By M. Marlay
Campus News
On February 15 and 16th, from noon to 6 pm, Nazima Khan partnered with artist Daniel Weiner, and matchmaker Nick Rosen to hold a Valentine's Day pop-up Event at Yant Art Studio.
Khan had been growing her small crochet boutique, Nazima Knits, for about 10 years and just last fall released her Couture Line at New York Fashion Week. Khan said that she organized this event in order to sell the remaining products that she has in stock to raise money for her to attend Paris Fashion Week. She sells hand-knitted accessories, scarves, blankets, hats, and also has an Exclusive Release Collection titled AMIZ. The collection uses upcycled granny squares, which are crocheted squares made in rounds using clusters of double crochet stitches, to create one-of-a-kind pieces, based on what the customer wants.
According to Khan, “This [referring to her business] is my purpose; that’s my favorite part.”
In honor of Valentine's Day, Weiner was painting pictures of people's furry-loved ones, in other words, their dogs.
When asked how he got into doing pop-up events like this one, where he’s painting live portraits, he said “I worked as an artist professionally for about eight years, but when Covid started the industry took a bit of a hit. So, I took my easel, and I hustled, making head portraits, so that’s kind of how it started. It was kind of just a pandemic side hustle.”
However, he did have some previous experience with live art, going back as far as 2016, according to his website, doing work and holding events for and at companies/stores. Some of the brands he has done work for in the past include various luxury brands such as Aerin Beauty, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's, and Acqua Di Parma. On top of Live Events, he also is an illustrator. The companies he has done storyboards for include Tito's Vodka, Coca-Cola, and Hilton Hotels
Overall, Weiner and Khan seemed incredibly happy with how the event was going on the opening day.
“Considering the weather, the turnout has been pretty good. There has been some organic traffic from the tattoo studio and Daniel, Nick, and I have all been marketing to our crowds,” Khan said.
Unfortunately, this journalist was unable to speak with Rosen, the founder of the matchmaking service, MetbyNick, at the event because he had left at that point. However, his website was able to give an insight into his business and why he does what he does.
On his website, it says, “Nick's love for matchmaking stems from his intrinsic appreciation of human relationships and their potential to ignite change. He sees every connection as an opportunity to influence positivity, growth, and innovation.” Making him a perfect addition for this pop-up event given the holiday.
In the future, Khan will possibly have one or two more pop-up events in order to sell the last of the products that she has in stock, but nothing is yet set in stone. As for the other events that Weiner held or will be holding, about two weeks from this pop-up event, on the 15th, he was at Mac Cosmetics. Nick also has some exciting things that he has done this past month, including a Single Saturday event that he was Co-Hosting with Natalie Cramer, a New York City Local and Creative Life Coach. The event took place on February 22nd at Wollman Rink in Central Park from 12:45 PM to 3:45 PM, with check-in starting at 1 pm. For more information about their businesses or future events, you can go to their respective Instagram pages: metbynick, NazimaKnits, and repeatart. Or if you want to, you can also go to their respective websites: metbynick.com, nazimaknits.com, and repeatart.com.
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