Sascha Lewis On Whether New York Matters

In this out-take from the PSFK Conference New York 08, Flavopill founder Sascha Lewis talks about the continued importance of New York as a cultural leader.

It’s fascinating to see how NY changing – I’m a native – been here for 3+ decades. Certainly the 70’s has the truest allure of NY, exciting, edgy. There is still is that mythology around NY. Out of the country people still think it’s graffiti filled streets, going to get mugged every turn you take. The city’s changed; it’s a natural progression of a city that is this dynamic. It’s the one place that everyone compares themselves to. Almost apologetic, we’re like NY because we’re Berlin. Wow, we’re not NY but we’re London. With the melting pot, people we draw in, everyone is a self starter, believing they can be the best at something. It creates an ecosystem that is incomparable to other cities. Now it is a little stale, a little flat. We’re fighting the good fight to make it relevant. But culturally it isn’t the 70’s or 80’s or even the 90’s in terms of things starting here or evolving as trends, cultural movements. That’s taking place in other cities more than NY. Still we are the focal point for so much that people consider modern day culture.