Lagoon is a store and event space in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, co-founded in 2021 by sustainable designers Amalya Meira and Logan Blagg. Inside, Amalya and Logan’s wearable art hangs alongside complementary pieces like jewelry, housewares and fine art created by local artists while functioning as a working studio and gallery.
Amalya and Logan met through the City’s sustainable fashion scene, bonding over a shared mission of craft and zero-waste sensibility. Early collaborations on pop-ups and photo shoots evolved into a studio practice and, eventually, Lagoon, where the creative process is on display: visitors may catch the pair sewing in the back. They can also browse hand-dyed silk dresses, attend poetry readings or take part in a community clothing swap.
Amalya Meira
Amalya takes cues from Vivienne Westwood’s early punk spirit and nature’s incursion on city life. Her signature silk Fari dresses and crocheted “Moss” pieces are entirely zero-waste, cut and draped from vintage and deadstock fabrics. Logan begins with the textile itself, sourcing scrapped materials and reimagining them through world-building narratives inspired by fictional planets.
We talked to them about their Bed-Stuy hub, where artistry and neighborhood life intersect.
Why bring your vision to New York City and Bed-Stuy in particular?
Amalya Meira: We both live in Bed-Stuy, so it was a perfect fit. I am fascinated by Vivienne Westwood's days running a boutique with the Sex Pistols in London, leaving an imprint on a moving, breathing city.
Logan Blagg: I grew up in small-town Arkansas, so NYC seemed like a city where creativity was accepted and could flourish. Fast forward to 2021 and it seemed like the right moment to foster this dream within the community—where neighbors could be friends, customers and collaborators.
Logan Blagg
How have you collaborated to make it a reality?
AM: Having met through sustainable fashion, we became fast friends and collaborators. Since Lagoon was just a concept, we have discussed every detail with equal weight. We also design together, creating costumes for Alexandra Neuman's performance Collective Womb and capsule collections for Lagoon, the next coming this holiday season.
Meira crochets her signature Moss Sweater
What’s your design process and inspiration, and what signature pieces have come out of this process?
AM: I am inspired by the resiliency of nature: flowers in sidewalk cracks, trees around chain-link fences. I also look at fine art, architecture, the ancient—I love byzantine jewelry. I only use deadstock or vintage textiles and use every scrap; we’re rooted in zero-waste.
My Fari dresses and tops are created with bias cuts in mind. I drape [scraps] directly on the form to create a subtle patchwork garment. I think of this process a bit like jazz, which I often listen to while working. I create crochet hemp net pieces with fringe that adds dimension and armature when worn atop a Petal slip or under a Petal top, and crochet recycled silk “Moss” apparel.
LB: It’s my mission to not buy new. I source from vintage, deadstock or remnants from other artists. I love conjuring new potential from a find. Conceptually, I love world building: my collections are based on fictional planets, unearthing new colors, shapes and textures while fusing retro-futurism into fantasy. My heavy hitters are the Droplet, Nebula and Supernova tops, with fun accessories like fingerless gloves I call Intermittens and puffy flower shapes that can grow into Garden Scarves.
Blagg's "Supernova" top
How is sustainability incorporated?
LB: We incorporate sustainability into our day-to-day designs in similar but different ways. For me, it’s by utilizing only textiles that are in existence, but also through finding unique ways to use my remnants: making soft sculptures stuffed with my scraps, turning my operation into a circular chain and eliminating as much waste as possible.
Within Lagoon, we reuse as many materials as we can. Think shopping bags, shipping materials, even the wood from the wall we broke down during build out—we used it to build our worktable. Nothing here is unaccounted for!
When visiting Lagoon, clients might see items being made in real time. Can you tell us more about the in-person experience for customers?
AM: I urge customers to try things on. Our pieces are so much about the fit and motion, they take on life on the body. They can also be a bit esoteric, at least on the hanger, so once someone sees how something looks on and how comfortable it is they're able to incorporate it into their lives and wardrobes. Our studios are in-store, so customers see us creating in real time. Plus, we can make alterations when needed, and custom pieces.
Local musician Yellow Shoots performs at Lagoon’s second anniversary party. Courtesy, Lagoon
How do the pieces you sell in Lagoon complement the gallery and event space?
AM: We like to have something at every price point. With the fine art we sell, we open the door for each [featured] artist to [also] create something smaller and more accessibly priced to accompany the art show. People have had some awesome interpretations of this prompt, from painting on textiles that Logan and I used to create a capsule collection to wearable paintings that were shot and compiled into a beautiful lookbook that is for sale.
What do you look for in creators to feature?
AM: The initial point of entry is whether we like the work and the concept behind it. Then we consider the price point, salability and whether we currently have anything similar.
We’re also looking for things that are not just unique but also quality items that will hold up. We understand that our customers shop at many different places, and we want our pieces to be able to exist alongside them in a way that structurally and aesthetically makes sense.
How does Lagoon incorporate and benefit the community? What's the future of community outreach?
AM: There are so many interesting and talented people on our block and in our neighborhood, let alone in this city.
Friends of the shop were involved in a recent fashion week event: movement coordinator Bella Thorpe-Woods navigated people to our new collections and directed them with movement prompts while Cal Fish and Becca Rodriguez played site-specific music. Dona, a tea company owned by a customer, provided elixirs.
LB: We love showcasing local designers, from clothing and accessory makers to the artists in our fine art shows, poetry readings and live music events. Clothing swaps have become a meaningful part, offering those in the neighborhood the chance to refresh wardrobes sustainably, while unclaimed items are donated to local organizations. Our goal is to keep weaving a strong, supportive network connecting neighbors, artists and ideas. The more threads we link, the stronger the fabric of our community becomes.
Meira and Blagg style a mannequin
How do you see Lagoon evolving?
AM: We have been taking Lagoon on the road! [We have a] love of travel and curiosity for how people in different places enact our same principles. Logan and I took a trip to Mexico last winter, hosting pop-ups at wonderful similar spaces in both Guadalajara and Mexico City.
On this trip we met many designers creating with our same priorities at the forefront; we now sell pieces in spaces there and sell their works in our space. We hope to take a similar trip to London, Rome, Berlin and Amsterdam—maybe Athens as well. There is also a lot of exciting reworking of existing items happening in the world of furniture design. We dream of one day having a space where we can house pieces of this size as well.
LB: A Lagoon Home arm has been a fun addition to our practices—pillows, soft sculptures, curtains, tapestries…stools and chair covers. We’d love to continue in this direction alongside our clothing and accessories lines. So many things to make, and so little time!
