Travel journal: Mustard goes to New York City

Mustard co-founder Becca brings you along to MoMA, Morgenstern’s and more.

Becca: It’s all too easy to let the milestones pass you by. The birthday party you never get around to planning, the goal you achieve but never actually stop to notice or the project that rolls into the next one without a break. After close to a decade of building Mustard, I know that the moments are only moments when you pause to notice them, and you only appreciate how far you’ve come when you stop to look back.

Of course we had to visit Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment.

When our exclusive MoMA collection was locked in, I had a picture in my mind of Jess and me celebrating together in New York, and I was determined to really let the moment sink in. The first time either of us went to New York was for Shoppe Object, a colourful trade show that had been on our wish list for years. I didn’t expect to fall so fast for a city but from that first cab ride, flying over the Williamsburg Bridge, I felt alive and in love.

We find Mustard colours wherever we go. This trip was all about Poppy, Butter and Mustard (hot dog colours, pretty fitting!)

We heart New York

This time, our trip was a whirlwind and while my feet were tired from walking, and my body was exhausted from the flights and jet lag, my mind was completely refuelled. It was peak summer so the city was humid, the sky was full blue and the daylight dragged out into the night. It was New York Fashion Week so the city was quite literally bursting with life and there were unexpected things popping up to discover with each walk, from a helicopter blocking a street to the stunning gold inflatable sculpture snaking across the High Line.

Goal diggers

We had three main goals on this trip: To see our products in the MoMA Design Store and meet the team we’ve been working with, to do a photoshoot in the iconic primary-packed home of Mikei Huang and to enjoy being together as sisters and business partners who have achieved something truly special to us. Beyond that, to eat as many different things as we could!

Iconic sights in an iconic city, you can tell I’m drawn to metal things!

In store

We visited MoMA’s SoHo store on our first full day. We didn’t know they had a MoMA Midi on display so it was a beautiful surprise to walk down the stairs and see it totally without any expectation. In the Midtown store, The Lowdown looked stunning in the window and we were even more chuffed to see another Midi in the main Museum store too. As someone who studied art at university but never quite saw myself as an artist, to see something we’ve created in the same building as the artworks I have loved is quite the pinch-me moment.

Look mum, we’re in MoMA!

We filmed some content in the SoHo store and got to have a sneaky shop ourselves before the store opened! I treated myself to a miniature Panton chair (an in-store exclusive!), lots of postcards, keyrings, pens and generally beautiful merch and we chose colourful MoMA tote bags for all of our team to take home as gifts.

Behind the scenes with Mikei

Home tour

Stepping into Mikei’s home made me feel a little starstruck, it was like stepping into a film set that felt both familiar and unexpected. The pops of bold colour, design icons dotted throughout and playfulness of his choices were what put his home on the top of my dream photoshoot location wish list when we started planning the launch of our MoMA collection. The day went so smoothly, all the careful consideration we put in as a team paid off and Mikei and his partner Zac were a dream to work with. I love photoshoot days where I’m completely absorbed in the work, so fixated on the details and so proud of our team. We ended the day with a Thai feast at They Say That in Brooklyn.

A New York minute

With a weekend to fill, we decided to go full tourist mode and booked tickets to the Yankees vs Mets baseball game and ended up unexpectedly being treated to tickets to a country singer’s concert in Central Park. Both were spontaneous highlights (especially when the Yankees won!) but strolling the streets was as much of an experience in such a layered, full and textured city.

Jess had to get mustard, obviously! We did not go hungry.

The food

When in New York, small meals more often are a must. There are just too many options to fit in but we tried. Some highlights were the street side tacos at Santo Taco, breakfast bagels at Leon’s Bagels and a very ladies-who-lunch meal at The Standard Grill after a long walk on the High Line. There were many treats on our strolls too, from a quick cake pop ball to the ingeniously concocted ice cream flavours at Morgenstern’s. The meal I’ll be thinking about for a long time, though, was the simple but perfect dishes at Forsythia. Pasta always wins.

So long for now

We’ve always joked that one of the reasons we started Mustard was so we’d get to hang out more. Working from opposite sides of the world has its challenges, but this trip made it all feel worth it. I left feeling like I’d ticked off everything I wanted to do, my cup had well and truly been refilled by this busy, beautiful city and time with my sister.