Michele Varian and Two Tree Studios introduce two pieces of collaborative furniture, designed by Varian and Two Tree’s founder Allison Samuels, now available exclusively through Michele Varian (27 Howard St, SoHo or www.MicheleVarian.com).
Michele's 3rd Case Study went live on Business of Home today. We're so excited for its release because it punctuates the other two articles she's written for the series "The paradigm shift: A successful way forward for brick-and-mortar." Find out more about Guesst.co, the platform Michele Helped develop as a solution for designers and retailers.
A year and a half ago, I hosted the first in a series of Design Talk Roundtables held at my SoHo shop, alongside designer Malene Barnett, Maxwell Ryan of Apartment Therapy, my friend and fellow Guesst co-founder Jay Norris, and Darin Vest—at the time the head of retail real estate at L’Oréal. Vest reported to the packed room: “Whether you’re a newer brand or you started as a brick-and-mortar company, everyone is coming back to brick-and-mortar from some direction.”
“Even Amazon,” I added. “Even Amazon,” he echoed with a note of incredulity.
The roomful of designers, retailers and experts all concurred: Although the internet has changed, challenged and even disabled a lot of things about the way retail operates, the valuation of brick-and-mortar is surging, and is, in essence, still where it’s at.
Because it’s still so valuable, we have to find a way to make brick-and-mortar retail work. As I’ve detailed in my last two Case Study articles—about what’s actually affecting retail and what needs to be maintained from its original operational paradigms—many independent creative brands are struggling to understand, reorient to and ultimately outpace the changes that the retail industry is undergoing.
There is a solution, though—one that can move us forward as a retail community, that’s realistic, with almost no barriers to entry, and that ensures continued contribution of the creative industries to both our design ecosystem and our economy at large.
BY KATHY HENDERSON
AT FIRST GLANCE, it might seem strange to sell fine jewelry alongside brass and copper chandeliers, silk throw pillows, and porcelain tableware. But the minute you walk into Michele Varian’s chic SoHo shop, the product mix makes perfect sense. Varian, a Detroit native who began her career in fashion before segueing into textile, lighting, and wallpaper design, sees jewelry as a natural complement to the other items on display. “Everything in the store is some- thing that I personally chose,” she says, “and jewelry has always been a big part of the mix.”
TASTE MAKER
A downtown girl since moving to New York City more than 30 years ago, Varian opened her first shop “almost on a whim” in 2001, when the wholesale market for her pillows and fabrics declined after 9/11. Ten years later, she nabbed her current space, two blocks from the loft she shares with her rock-star husband, Crash Test Dummies lead singer Brad Roberts. Behind etched-glass doors urging passersby to “shop small, shop local,” Varian’s whimsical screen-printed wallpaper descends from a 15-foot- high ceiling; below the selling floor, artisans fabricate her gorgeous metal lamps and light fixtures. From the start, Varian envisioned the store as a home for emerging designers, including jewelry-makers. “A huge number of our customers are design professionals,” she says, “and I’m interested in introducing jewelry to people who don’t ordinarily go into a jewelry store.”
MIX MASTER
Vintage glass cases scattered throughout the store display an eclectic selection of jewelry from some 70 emerging designers, including two of Varian’s employees, Hayley Schlesinger and Nadia Todorova. “The common element that appeals to me in everything we sell, not just jewelry, is being able to see the hand of the person who made it,” Varian says. Delicate 14k gold earrings, rings, and bracelets with tiny stones set in unique patterns are showcased atop rustic fabrics and miniature books; a nearby case is stocked with chunkier brass and mixed metal designs. Varian dislikes plated jewelry, feeling that the added layer “covers up the handmade quality,” and says she chooses pieces for their
overall beauty, not the underlying value of the materials. For a shop specializing in high-end home accessories, the jewelry is well priced, with a sweet spot of $250 to $450.
COMMUNITY BUILDER
Varian’s curiosity about the future of retailing has led her to host a series of in-store design seminars and publish interviews with tastemakers on MicheleVarian.com. These days, she’s in the shop an average of one day a week in order to make time for her design work and the launch of Guesst, an ambitious digital platform that will pair independent designers with brick-and-mortar stores offering space for pop-up shops. She recently separated her jewelry and interior design offerings into distinct Instagram feeds, @jewelryatmichelevarian and @michelevarian. “The combination of design [products] and jewelry works seamlessly in the store, but it’s difficult to get across online,” she says, noting that jewelry now accounts for almost 25 percent of her total sales. Varian’s ability to juggle so many product lines successfully is a testament to the appeal of her aesthetic. “I’m super selective,” she says with a laugh. “I only want pieces that strike me as exactly right, so there’s a consistency that our shopper understands and appreciates.”
We're so thrilled that our SoHo shop is featured on Decor8 ! Read on for the interview with Michele!
"Hello dear readers, today it’s time to travel back to my home country - particularly to New York City where I spent a lot of time… A city that opened me up to art, pastrami, theater, the food truck culture before it became trend, interior design (and partying very late back in the day at Webster Hall). A place where I worked freelance for TIME Inc. and Conde Nast for years and later, where I returned to work on my first book Decorate.
When the book and I went on tour across the country, New York is where I wrapped up before flying back home to Hannover - and where my friends and fans kept me signing books at Anthropologie. New York is also where taught my first business and creative workshop with my wonderful friend Leslie Shewring. We rented a loft in Soho and just did our thing and it was really something cool back in 2012.
