Manual NYC is a New York based creative company founded by Malcolm Dia. At its core Manual sells branded disposable cameras along with offering film processing and scanning services. However they have positioned themselves as the perfect candidate for creative collaborations, hosting events, art curating, photo exhibitions, brand partnerships and producing campaigns. Since the genesis of Manual they have partnered and collaborated with brands like The North Face, Stussy x Dior, Nike, Carhartt WIP, Undefeated, ON Running, and more. Malcolm and his team have been constructing a far reaching community of artists through events, collaborations, and networking both providing a space for creativity to blossom and extending opportunities to artists of all backgrounds. Manual opened a pop up shop on Delancey St in the summer of 2019, they offered film drop off services, had a curated selection of books by Dashwood books, and even served coffee. That shop quickly became a watering hole for New York based photographers and artists. That shop acted as a high traffic creative hub, countless projects and connections were sparked in that space. From that point on Manual established themselves as the leading creative community in New York for like minded individuals and purveyors of art.
I became familiar with Manual NYC and Malcolm organically. Malcolm approached me at a party extending his appreciation of my photography work. We struck up a conversation about our creative endeavours. Manual was at the beginning of its foray into brand partnerships and had limited visibility. From that point on Malcolm and I have been connected through friendship and work. Manual slowly landed better and better opportunities and began to gain traction shortly after. We worked together on the Cliff x Manual collection and event in summer 2019. That same summer Manual graciously hosted my solo show “Glass Walls” as their first exhibition in the pop up. The events they threw consistently brought out hoards of people flooding the shop and the street. Those events had unmatched energy. The Manual team and I have collaborated and traveled to Miami and Tokyo since. In Miami they hosted a show at Lower East coast featuring Dean Majd’s series “Hard Feelings. The Tokyo trip was something out of a movie, two weeks of partying, connecting, and hosting a pop ups and eventually a party at the Trunk Hotel. Tokyo brought everyone on the Manual team closer and positioned them further as a force in the creative community.
The Manual team has formed seamlessly integrating people of different skill sets and cultivating a collaborative brand operation. The team photographed above is composed of: Malcolm Dia the Founder & Creative Director, Alex Wang does Logistics & CS, June Kitahara spearheads Communications, Aren Johnson works Creative strategy, Alex Roth does Special Projects, and Lucas King Webber helps with overall operations. Each person brings their own particular skill and are dedicated to creating quality work both commercially and artistically.
Manual will continue to grow and make waves in the artistic community and world of collaborations for years to come. Their potential to create a substantive impact on art and media is apparent and uncapped.