There is a very specific modern dating fantasy that begins in the fruit section. That fantasy came to life this weekend with Odd One In’s Taste of Love pop-up at Shopify NY a collectible experience built around the everyday chaos of falling in and out of love.
It doesn’t happen on an app. It doesn’t come through a perfectly curated profile. Instead, it happens somewhere between picking peaches and pretending not to notice the person reaching for the same one. For its latest pop-up at Shopify NY, Odd One In took that familiar meet-cute fantasy and turned it into a full collectible world.
Odd One In Popup, photo credits: Odd One In
Odd One In is a New York-based art collectible house. The brand works with contemporary artists to turn their characters and visual worlds into everyday objects, from collectible figures and charms to home goods, accessories, paper goods, and gifts. For Taste of Love: Summer Crush Shop, the brand brought that mission into a playful, fruit stand-inspired space in SoHo.
Across the weekend, the pop-up drew more than 1,000 visitors. Lines stretched out the door as guests waited to step into the brand’s summer crush universe. Overall, the activation combined the energy of a market, a dating fantasy, and an artist-led collectible launch, giving visitors a reason to linger beyond the shopping moment.
Guests stepped into a space filled with blind boxes, fresh fruit, love-themed tarot readings, a claw machine, artist patch customization, and photo moments throughout the store. As a result, the event felt less like a traditional retail moment and more like a playful love-life check-in, complete with prizes, readings, and the chance to discover which version of love they might pull from a blind box.
At the center of the pop-up was Taste of Love, a five-piece figure series created in collaboration with Taiwanese artist Shih-Han Huang. The collection features Hanhan, Huang’s recurring furry monster character. Specifically, the figures reimagine Hanhan through five emotional “flavors” of love: Sweet, Spicy, Sour, Bitter, and a secret Cupid figure.
Odd One In Popup, photo credits: Odd One In
Each figure captures a different stage of romance. Sweet feels like a small offering. Spicy carries the rush of infatuation. Meanwhile, Sour plays with the idea of “boyfriend material.” Bitter holds the familiar feeling of insisting you are fine after heartbreak. Finally, Cupid leaves room for the irrational, impossible-to-plan side of love.
Rather than presenting the figures as products on a shelf, Odd One In built an environment around the collection’s emotional language. For instance, the fruit stand concept became a playful nod to the cultural fantasy of meeting someone organically in the produce aisle. Meanwhile, the tarot readings, claw machine, and blind box format leaned into the uncertainty of love itself.
For Odd One In, the activation reflects a larger mission: making artist-led products feel intimate and approachable while preserving the artist’s original world.
“Not everyone’s first relationship with an artist starts in a gallery,” said Liu, co-founder of Odd One In. “For a lot of people, it starts with something more everyday. It could be a charm on your bag, a coaster on your table, a scarf you wear, or something you give to a friend. We think those first points of connection can be meaningful too.”
Odd One In Co-founders photo credits: Odd One In
That philosophy came through clearly at Shopify NY. Guests did not need an art-world background to connect with Huang’s work. Instead, Hanhan’s world was immediately accessible through humor, softness, and the emotional specificity of liking someone a little too much.
With Taste of Love: Summer Crush Shop, Odd One In’s Taste of Love pop-up at Shopify NY proved that an artist-led object can be playful, emotional, and culturally thoughtful all at once. And in a city where everyone is either looking for love, recovering from it, or pretending not to care, Hanhan found the perfect summer home.
