Rag & Bone Replacement Mural Chosen

Ever since Rag & Bone moved into 73 East Houston over the summer, its Elizabeth Street facade has been an attractive target for graffiti writers.  So much, in fact, that the boutique held a design contest for a new mural to replace the tribute to Cafe Colonial. Now the crowdsourcing is complete, and the boutique has found its winning artist.

Meet Honduran transplant Josh Villatoro. His design was chosen from among a pool of four other finalists.  Voting was handled at Rag & Bone’s Facebook page, where Villatoro netted 318 “likes.”

Preparations for the paint job began yesterday evening at dusk, when Villatoro and a friend began whitewashing the wall. Behind the action was a classroom overhead projector, which cast a translucent image of the design for ease of stenciling.  We were told that, in all, the art project should take roughly one week and look something like this: