Jenny Züko: Maven of Madness Cast in Plastic
There are a few stores in our fair ‘burg that seem to shall we say, share an affinity for one another and for the services that they provide to the community.
Dream in Plastic is unique in that it does not. One could argue that similar stores hawk what is referred to by some as Kitsch, such as our very own Galaxie-13, or any of the boutique Antique Stores, or even the very new and recently opened American Gypsy Vintage Boutique. However, when it comes to pop-culture there is but one haven of all things plastique and cutesy, pop-culturesque and tongue-in-cheek, the delightfully photogenic and weird: Dream in Plastic.
Some businesses are born from bouts of introspective reflective thought, others come from inheritance, and yet others still are passed on through sheer nepotism. I would argue that although there is nothing wrong with these business models, I would say that the the best kinds of businesses are founded through obsession and necessity. Dream in Plastic was one such business created out of the need, and some would say unreasonably strong desire for designer vinyl toys. In particular the “Dunny” series created by Kid Robot.
The store is the trailblazing vision of the young and vivacious Jenny Züko, (who if cut open I believe would bleed polychrome punk-rock kitsch juice rather than your normal, totally run of the mill blood). She is a lover of toys, adult and otherwise, and wants you to share in her taste for the obscure and the extraordinary.
The following interview took me into the mind and origins of Jenny Züko, her idiosyncratic desires, and what Dream in Plastic and her plans for the future mean to this town today.
Keenan Boyd: Are you a Beaconite? Where are you from and how long have you had this store here in Beacon?
Jenny Züko: I am a Beaconite, now. It counts for now. I was born and raised in Brooklyn, as was Dream in Plastic. We formed there as just a website in about 2007. And then we moved here to Beacon in 2009, and opened a retail space. So we’ve been here ever since. It will be five years in July.
KB: So where are you from in Brooklyn?
JZ: Gerritsen Beach, It’s basically Long Island, it’s right on the edge. It’s near Marine Park, and Sheepshead Bay, It’s not Brooklyn like people think of Brooklyn now but….
KB: It’s Brooklyn. It counts.
JZ: It counts yeah. (laughs.)
KB: Your store seems sell a little bit of everything. It’s a boutique, it’s a gallery, you sell designer toys, artwork, artisanal handmade soaps…How did you fall into the hodgepodge business?
JZ: So our store sort of started with the designer vinyl toys, but it turns out that not everybody is into designer vinyl toys.
KB: Right.
JZ: And also it’s not the only thing that I am into. And this place is kind of like looking into the inside of my brain. Our business motto is If I like it, and I want it, and I think it’s cool, than I think I can sell it. So basically it’s a total hodgepodge.
That being said, things do kind of like go together. There’s a certain kind of person that will enjoy this store. There’s a little bit of something for everybody. You might not be into a giant mishka labbit, but you might be into a beautiful hand lotion. Pretty much everybody can find something here. And so far as the gallery goes, we love art, we love supporting artists. We take really low commission, we try to push artists as much as possible, local or otherwise…
KB: That’s great.
JZ: Well, and we always kind of secretly wanted a gallery, if we could fit it in.
KB: I love the fact that your hawking modern Kitsch, do you have friends or a business network with other likeminded stores or boutiques in the area?
JZ: We don’t actually. We have no friends. (laughs.)
KB: (laughs.)
JZ: We do this all on our own, we don’t have friends with other stores. I mean there are other stores and boutiques out there that we love and we shop at, but I generally don’t try to copy other stores. I don’t actually network with anybody. I would love that but…I would absolutely love that if we had somebody that we could work with, or somebody to come up with ideas with us, but generally this is just all me.
KB: What are some of the other stores that you like to shop at?
JZ: On Main Street?
KB: Anywhere. Places that inspired you to sell things like this.
JZ: Honestly I dump all my money into here. So, I really only buy clothes. I’m a big thrift store shopper, like I love collecting old cameras and and actually a lot of vintage stuff, like you would never guess from this outfit, but I do like a lot of modern mid-century kitschy stuff.
KB: So you guys must love Galaxie-13 then, eh?
JZ: I love them. I love that store. That’s the kind of place that I would shop at if I went out. Yeah, so I love old kitschy stuff, vintage kitsch. I spend any money I do have at record stores, and thrift stores.
KB: You must be a big music fan then…
JZ: Oh yes, music is huge for me. I would love to do that in here if we actually had room, but…
KB: Sell Records?
JZ: Yeah. I would love to. We actually were about to set up a local music section but then I have a friend who was talking about opening a record store here in Beacon so I kind of put that on the back burner. If he doesn’t do that I would love to because we love music.
KB: It would be great to have a record store here in town.
