About
A merchandiser, which means I look at a lot of things and decide which ones matter.
I'm a merchandiser, which means I look at a lot of things and decide which ones matter. I've spent the better part of a decade doing this professionally — first at Farmhouse Pottery, where I learned what happens when a craft brand tries to grow without losing its soul; then at Bespoke Post, where I've led buying teams across a $65M business in apparel, home, outdoor, and accessories.
In 2021, my husband Kirby and I founded Testudo, a curated online gallery for emerging contemporary artists. We represented over fifty artists nationwide, built a brand and platform from scratch, and mounted a physical exhibition space that culminated in a review in Artforum. Running a gallery gave me a different kind of education: how taste operates as a product, what it costs to maintain a point of view, and what it actually takes to build something from nothing.
I collect art, mostly by emerging queer artists working in painting, sculpture, and ceramics. I swim in open water — the Hudson, the Straits of Mackinac, the Schuylkill — and I tend to place well. And I'm increasingly interested in how AI reshapes the work I do: not as a futurist, but as someone who uses every available tool to buy better, build faster, and think more clearly.
I live in Brooklyn.
- john.j.dennehy@gmail.com
- /in/john-dennehy
- @jjdenn