Tom Fruin's Mosaic Glass House Pops Up in Dumbo's Empire Stores

A fun new art installation has just arrived in Dumbo. A glass house by Tom Fruin, the Brooklyn-based artist known for colorful glass mosaic watertowers and other structures, is on display in the open-air courtyard of Empire Stores along the Brooklyn waterfront. Kolonihavehus, a plexiglass and steel sculpture of reclaimed materials that is inspired by the shape of a garden house, has been a well-known fixture in New York City – following appearances in Manhattan, Brooklyn Bridge Park, and most recently, North Brooklyn Farm at Domino Park – and around the world.

Kolonihavehus was the first piece in his Icon series, and, according to the artist, takes its name from a ubiquitous shape in Copenhagen, “a modest garden shed originally intended to give state workers a refuge from cramped living conditions in the city.” You can walk inside Kolonihavehus, which is made from about a thousand pieces of salvaged plexiglass from all over Copenhagen, including “a defunct plexiglas distributorship, a closing picture framing shop, the basement of the Danish State Art Workshops, and the dumpsters outside the Danish Architecture Center,” according to the artist’s website.

Empire Stores was built as a Civil War-era warehouse for coffee and sat long vacant in Dumbo until a redevelopment by S9 Architecture and STUDIO V transformed the site into commercial, retail and office-space destination. Now, West Elm has a large office space there, the Brooklyn Historical Society has a museum outpost, Soho House’s Brooklyn location Dumbo House has taken up residence, and soon Time Out New York’s market will open.