JZ: Yeah, that’s whats lacking here in Beacon. We need an art supplies store, and we need a record store.
KB: You gotta’ make it happen man.
JZ: Yeah, I want to open a bakery too but there’s fifteen of those now so we’re good.
KB: (laughs.) Yeah. So you like to bake too?
JZ: Yeah, I bake our cupcakes every month.
KB: Oh cool.
JZ: It’s fun. But people have started coming and asking for the cupcakes at this point so…
KB: Well that’s great right?
JZ: Well I’m happy and sad about it at the same time because people say, 'Oh, you’re the place that has the cupcakes right?’ and then I say 'Yeah, but this is also the place that has a lot of really fun stuff and art!’ Like, forget the free cupcakes! Come in for all the awesome things that we have!
KB: (laughs.) Right?
JZ: So it’s like a happy, sad thing to hear. Like you know, I’m flattered but, you know there’s more to us than cupcakes. Ask me about the artists that are here every month, that’s what I really want to hear!
KB: What can you tell me about the artists that are featured here now?
JZ: Yes, this is Carla Goldberg and she lives in Cold Spring. She is a member of the Beacon Artist Union, which is how I met her. She works in resin mostly and her stuff is just super cool. Normally it’s not such a good fit for us because it’s mostly fine art and beautiful, and we do more Poppy things, but her series is fantastic. It’s called I remember, and she’s actually cast toys in resin, and turned it into art. So it’s the perfect kind of collaboration with Dream in Plastic and it’s what she does, so it worked really well for us and we love it.
KB: That’s great! Awesome. Are you an artist too?
JZ: I am a photographer, I guess. Like I try not to call myself an artist but that’s where my artistic services are. That and I’m a web designer, and a graphic designer as well. So that’s kind of my artistic output. I do websites and take pictures.
KB: You are a busy, busy girl.
JZ: I’m crazy. I’m just scatterbrained and all over the place because I try to do too much.
KB: It’s hard when your really busy like that. So do you have any upcoming plans for the store, some new items for the spring? New promotions for Second Saturday?
JZ: We are looking at a couple of new product lines. I’d like to say that we’re going to start making exclusive items: like t-shirts, and coffee mugs, and things that you can only get here, and things that celebrate Beacon a little bit more, like Beacon Socks. So things that are exclusive to us and to the town, and things that people can’t get elsewhere. That’s important to us. We want to have things that don’t exist elsewhere.
KB: Cool. What were your favorite toys growing up?
JZ: I was a strange child. My mom likes to say that I am the son that she never had. (laughs.)
I chose He-Man over She-Ra. I liked boy’s toys. I liked Hot-Wheels cars. My favorite toys were definitely Legos, I probably played with Legos for way too long. And then I stared playing with them again when I was like seventeen, but whatever. So yeah, Legos are like my absolute favorite
KB: So your love of toys eventually translated into the store right?
JZ: Yeah, I think so. I was a spoiled kid. My business partner here was even more spoiled than me. (laughs.)
KB: (laughs.) Were you an only child?
JZ: Yes. Yes I am, and I would like to say that my Mom and Dad have been great with this place and supporting me, and encouraging me to really make it a thing that I can really do exclusively. So I’m spoiled on multiple levels. (laughs.) But yeah, the designer vinyl toy thing is really how this place happened. I got my first toy in probably…2005.
KB: That’s when they started to come out right?
JZ: Yeah, I got into it kind of in the beginning, and then I became obsessed with collecting every single “Dunny” that Kid-Robot put out.
Back then there really weren’t a lot of places to find this stuff, so we were like why don’t we start a website? We were originally thinking of opening a gallery/cafe. We knew we wanted to open a business, so we just started a website for the toy stuff. We were floored every time we applied for an account with a company with stuff that we wanted to sell and they said, 'Yes.'
KB: Sweet.
JZ: When we got our Kid-Robot account we cried a little bit, because they are one of the biggest toy companies in the world.
KB: I remember when they came out back in the day that they were cool as hell, but I haven’t seen any since.
JZ: Yeah, every couple of months now there’s a new Dunny Series. That being said it’s gone a little mainstream now. They do collaborations with Marvel now.
KB: Oh really?
JZ: It’s cool, because it’s a broader market and that means that people who didn’t know about the toys are finding out about them now so it’s good.
KB: it’s a good thing. (laughs.)
JZ: (laughs.)
KB: Ms. Jenny Züko, thank you so much for your time today. It’s been an absolute pleasure.
JZ: Your welcome.
Jenny Züko is the owner and operator of Dream in Plastic, an Art Gallery, Specialty Toy, and Gift Shop located at 177 Main Street, Beacon, NY. We applaud her obsessive and unique spirit, and we wish her all the best in her endeavors and her dreams.