367 E. 10th St. Storefront East
New York, NY 10009
A recent addition to the Indigenous community in NYC has been Relative Arts, a community space, open studio, and shop displaying contemporary Indigenous fashion and design. Opened by Korina Emmerich (Puyallup) and Liana Shewey (Mvskoke) in May 2023, the storefront has been a hub for Indigenous tourists and locals alike. The idea came from a friendship that flourished during the pandemic. Emmerich and Shewey, who met in an Indigenous Femmes group held by American Indian Community House, began working together on the Indigenous Kinship Collective, a group focused on mutual aid. After that, the two began discussing other business ventures.
“Liana and I had started talking about maybe expanding my clothing line, Emmie studio, and the possibility of what it would look like to work together,” said Emmerich. “The more that we were really, like, going through ideas, it started becoming its own entity. And we were like, “This is like a whole new thing that we’re doing.””
After looking for different store locations in the East Village, and missing out on a couple, one presented itself through the connection with a Diné family.
“Delfina, whose mom Michelle, is the president of the co-op board, [owns the building] and this space became available and they were like, “Would you be interested in having a store?” And I was like, “Yes!”” said Emmerich. “We’ve already been talking about it. We’ve been planning for it. So it was super easy to say yes to the space and it’s just perfect.. Our landlord is a Diné woman… So it, like, feels really good. It’s all Indigenous women.”
Since its opening, the store has become the forefront for the Indigenous community in the city, which was one of their goals.
“It’s been great,” said Emmerich. “The first year was amazing. I’m so proud of us. It’s shocking to see how successful our first year was, just with people coming to visit and everybody lands here, it’s a destination spot. People from out of town are always here visiting and all the people who live here just hang out here.”
