All photos and words by Chris Svetlik.

DC’s newest art gallery, Wool Exploratorium, resides, oddly enough, in a pair of adjacent model units of a recently-constructed condo building, The Lacey. It’s a slick building with Euro styling that boasts among its benefits being “0 blocks from Florida Avenue Grill.”

The inaugural exhibition was called Bauble. It features 31 artists (most of them local) showing pieces all inspired by toys. The result is a collection of spirited and highly whimsical works which invite interaction: spinning turbines, talking into stylized walkie-talkies, and the like.

It’s small and rather cramped — pretty obvious that the space will be much more natural when it turns into Ikead-out condos. But even if it’s maybe just a little bit of a marketing ploy to sell condos, the gallery is fun and definitely worth a stop if you’re in the area. Go next time you’re at Florida Ave Grill.