Montana Knox

Profile

Brooklyn artist and designer Montana Knox unveiled his first store in April 2009, filling the racks with his eponymous collection of screen-printed bamboo and organic cotton T-shirts. He partnered with Brooklyn-based industrial designer Mark Reigelman to turn the space from what he calls a typical �vanilla box boutique� into an eye-catching vessel for the brand, covering one wall in a giant black and white mural (of a monster exhaling a drove of cuddly-looking bears and bunnies) and stacking tote bags and tees atop kiln-dried barn board crates from rural Illinois. T-shirts are screen-printed with tribal-inspired illustrations, as well as a modern take on the iconic �I [heart] New York� logo (a scaly, fish-like monster devours the heart); cooler months bring an influx of men’s outerwear, hoodies, and knits. Knox also collaborates with Aaron Ruff of Digby and Iona on an exclusive line of sterling silver and gold vermeil jewelry, incorporating a "podunk aesthetic"�birdhouse-shaped cocktail rings recalling the designers' dual childhoods in Maine�as well as edgier pendants of crisscrossing knives and severed hands. — Lauren Murrow