A Tiny Tour #007: Marshall Neve
Antiques, textiles, plywood—this 400 square-foot apartment is a love letter to collecting...and New York City ❤️.
One of the very best parts of writing this newsletter is getting to follow my nose on stories I know can teach us something. I try to listen to my gut as often as possible…because when we do, we always end up encountering something that manages to crack open our brains, allowing us to see everything that follows a little differently.
I felt this way when I first saw Marshall Neve’s apartment on Instagram. I’m not sure why it popped up in my feed (plywood is the likely culprit!), but it did, and for that I am thankful to the algorithmic Gods. I messaged Marshall cold almost immediately, and graciously, he responded. While I could tell his apartment on the Lower East Side of Manhattan was on the smaller side, it also possessed one of the rare and endlessly wondrous qualities I have a tendency to go ON AND ON about here: expansiveness. Not just in scale and how a space can flex as we grow and change, but also in how a space can make us feel.
Marshall, who hails from Texas, has lived in this 400 square-foot apartment for four years, and when I met him there in April to photograph it, he told me that no matter what happened or where he might go, he never wanted to give it up. The two—him and his home—were bonded.
And, I get that. Our attachments to tight spaces or ANY spaces that come to us in strange shape or a bit feral somehow leave a mark on us. Devotedly coaxing a home out of its quirky shell is sort of a hallmark of NYC dwelling…and it turns out to be wonderful training for all the spaces that show up in our lives with weird and beautiful secrets to share.
When we take the time to listen to our homes, really hear what it is they want to express in their own distinct way, we get something, too. This loving electrical charge shifts it from a physical space into something soulful. Alive and always changing.
I am so excited about today’s Tiny Tour…so, please do grab your cup of tea or cortado and get cozy. There’s so much to learn and be inspired by here, and I’m so grateful to Marshall for inviting us in and sharing it all with us. Let’s get into it…xxCb/ATA
ATA: How long have you lived in New York and, more specifically, this apartment?
MARSHALL: I moved to NYC in 2019, just a few weeks after graduating from the University of Texas Austin. I worked in advertising as a Media Planner and lived in an unremarkable apartment in the East Village. During the pandemic, I took a brief hiatus from New York, returning a year later with a new apartment on the corner of Elizabeth and Spring in Nolita, as well as a new career path in decoration. That led me to where I am today...in a plywood box in Chinatown. I moved into this apartment nearly four years ago, on what [initially] felt like a whim, but what now feels like fate.
