly rooted in this close-knit, diverse community.
The goods displayed in the showroom demonstrate the marriage of streamlined modern design and traditional craft process. Functional objects and furnishings meld a Shaker-like simplicity with a firm sculptural foundation.
Surprisingly, it was bottled cutting-board oil that helped get the company off the ground. The initial run of 25 bottles of mineral-based oil sold out quickly, and is still a staple product. “There was virtually nothing on the market like it,” says Zaneto, who runs the business and marketing operations for the company. Following the oil to market, logically, were built-to-last cutting boards and a line of complementary kitchenware — spatulas, wooden spoons, scoops, spice bowls, and butcher blocks.
Vogel has recently come full circle to his roots as a fine furniture maker. The company’s tables, stools, and other sculptural furnishings have made the showroom a destination, gaining them a coterie of local and national customers and retailers. Blackcreek’s wares are also traveling abroad, with retailers in Japan, Dubai, Shanghai, and Sweden, among others.
Though the newly expanded manufacturing facility features plenty of machines, each item in the Blackcreek line incorporates elements of handcraft. In their words, “The goal of our work is to create enduring, beautiful, and functional objects that you will love to use as much as we love to make … from our hands to yours.”
Showroom: 628 Broadway, Kingston. Hours: Fri–Sun, 11 a.m.–5 p.m., and Mon–Thu by appointment; 917.797.1903; www.blackcreekmt.com
