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[Elevator Announcer] Going up.

In somewhere that's as busy as New York,

it really is important for you to have a space

that gives you time to sort of recoup a little bit.

[gentle percussive music]

My name is Alex Tieghi-Walker,

I'm a gallerist and curator,

and right now, we are in my gallery and home

that sits sort of between Tribeca and Chinatown in New York.

[gentle jazzy music]

I spent my childhood moving around

between Wales, Italy, London.

I moved to America when I was 26.

I had a job in San Francisco, so I lived in Berkeley,

which is a little city over the bay

from San Francisco center,

and I stumbled on this really special house

that was an old barn.

So I used to host a lot of dinners in this space,

and people would always come over and sort of ask,

you know, is this, where are we?

Like, is this your home, is this a gallery,

is this a supper club?

And that's sort of where the idea

to really use the space as a gallery came into being.

[gentle jazzy music]

And that was just something that I wanted to continue

when I moved to New York.

I knew I always wanted to find a space that would be able

to serve the functions, maybe not of a home and a gallery,

but certainly of a gallery

and somewhere that I could also entertain

or somewhere that felt a little bit more homely

than a gallery environment.

[upbeat jazzy music]

It felt like a nice place to be.

Lucked out with this space.

It was horrible when I took the lease over.

It was like a tech bro office.

The tall ceilings, the bright windows, you know,

these were factories before electricity,

so daylight was the biggest asset,

and you sort of see traces of that through the building.

[upbeat jazzy music]

There is this sort of energy in these Tribeca buildings

that is so exciting.

I think even if I were to have all the funds in the world,

I'd probably keep the place feeling this scrappy.

I'll do things like, where there are little old drill holes

in the wall, I'll use those to put incense sticks.

I really enjoy that there are so many layers

to this building, and that those are part of.

I don't want to use those as obstacles in the space.

I want to use them as ways to sort of enhance what I'm doing

and almost structure the way that I present things in here.

[upbeat jazzy music]

The piece in here that's most asked about by people,

you know, how much is this or can I buy this,

are these two red sun chairs that I refuse to sell.

I'm obsessed with them, everyone's obsessed with them,

but that's why I have them, they always live here.

They're really fun.

[jazzy guitar music]

I think everything you do as an adult is really influenced

by your sort of understanding of the world

when you were learning what the world was,

and, you know, I was certainly brought up

in a very social family,

where, you know, people would just drop in, and that's fine.

You know, let's pull up an extra chair to the table.

Most fun evenings or openings or events here

have happened because of that.

And one of the things I've loved the most

since living in New York is that element of spontaneity.

Being able to text someone

and invite them up to the space an hour before,

have people dropping by,

and that level of spontaneity has really crossed

into the way that I show works as well.

You know, the show that I have up

at the moment, Lindsey Adelman,

the works that she created for the show are a result

of the spontaneous interactions she's had

with different makers and glassblowers

that have come together to put together the pieces,

but even the way that we've displayed it

and, you know, I want people to walk into the space

and to feel instantly at home.

[jazzy guitar music]

I have clients and visitors who will come in

and just start leafing through the bookcases

and they'll sit down and read, and I love that.

It's become this very convivial hub

that is so much more than just a design gallery.

It's really become a place where I've made friends

and other people have made friends, and where people know

that they can just drop in if they like,

and where people can engage with different artists

and designers and members of my community

and other communities that I've sort of been lucky enough

to encounter since living in New York.

[jazzy guitar music]

Oh, hey.

I'm afraid we're closed today.

[dog barks]

Sorry, I'm afraid we're actually closed today.

Oh, you are?

[Alex] Yeah.

[Visitor] What days are you guys open?

[Alex] By appointment tomorrow and Thursday,

and then it opens to the public on Friday.

[Visitor] Okay, cool. Thank you so much.

Of course.

I always feel bad saying no, we're shut, but.

[Producer] She'll be back.

She'll be back. She'll be back.

Can anyone just come up?

[Alex] No, I forgot to lock the elevator.

[Elevator Announcer] Going down.

[Alex] It sometimes catches me out, though.

Like, I'll be in bed

and I've forgotten to lock the elevator,

and someone will sort of like, walk in [laughs].

[jazzy guitar music]