There are many titles that have been bestowed upon New York City, but none is perhaps more apt than that of the world’s leading shopping mecca.
Few cities are able to match the diversity of the stores on offer, and even the most seasoned of retailistas can fulfill their wildest extravagance without leaving the shores of Manhattan. Renouncing the tourist-saturated department stores and ubiquitous fashion chains globestrutter Mira Comara Alexander rounds-up a few of the best independent shops to be found in the Big Apple.
L’Objet
Located in the heart of the West Village, L’Objet is a luxury lifestyle brand, specialising in home decor, exquisitely crafted tableware and table accessories. A purveyor of fine taste, creative director and interior designer Elad Yifrach founded the label in 2004, with a philosophy of creating designs both luxurious yet functional and superbly crafted by skilled artisans. His 2017 collection is testament to the original ethos; inspired by the ancient Mayan city of Tulum, it’s vibrant and daring, featuring hand-woven baby alpaca throws with prints inspired Mayan jungle animals, and bold tableware created in a mixture of bronze, ceramic and 24k gold. And I’m not the only one to love his ravishing pieces – global stockists including Bergdorf Goodman in NYC, Harrods and The Conran Shop in London, and Becker Minty in Sydney all seem to agree. 370 Bleeker St, West Village.
BDDW
Rustic-chic haven BDDW is as impressive as it is authentic. How best to describe its owner, Tyler Hays? Well, he’s a sculptor and a painter, who also happens to be a wood craftsman, engineer and builder. This gorgeous shop in SoHo showcases Hays’ timeless American designs; spanning furniture to chopping boards, each piece is individually made in America, using American woods, such as maple and claro walnut. Hays’ upbringing in rural Oregon informs his aesthetic, which is fused with a preference for practicality and an appreciation for wabi-sabi, the Japanese view on the beauty of imperfection/incompleteness. The result is furniture that is exquisitely handcrafted, in a beautifully imperfect way, just as nature intended. 5 Crosby Street, Lower Manhattan.
M.Crow & Company
The original M.CROW store, run by the Crow family opened 109 years ago as a general store in sleepy Lostine, Oregon. In 2012, faced with closure, it was bought by Tyler Hays (yup, he of BDDW), who then opened a second branch in NYC, right next door to BDDW. Looking like a spread out of Kinfolk, this simple white-walled studio sells home products and apparel all handmade from locally sourced materials in Hays’ Philly studio. Like his furniture the products are a wonderful blend of practicality and luxury – cashmere blankets produced on his knitting machine, ceramics made from Lostine clay, and beauty products containing wax from his own beehives. It seems Hays was right when he said he wanted to create everything he needed from scratch… between BDDW and M.CROW he has it covered, and now so do we.
16 Howard St, Lower Manhattan.
Maryam Nassir Zadeh
You may not have heard of her name, but tastemaker Maryam Nassir Zadeh’s effortless style will resonate. Her store on the Lower East Side contains an eclectic mix of clothes and artefacts you wish you’d picked up on your travels; the sort that go with anything, and have strangers chasing you down the street asking, ‘you must tell me, where did you find that charming dress…?’ Alongside her eponymous line, Zadeh stocks a wonderful array of up-coming designers such as Rejina Pjo, Barbara Casasola and a cool collection of easy-to-wear basics by Baserange and Hache. Her grandmother ran a boutique in Iran in the 1970s, importing designs from Italy and France and it seems that style and sensibility run in the family. 123 Norfolk St, Lower East Side.
For more shopping tips in the Big Apple, nab a copy of the LUXE New York guide…
