Love, Adorned – New York

Lori Leven has traveled across the world to bring her store Love, Adorned to life. Here, she tells us about going from an East Village tattoo shop to her two retail locations, in downtown Manhattan and the Hamptons.

When did you open the store and what was the motivation behind it?

I opened in December of 2011, after having a jewelry store in the front of my tattoo shop, New York Adorned, for nearly fifteen years. I wanted to expand on the idea by carrying other goods that I felt strongly about, but I knew the tattoo shop was not the right venue. There was also a contingent of people that didn’t feel comfortable coming into a tattoo shop to shop for jewelry, and didn’t understand that we were selling high end, fine jewelry. After fifteen years we were still a kind of “hidden gem” that the stylists and style makers would always hit up. I wanted to show the world my point of view, and I wanted a big, light and airy space to do it in.

Where do you get inspiration from? 

Traveling in countries where the culture is very different from my every day experience, New York City, artists that create fearlessly, and the great people around me.

Talking about travel, which places do you find yourself going back to over and again?

The place that I’ve spent most of my time in is India, but I travel all over in Asia and Europe. Next, I’d like to spend time in Africa.

Staying ahead of the curve in a world with Instagram is always challenging. That’s why travel is so important to me.

Are there any criteria that you particularly care about when choosing pieces for the store?

The very most important thing for me is whether I would wear it or use it myself. I am most interested in high quality pieces that are created by individual makers with an original eye.

Can you tell us more about your relationships with the artists and designers you carry? 

We have done a few small collaborative collections with our designers, and plan on doing more of that in the coming year to showcase on our new website. In general, I speak a lot to my designers about what I love their work, and what the clients love about their work in order to be able to collaboratively cultivate the curation for the stores. Because of that, I believe it’s important to not only feel a connection to the designers’ work but also to connect to them on a personal level.

There are two locations for Love, Adorned—one is in SoHo and the other one in the Hamptons. 

Yes, the second Love, Adorned is in Amagansett. We opened it a year after having opened the first store in the city. I also still have the tattoo shop in the East Village, which I’ve had for 18 years now.

Love, Adorned is located at 269 Elizabeth Street, New York and 156 Main Street, Amagansett.