Vibrant floral arrangements punctuated a clean white, gold and crystal tablescape at The Study last Monday night.
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Vibrant floral arrangements punctuated a clean white, gold and crystal tablescape at The Study last Monday night.
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L to R: Sarah Jawda, Saba Jawda and Jacqueline Levine merged creative forces to open a holiday pop-up in the new creative venture at 7800 Washington.
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L to R: Sarah Jawda, Saba Jawda and Jacqueline Levine merged creative forces to open a holiday pop-up in the new creative venture at 7800 Washington.
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A Levcor development, the 66,000-square foot mixed-use space will house offices, showrooms and a restaurant, owner Larry Levine said.
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A Levcor development, the 66,000-square foot mixed-use space will house offices, showrooms and a restaurant, owner Larry Levine said.
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Framed prints formed a gallery wall inside the pop-up.
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Framed prints formed a gallery wall inside the pop-up.
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Jawda+Jawda designs covered soy candles from Manready Mercantile.
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Jawda+Jawda designs covered soy candles from Manready Mercantile.
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On Monday, guests mingled, sipped tequila and took in the art.
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On Monday, guests mingled, sipped tequila and took in the art.
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Urban artist Jacqueline Levine’s bold, playful designs live on phone cases, stationary and even clocks, all available at The Study.
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Urban artist Jacqueline Levine’s bold, playful designs live on phone cases, stationary and even clocks, all available at The Study.
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Nods to classic hip-hop can be found throughout the pop-up.
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Nods to classic hip-hop can be found throughout the pop-up.
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Guests were served a three-course meal by Chef Ryan LaChaine of Riel.
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Guests were served a three-course meal by Chef Ryan LaChaine of Riel.
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The table was set for 40 on Monday night.
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The table was set for 40 on Monday night.
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Nary a drop of Chef LaChaine’s first course, a corn gnocchi with cojita fondue, lime and cilantro, was left in any bowl.
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Nary a drop of Chef LaChaine’s first course, a corn gnocchi with cojita fondue, lime and cilantro, was left in any bowl.
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Levcor founder and president Larry Levine outlined future plans for the space in Houston’s urban core.
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Levcor founder and president Larry Levine outlined future plans for the space in Houston’s urban core.
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Levcor hopes a creative, chef-driven restaurant will populate the corner space of 7800 Washington, which currently houses Levine and the Jawdas’ pop-up.
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Levcor hopes a creative, chef-driven restaurant will populate the corner space of 7800 Washington, which currently houses Levine and the Jawdas’ pop-up.
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Sarah and Saba Jawda and Jacqueline Levine lead a cheer.
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Sarah and Saba Jawda and Jacqueline Levine lead a cheer.
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Biggie was a constant presence in the place.
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Biggie was a constant presence in the place.
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Saba Jawda’s large abstracts contrast with Levine’s cartoonish graphics on the wall behind them.
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Saba Jawda’s large abstracts contrast with Levine’s cartoonish graphics on the wall behind them.
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The Jawda sisters flank Houston fashion blogger Roz Pactor.
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The Jawda sisters flank Houston fashion blogger Roz Pactor.
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Larry Levine had much to celebrate Monday night, including his birthday.
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Larry Levine had much to celebrate Monday night, including his birthday.
The table was set for 40. Stevie Wonder seamlessly transitioned into Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five from the DJ’s turntable. Top-shelf tequila flowed, burning candles filled the air with bergamot and teak, and sumptuous floral arrangements punctuated a white, gold and crystal table-scape.
One thing was clear: Jacqueline Levine and Sarah and Saba Jawda know how to throw a party.
The former is a Houston-grown, L.A.-based urban artist who uses the moniker JALE; the latter, a set of stylish sisters behind full-service H-Town design firm Jawda+Jawda.
The artistically inclined trio joined forces to offer “The Study,” a temporary space at 7800 Washington that houses the collaboration between Levine and the Jawdas’ holiday pop-up shop.
The mixed-use space, a new acquisition by developer Levcor–founded and fronted by Levine’s father, Larry–will eventually house loft offices, furniture showrooms and a restaurant in Houston’s urban core. The project is currently leasing tenants for an early 2018 move-in.
For now, though, its corner space is home to the pop-up imagined, pre-Harvey, by Levine and the Jawdas. Their holiday shop is open daily from 11 a.m.–7 p.m. through December 23.
Built in 1960, the 66,000-square foot red-brick warehouse was once home to The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company–better known as A&P, the now-shuttered grocer. Today, it’s decidedly industrial chic; imposing, 19-foot ceilings and concrete floors serve as foils to glossy white fixtures adorned with lively art and playful merchandise.
On opening night last Monday, Levine and the Jawdas hosted a dinner party nothing short of glamorous. Guests cheered new beginnings with “The Pink Panther,” a grapefruit-heavy cocktail made with Casa Dragones Blanco tequila, a dinner sponsor along with Montrose restaurant Riel. Chef Ryan LaChaine served diners corn gnocchi, snapper and a brown butter cake with milk and honey ice cream.
Before the meal, Sarah Jawda thought everyone could still stand to loosen up.
“Shots?” she called, to which black-and-white clad waitstaff nearly immediately descended on seated guests, armed with plastic cups of tequila.
The same playful attitude imbued the rest of the space. Vibrant, cartoonish characters adorn Levine’s art, googly eyes and technicolor monsters populating stationary, phone cases and even clocks.
Artists in their own right, the Jawdas’ aesthetic could be found everywhere from Saba’s larger-than-life modern abstracts to carefully curated shelves–each cube its own vignette styled with items like Dian Hanson’s “The Big Butt Book” (exactly what it sounds like) and framed prints from Jawda+Jawda’s “Veritas” greeting card line. Simple, bold graphics offer such witticisms as “may the bridges I burn light the way” and “my love is conditional.”
Similar missives were plastered on hand-poured soy candles from Manready Mercantile–including, adroitly, “it’s lit.”
The night ended as celebratory as it began when servers presented Larry Levine with a birthday cake topped with firecrackers.
He recalled an inquiry from his business partner about 7800 Washington: “What do you think about us buying it and making it into something really neat?”
“So we started talking about it, and we bought it,” Levine said, “and we’re gonna make it into something neat.”
Abby Ledoux traded Canada’s border for Mexico’s when she moved to Texas from northwestern Vermont in November 2017 to join the staff at Houstonia.
An alumna of Emerson College’s journalism program in Boston, Abby was previously associate editor of three weekly newspapers in her home state of Vermont. There, she covered everything from Bernie Sanders to the heroin epidemic and won numerous state and regional awards for her work, including the Vermont Press Association’s 2014 Rookie of the Year. She was also an investigative reporting fellow at the New England First Amendment Coalition.
Today, Abby is excited to explore Houston’s vibrant, diverse culture (and shopping scene). Aside from fashion and design, she’s passionate about politics, hip hop and Mexican food. She believes leopard is a neutral and red lipstick can fix almost anything.
