Woon Productions, Special Delivery
In this episode, we visit our friend and founder of Finery, Greg Sato, at Finery’s Downtown LA office and Greg’s home in Silverlake. Finery is a Los Angeles-based design and manufacturing studio dedicated to elevating the uniform to a craft. It was a blast getting to learn about their philosophy and their dedication to involving the Los Angeles community.
Woon Productions, Special Delivery
Woon Productions presents the fourth episode in our series titled, Special Delivery, documenting the interesting subjects from our Woon community who contribute to make Woon what it is today.
In this episode, we spend some time with our long-time friend and ceramicist, Monica Galan of Salamat Ceramics. We visit Monica at her studio, Actual Studio Space, in Los Angeles where we pick her brain about ceramics and how our new collaboration Mama's Way bottle came about. We also dive into where she started and where she's at now, which is very inspiring.
Monica has been our friend well beyond Woon, but she actually made the tabletop utensil vessels that still live in Woon today. We also collaborated on some bowls during the pandemic. And she also worked at Woon for a period of time. These episodes are all about our Woon family...and Monica is more than part of it. We hope you enjoy!
Woon Productions, Special Delivery
Woon Productions presents the third episode in our series titled, Special Delivery, documenting the interesting subjects from our Woon community who contribute to make Woon what it is today.
In this episode, we spend some time with our Line Cook and professional skateboarder, Christian Maalouf. We visit Christian and his wife, Amber, at their home in Los Angeles where he introduces us to his cats, action figure collection, and Amber’s photo studio. We also follow him around a few skate spots in LA and chat about how food and skating come together.
Christian has been a cook at Woon since before we opened over 3 years ago and he has been a professional skateboarder for much longer. I was a fan of Christian’s skating long before Woon was in my sights and it’s full circle that he is a part of our family now. All thanks goes to his wife and photographer, Amber, who connected us when I was first looking for cooks. Christian has always been an avid home cook so it was natural for him to work in a kitchen. Fast forward to today and Christian is now a renaissance man who works at Woon, is Team Manager for Brixton, and skates professionally for Brixton, Globe and WKND Skateboards to name a few. It’s truly an honor to have someone I looked up to long ago and now be able to call him a friend Woon family. I hope you enjoy!
Film & Edit by Jacob Cummings
Featuring music by Will Alpine, Dream Sitch, Chris Maier
Woon Productions, Special Delivery
Woon Productions presents the second episode in our series titled, Special Delivery, documenting the interesting subjects from our Woon community who contribute to make Woon what it is today.
In this episode, we deliver Woon to Ty Williams on his recent visit to California. Ty Williams is an artist and illustrator based out of Burlington, VT and Maine. If you are familiar with Woon then you are most definitely familiar with Ty's illustrations which plaster our walls, Instagram page and packaged goods.
Ty and I met over 9 years ago, when we worked together at an apparel brand. Ty had moved out to Los Angeles to help us open a US flagship store where we eventually became good friends. He eventually made his way back to the East Coast, but had always mentioned that if we were to ever open a restaurant he'd be willing to fly out to LA to paint for us. Fast forward 5 or so years and Ty was sleeping on my couch. We spent 3 straight days painting and creating what you now see inside Woon. Over the last few years his art has become synonymous with our brand, creating the art for our packaged goods and event flyers. Ty is considered part of our family and a big reason why we decided to build this restaurant. Enjoy!
Woon Productions, Special Delivery
The first episode in our new series titled, Special Delivery, documenting the interesting subjects from our Woon community who contribute to make Woon what it is today.
In this episode, we deliver Woon to “JuJu”, my uncle and Mama Fong’s brother, Joel Chen - the founder and owner of JF Chen Antiques, a 40 year old iconic antique store located on Highland Ave, During our visit, we have a casual conversation over food and a very rare walkthrough of his home and personal collection. We touch on what makes his collection so special and what goes into the process of choosing his antique pieces. We also get a chance to visit his 20,000 sqft showroom on Highland Ave, where Woon was born as a pop up over 7 years ago.
I grew up spending every Thanksgiving at Joel’s house and not really understanding what it all meant. Now that I’m older and appreciate the empire that he built, it feels extra special to be able to share his home with our Woon community. Not only that, but it’s an honor for him to lend Woon some pieces from his collection. Hopefully this will provide a new perspective when you see the small horse statues on the shelf high up in the dining room, the ancestral scroll paintings hanging on the wall, the 1940 oil painting of Kowloon Bay in the corner, the original Mao Zedong propaganda posters in the bathrooms (no, we are not communist), and the family photo in the corner featuring Joel, Mama Fong and their parents on their first American Thanksgiving.
Special thanks to my uncle Joel Chen, aunt Margaret Chen, and cousin Bianca Chen
Film & edit by Jacob Cummings
Photo by Jacob Cummings
Photo by Jacob Cummings
You can preview an Apartamento interview featuring Joel Chen below…
