Factory Tours
AVO
Brooklyn
Founded in 2014 by Brit Kleinman, AVO is a women-led and operated design studio that hand-dyes leather and crafts woven rugs, tiles, upholstery, and artwork for interiors. While they do produce vibrant and pattern rich dyed leather in house, they don’t typically call themselves manufacturers and prefer to consider themselves as artists and designers.
Brit is proud of what they do, “Hand-dying leather is our forte, it’s where we started. But there’s so much more that we do now, and I use the same ethos of experimentation and play, pushing the boundaries of each material we work with.”
They’ve dipped their toes in all spaces: furniture upholstery, cowhide rugs, woven leather rugs, tapestries, wall tiles and artworks. It is the focus on constant reinvention that keeps AVO’s design practice alive. Now that AVO is getting commissions to create larger art installations, Kleinman is convinced that is truly why she got into the business. There is a duality to it in terms of making work for private and public spaces. But when it comes to public art installations, Kleinman and her team enjoy that “lots of people will get to see it and interact with it in a different way”. Brit believes that when “our senses are activated in a space, we are more present within it.” From the large scale work down to the smallest of surfaces, like the upholstery of a chair, AVO crafts pieces that draw you in and searches out projects that flex their creative muscles.
Kleinman recognizes how tough manufacturing can be in a city like New York. She thinks it’s important to prioritize small-scale manufacturing “because space is what dictates what you can make”. She hopes that the City creates subsidies for small manufacturing spaces, and that would go a long way in helping them flourish. Brit also believes that having the opportunity to work in manufacturing apart from the regular 9 to 5 office job contributes to the texture of the city — “Working in manufacturing is a really incredible opportunity for people who don’t want to have a traditional office job. I love that we can be mobile and work with our hands. I think that as a city, we should want to have these other outlets and opportunities for young people. It’s important to keep creative ventures alive. That’s what makes our city rich.”
