With her second location, in Brooklyn, N.Y., jewelry designer Pamela Love wanted to represent her brand through a retail store that exudes warmth, has a welcoming energy, and a sense of luxury.
“We wanted…to make the piercing and shopping process bright and fun,” Love says of the location at 145 N. 6th St., which opened in May. “The store is a reflection of the brand, not the other way around, but it has been so much fun expanding our creative reach to retail spaces.”
What’s also interesting about this sophomore storefront is that Love went around the world, so to speak, to see what works in terms of a retail experience for her brand. The New York native, who lives in Brooklyn, opened her first location in Paris in spring 2020.
“Despite what was potentially disastrous timing, opening right at the start of the pandemic, it ended up thriving,” Love says. “Opening the New York store truly felt like a homecoming, I’ve dreamed of having a store here for a long time, and the success of our Paris location was a sure sign that we were ready for it.”
Pamela Love as a brand seeks to be both comfortable and luxurious, so Love says she wanted to translate that feeling into her stores. She worked with Brooklyn designer Uli Wagner to design the store, a collaboration that Love says gave the store the perfect style.
“There’s definitely a strong earthy undertone to my aesthetic, but it was important that the shop feel elevated,” Love says. “[Wagner’s] sleek minimalism really allowed the jewelry to shine, and then we worked in a lot of texture and brightness with plants and textiles and some incredibly special ceramic displays custom-made for us in Mexico.”
Love, who recently became a parent and opened two retail stores in two years, says she’s “basking in the glow” of these accomplishments, so her plans for expansion of brick-and-mortar stores isn’t something she’s focusing on at the moment. But she says she is enjoying all of the gifts life is offering her right now, both personally and professionally.
“One of the major benefits of having a storefront is it provides a physical space and a sense of community,” Love says. “We can’t wait to join forces with some of our neighbors in Williamsburg for all sorts of events. We just had an evening of tarot readings in the shop, and it was a blast.”
Love says that sense of community also comes from her successful collaborations, most recently, with Memor and Rent the Runway, producing work that inspires her.
“Maxine from Memor and I have very similar design aesthetics, and her use of artifacts and recycled materials is really in line with our brand’s values too,” Love says.
“I recently launched a clothing capsule collection with Rent the Runway, and it was such a wildly different experience designing clothing as opposed to jewelry,” Love says. “I’m incredibly happy with the results and proud to work with a company that also focuses on sustainability by giving these garments extended lives and disrupting the fast-fashion food chain.”
Top: In May Pamela Love opened her second store, in Brooklyn, N.Y., where she has lived her entire adult life and feels creatively inspired, the designer says (photos courtesy of Pamela Love).
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