Donna Karan’s dedication to social change and timeless design is unveiled at an exclusive Urban Zen retail pop-up boutique within ABC Carpet & Home, the iconic Manhattan home design destination. Located on the Mezzanine at the Broadway and 19th street landmark, the loft-style boutique showcases sleek and stylish pieces for the home in reclaimed solid teak, over-sized bean bags stuffed with fiber from the kapok tree – a sacred symbol in Mayan mythology – and a sampling of seamless, ready-to-pack-up-and-go nomadic clothing from the Urban Zen collection.
“The first time I went to Bali, I instantly and passionately fell in love,” says Donna Karan. “The furniture captured my heart – and my imagination. Here was style; strong, simple and authentic. The teak did the talking, the artisan hand did the sculpting. I met with local artisans and saw detailed modern proportions and the purest, most elemental, yet highly functional shapes. I brought it all home, and now through Urban Zen, I bring it all to you.”
“Urban Zen and ABC align in a vision that community and beauty are tools for the transformation of our planet. We each invest in creating platforms that serve to deepen an experience with how to shift healing – for the self and for the world – embracing the intimacy of healing, connection and beauty, and making them one,” says Paulette Cole, CEO & Creative Director of ABC Home. “We feel synergy in a philosophy that beauty begins within; that the essence of beauty is being at home within our bodies. We find synchronicity in offering products that uplift the graceful feminine and the spirit of tranquility, creating peaceful, meditative environments that reflect healing.”
Also on view at ABC is an installation of the Urban Zen Foundation’s Hope, Help & Relief Haiti ShelterBox disaster relief tent. A $1,000 donation buys a ShelterBox disaster relief tent that provides up to ten people with shelter and lifesaving equipment including thermal blankets, sheets, a water purification system, a basic tool kit, a wood burning or multi-fuel stove, and coloring books and crayons for children who have lost most, if not all of their possessions.
About Urban Zen
Urban Zen retail is a marriage of commerce and philanthropy. Urban Zen donates 10% of net sales to benefit the Urban Zen Foundation, a public charity established by Donna Karan. The Urban Zen Foundation creates, connects and collaborates to raise awareness and inspire change in the areas of well-being, preserving cultures and empowering children.
Hope, Help & Relief Haiti (HHRH) was created by Donna Karan and her Urban Zen Foundation, music executive Andre Harrell, the Mary J. Blige and Steve Stoute Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now, and Andre Balazs and The Standard as an initiative aimed at galvanizing a community in response to Haiti’s immediate need to rebuild. HHRH’s mission is to create a conscious community of leaders in music, fashion, film, finance and art to become agents of change for the renewal of Haiti. The initiative launched in February with a “Night of Humanity,” a fundraising event at the Urban Zen Center in NYC that introduced HHRH’s “Tents Today, Home Tomorrow” campaign. With this campaign, HHRH is answering the Haitian community’s immediate need for shelter, medicine, food and water through its ShelterBox program. That’s today! Tomorrow, the most crucial need will be a place to call home.
About ABC Carpet & Home
ABC Carpet & Home is an iconic NYC destination that has served as a catalyst in representing home design as a key form of self-expression.