A Look Inside Our Nashville Storefront

A COLLABORATION

After living in the booming city of Nashville for 10 years, my husband and I have seen a lot of boutiques, businesses and restaurants open. My husband tends to be one of the first to know about new restaurants, bars, men's boutiques or experiences, so we typically check them out the month of their grand opening. We can usually tell right away if the business has the Nashville level "IT" factor. Aside from the common thread of exquisite quality (whether that be food or craft), beautiful presentation and an unmatched ambiance, the businesses in Nashville love to create a story with Nashville roots and collaborations with local artists. With this in mind, we knew that we wanted the Consider the Wldflwrs flagship experience to be a collaboration.

Our current flagship opened in September of 2018. Before this location, we had 2-3 other shopping experience / studio combinations that were incredibly fun to build out and make unique. In our last shopping experience, over in the Buchanan Arts District, we worked with the interior designer Savannah Metcalf on the entire build out. While we made this experience unique and worked with local artists, we weren’t able to completely customize the building itself. So when the opportunity to move to 901 Woodland Street came along, we jumped on the opportunity. When we signed the lease, the space was still bare with only framing and insulation. This allowed for us to completely custom-build the shopping experience with Savannah's help.

THE LAYOUT

Our 1,000 square foot space is long and skinny with generous natural light coming from the front and back windows. In order to not block any of the natural light, we sectioned off the retail area from our meeting area with a custom glass wall and curtain. Our studio was then tucked into the space behind the bathroom. This way, it is almost hidden within the space layout. With the glass wall being the first thing that customers see when they walk in, we knew we wanted to use the best fabricator in town - Kidd Epps. Kidd's art studio was walking distance from our old storefront location and we had seen exquisite examples of his work all around Nashville. He blew us away by adding a surprise custom detail to the bottom of our custom glass wall that features a diamond pattern that adds texture and dimension to the wall.  

 THE RETAIL

The main focus of the flagship is, of course, our retail shopping experience. We wanted this space to almost feel like an art gallery as we welcome customers into a relaxed atmosphere and encourage them to look around without the pressure of talking to someone right away. The jewelry we carry is truly art and it is difficult to take it all in without being able to view it up close. With this in mind, we designed shallow, eye-level cases that allow customers to really look at the jewelry and consider if they would like to try it on. Each of our 10 cases is curated by collection and invites the customer into an experience with each designer. We were able to create this custom look with the help of our architect at Powell Architects. They executed the design perfectly by building a gip wall and framing the shelves to our liking. When the shelves were completed and drywalled, we had another local fabrication and design company, 1767 Designs, build us custom glass doors to match the aesthetic of the rest of the store. After much back and forth about whether the front of the shop would feature any kind of terrazzo, we ultimately decided against the terrazzo trend and ended up building a custom checkout counter with 1767 Designs that is black and glass with gold handles and presentable from all sides.

In the very back of our space, we (more recently) added cabinets and shelving with the help of our good friends at Oil and Lumber. O&L and CTWF both worked out of Fort Houston, a local co-working space, in the past and we have hired Ethan on many occasions for his incredible handy-work. Also, major thanks to Alex Hatcher of O&L who worked on the main cabinets. We are so pleased with the way they were able to match the existing pieces and install a marble counter and sink based on Savannah’s designs.

THE ART

Now moving onto some beautiful art pieces- on the walls, you will see flecks of gold which happen to be orange peels covered in gold leaf. These peels were preserved (for almost 8 years!) and dried by my friend Sarah Bumgardner, who I met on a painting retreat in France just months before opening the 901 Woodland Street flagship. After seeing her work, I knew that these natural yet golden pieces had to become part of the space. Sarah came to do the installation and used most of the orange peels to symbolize a couple joining together. I told Sarah I was most inspired by the idea of a pinky promise, but I also wanted them to be whimsical. She nailed it… literally ;).

In the front of the shop we have a beautiful hanging floral installation designed and crafted by the talented team at Mayker Creative. Megan, the owner of Mayker, is a dear friend of mine and the mastermind behind a wildly successful rental, staging, planning and event design company especially focusing on Nashville weddings and bridal events. Mayker also installed Christmas decor for us this past year and turned the shop into a winter wonderland.

On the very front glass you will see a hand painted floral bouquet painted by a local artist, Stinky, better known as “I Saw the Sign.” The artwork that was used for the design was hand drawn by Christian Watson of 1924us. Christian, now married to Elle-May, drew this bouquet for us in 2017 in collaboration with an engagement ring he had made for Elle-May. We have printed the full color drawing on poster boards which we occasionally like to give out. I even had the design custom embroidered on CTWF bomber jackets! The sketch is one that we treasure and consider part of our staple designs.

ADDITIONAL ELEMENTS

From our packaging to the five senses you experience in the store, we have enjoyed collaborations with local artists. Over the years, we have made an effort to keep our customers on their toes with what they might taste, smell, see, touch and hear when they walk through our doors. We have worked on a signature candle with Ranger Station Company, enjoyed Caramels from Shotwell Candy Company and champagne from Woodland Wine Merchant. We also regularly get fresh flowers delivered from Flwr Shop just up the road and we'll usually have some special beer selections from The Filling Station or Smith & Lentz just in our backyard. You never know what you might experience the next time you come back to visit us Consider the Wldflwrs!