FEATURES

The Mast Brothers

By Tom Ran
Michael Mast and Rick Mast of Mast Brothers Chocolate

Photo: Mindy Best

The Mast Brothers Chocolate factory occupies only three rooms in a nondescript building in Williamsburg. The first doubles as a storefront that opens on the weekend to customers with much…

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Roman & Williams Studio Visit

By Tom Ran
Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch in their studio

Photo: Rose Callahan

The partners behind Roman & Williams, Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch are anti minimalists. It’s apparent in the spaces they create.

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Billykirk Studio Visit

By Tom Ran
Chris and Kirk Bray of Billykirk

Photo: Rose Callahan

Billykirk’s studio is surrounded by things, equipments, flat files, paintings, photos, and memories.

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WHO WE ARE

Members of The Scout

Dirty Manhattan

Photo: Staff

Dirty Manhattan

Statue of Liberty

Photo: Staff

Statue of Liberty

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Tom Ran
Tom Ran founded Friend & Stranger in 2006 as a creative consultant, based on the concept of forming creative partnerships between established companies and independent designers. He has spent 10 years in the web industry developing sites for MTV, CNN, Miramax and various fashion and entertainment clients. He has also been a creative consultant for Educated Community magazine, a bilingual publication based in New York and Tokyo.

Aaron Quint
Aaron Quint is a web developer by day and an amateur cook and devout foodie by night. As a developer, he has spent the past 11 years working in every facet of the web. In 2006 he founded his own consultancy, Quirkey NYC, and worked with startups and large corporations alike. A born Brooklynite, he scours the New York landscape looking for the most delicious and the most indulgent that the city has to offer.

Maggie Shi
Maggie Shi is a food editor, writer and voracious eater who earned her foodie cred at Epicurious, the Food Network and Martha Stewart. She graduated from New York’s Institute of Culinary Education in 2007, makes killer bacon-wrapped dates, and is obsessed with everything edible.

Sarah Williams
Sarah Williams is a creative director who specializes in brand identity, print media, luxury and consumer packaging. Her work has been featured in Elle, InStyle, Women’s Wear Daily and Print Magazine. She travels frequently to global destinations in search of emerging design trends and consumer culture.

TOURS

The Bacon Tour

By David Tez

Photo: Staff

From time to time, The Scout will feature interborough food tours designed as culinary and geographic explorations of our fair city. Each has been field tested, in a single day,…

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The Tenenbaums

By Siobhan Vivian

Photo: Staff

The Royal Tenenbaums is Wes Anderson’s visual love letter to New York. Though never explicitly named, the film presents a stunningly constructed pastiche of the quirky, the kitschy and the…

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