“This is a story of transformation and growth—from crack pipes to glass art,” says Elisha Smith-Leverock, the director shining a spotlight on Jon Gray, co-founder of Bronx-based culinary collective Ghetto Gastro. Working at the intersection of food, design and culture, Gray calls himself 'the dishwasher'—an unceremonious title that belies his part in disrupting the gourmet dining game.

In this Solange-soundtracked project produced by LIEF, Smith-Leverock traveled to Venice to meet Gray and a team of world-class glass artisans working on his first kitchenware collaboration, Triple Beam Dream; a name which is also shared by Rick Ross and Nas’s 2012 coke ballad. 

The conspicuous references to Gray’s past extends throughout his collection, which pays homage to the aesthetics of Pyrex glass—a major player in the production of crack during the ’80s and ’90s drug epidemic. 

“Just like Ghetto Gastro and Jon himself, Triple Beam Dream challenges peoples’ perceptions,” says Smith-Leverock. “It’s a Trojan horse. A meticulously hand-crafted, hyper-luxurious, carefully designed re-imagination of glassware that Jon used to cook crack with.”

Gray’s projects share the philosophy that real creativity can be found on the streets, not just front row seats. Whether it’s drugs, social injustice or prejudice, his collective has made a name for itself by taking destructive narratives and forging something precious from the pain. 

From a deconstructed apple pie with a chalk body outline bringing attention to the Black Lives Matter movement to lines of crushed coconut served on a mirror, Gray and his co-founders have created culinary works of art for both soup kitchens and fashion execs. 

“It’s not uncommon for luxury items to be appropriated from things that come from the streets,” says the director. "It’s rarer to see these ideas being pushed into the luxury space by people who have lived that reality." 

Triple Beam Dream was designed in collaboration with Nuova and will launch later this year.