Big Easy on the Eyes

I once lived in a tiny house. In the tiny kitchen, there was a tiny sink where my dishes never totally got clean. And every night, my not-so-tiny cats paced every square foot of the place and yowled for more room. Had I not been so attached to those fat cats and all my DVD box sets of TV shows that might eventually leave Netflix—I’m looking at you, Friday Night Lights—I would have loved the serenity of minimalism. For an afternoon of its bare pleasures, I stopped in the KREWE tiny house pop-up shop in Baton Rouge, where 154.8 square feet holds little more than the New Orleans eyewear company’s luxury spectacles and sunglasses and a few potted plants for verdant contrast.

KREWE is hardly the first company to capitalize on New Orleans culture to the outside world, but there’s an almost effortless cool to their approach that's entirely lacking in out-of-season Mardi Gras beads and Decatur Street “NAWLINS” tees. Founder Stirling Barrett takes notes from the city’s architecture in crafting his specs: bridges on the St. Louis collection are intended to mimic the wrought-iron balconies of the Quarter, while the Huey frames will call to mind the Huey P. Long Bridge. KREWE’s keenness for architecture extends to their traveling tiny house, built to the French Quarter’s historic code (though one imagines the Big Easy denizens wouldn’t have let themselves be quite so cramped) and roadworthy enough to make cross-country treks to festivals and the like.

The house will make stops from East Coast to West in 2018, but you can catch it now—and snag frames seen on the likes of Beyoncé, Jon Batiste, and Kristen Bell—in the parking lot of 1660 Lobdell Avenue, hosted by the similarly stylish boutique Kiki. If you miss the Tiny House—and your prescription’s not the culprit—you can always visit krewe.com after they pack up shop on December 15.