Manual Opens First Chinatown Photo Lab Designed Like a Skate Shop

Camera company Manual has opened its first permanent storefront and photo lab on Allen Street in Chinatown, Manhattan, designed by studio Protean Practice with Baltic birch seating, cold-rolled steel and baby-pink accents.

The shop, which opened this past month in a former point-of-sale supply store, is Manual's first brick-and-mortar location since the company was founded in 2017. The brand produces a pocket-sized, translucent digital camera called Holo, along with disposable cameras and film, and previously operated through pop-ups.

What drove the design?

Manual founder Malcolm Dia told Dezeen the goal was a downtown gathering spot for the next generation of photographers — a place to "pull up in the morning, grab a camera, go live your life, and then come back, get it developed and hang out".

"We thought of it as making us home base for photographers," Dia said. "[There is] a wall of product and ways to inspire yourself, ways to interact, and then the other half is an area to hang out and chill. It's kind of like the philosophy of a skate shop."

Dia said the store targets people picking up a camera or film for the first time, and is not trying to "take any business away" from long-standing neighbourhood labs such as Sammy Photo Lab and Elize Digital — the latter recently went viral for its passport pictures.

"A big reason why I wanted to make the stores was to make it for the kids who come down the street and pick up their digital camera or roll of film for the very first time, and we want to be that for them, the next generation," he said.

How does the facade reference the Holo camera?

The facade is floor-to-ceiling glass with a translucent polycarbonate upper bulkhead that exposes 1800s brickwork from earlier storefronts, plus the shop's name in straightforward black font.

Protean Practice co-founder Saji Abu-Gold said the polycarbonate choice for the facade and interior ceiling was partially informed by Holo's coloured plastic shell, which exposes its underworkings, such as the battery. The studio stripped the old signage covering but kept the structural skeleton, infilled it with polycarbonate sheathing and restored a fluorescent light behind the original bulkhead.

"[When] we started to take off the layers of signage and the giant neon sign that was above, we realized that the frame, while a bit uneven, had a really nice structural skeletal shape to it underneath all the layers of vinyl and signage that people had put," said Abu-Gold.

"We finished installation at night, and it had this refraction effect that is similar to the flashlight coming through the plastic of the Holo camera, so it ended up working out really well."

What is inside the store?

A large multi-level Baltic birch seating unit fills most of the left side, informed partially by American designers Ward Bennett and Joe D'Urso. The front platform meets the lip of the window edge — a D'Urso device — with tiers rising through the store. The lower lip lets visitors "sit on the floor comfortably without it being an actual floor"; the upper level "encourages people to stay awhile".

Other elements include:

• Cold-rolled steel wall panels on either side
• A backlit steel pegboard by designer-fabricator Ian Chapin, cut into a panel at the entrance to hold product
• Custom aluminium shelving for zines and merchandise
• Plywood, pink and steel speakers by Miami studio Lupo in the corners
• Prints curated by Silvertooth Agency and a commissioned painting by artist Leon Xu

A baby-pink curtain beyond the retail counter conceals operations. Visitors drop off film at the counter; Manual couriers it to a family-owned, longtime partner shop in Flatbush for processing.

Who is Protean Practice?

Protean Practice was founded in 2022 by apparel designer Saji Abu-Gold and photographer Steven Traylor, and operates between Los Angeles, New York City and London. The studio works across residential and retail projects with a focus on low-emission, local material sourcing and maintaining existing site conditions.

Project credits list Abu-Gold as designer, Manual as creative direction, Agim Lamaj as construction lead, Matthew Avoletta as millwork collaborator, Ian Chapin on the stainless peg wall and Lupo on the sound system. In a Chinatown seeing new design activity — from Spaced Agency's Wo Hop expansion to a contested jail under construction — Manual's lab positions film photography retail as a neighbourhood gathering point rather than a purely commercial service.