The Souvenir, Redesigned by Project 8b

The Project 8b boutique at the Ace Hotel reinvents the travel good

The Ace Hotel has the makings of all things hip—Stumptown Coffee Roasters in the lobby, antique Smeg refrigerators and turntables in the rooms and the newly opened Breslin gastropub on the ground floor. And now, Project 8b, a boutique from the design team behind downtown label Various Projects, is open for business and stocked full of cool goods.

Brian Janusiak and Elizabeth Beer, the married designers behind the boutique, have chosen a collection of items that they think represents the new “souvenir.”

For instance, instead of selling “I Heart NY” shirts, they’ve collaborated with Scottish brand Mackintosh to design an $875 overcoat for the Ace. They also sell Chester Wallace bags by Patrick Long and other objets d’art, like a leather pencil case by Parisian designer Natalia Brilli, solid-gold key rings by Margiela and underwear by German label Scheisser. Janusiak and Beer, who spend much of their time in Europe, will scour the world for one-of-a-kind designs to sell at Project 8b, some of which won’t be available anywhere else in the country.

Project 8b, Ace Hotel 20 W. 29th St./Broadway, 212.679.2222, acehotel.com