After roughly 15 years in business, Spinelli Kilcollin is embarking on its first solo retail venture.
The fine jewelry label helmed by designers Yves Spinelli and Dwyer Kilcollin is opening its first retail stores this month. The brand’s first store is opening in New York City, located at 91 Crosby Street, on Wednesday. The brand will then open a store in Los Angeles, located at 747 North Western Avenue, on Feb. 18.
“When we started, we decided not to just jump to brick-and-mortar,” Kilcollin said. “We wanted to take a different path and meet with clients one-on-one and really prioritize trying to make our website the best kind of luxury experience to understand the product and immerse yourself in the brand.”
Related Articles
The designers explained that after developing a following online from their website and from conducting virtual appointments, they opened private showrooms in New York City and Los Angeles to meet clients looking for bespoke pieces. They said they quickly outgrew their New York showroom and moved into a bigger location, which they also outgrew.
You May Also Like
The reception from their private showrooms encouraged the designers to embark on their own retail outposts. They said New York has always been the brand’s top market even as it works with private clients and retailers like Nordstrom, Net-a-porter and Bergdorf Goodman.
“We were so hands-on and one-on-one with clients when we first started,” Spinelli said. “It’s really an opportunity for us to bring that experience back to a much larger scale for people to come in and really work with someone on our team and work with us since we’re in the stores, too, to find the piece that’s best suited for them and learn about our work.”
Spinelli Kilcollin’s New York store spans 2,100 square feet across two floors. The main level is open to the public and showcases the brand’s full assortment of fine jewelry. The top floor is a private showroom where customers can create bespoke pieces.
The store’s interior design centers on a “material-driven approach,” according to the designers, who created the space with minimally processed aluminum to “highlight the brand’s pure origins” and to give a nod to Kilcollin’s background in sculpture. The store’s north and south walls are designed with giant relief sculptures that mimic the brand’s design codes, notably its popular linked rings.
“Being us, of course, our first goal is to be different — and how do you do that?” Kilcollin said. “I wanted a lot of aluminum and just that pure metal. I think that connects to our brand. In spite of us being luxury jewelry, it’s still very metal-forward and silver-forward, so I wanted to use a lot of aluminum. For many elements of the store, we pulled from my last career as an artist where I made sculptures.”
The designers explained the Los Angeles store will have a different design concept. The store will reflect the brand’s connection with contemporary art and showcase pieces from their personal art collection and from their artist friends.
“It suits L.A.,” Spinelli said. “We’ve both been here for a really long time. Los Angeles is, of course, really different from New York — SoHo is like you walk outside and on a Saturday there’s just hundreds of people walking around outside Crosby Street and Lafayette and Prince Street where we are. In Los Angeles, you walk out and you just see cars zipping by back and forth and a few people walking to get coffee or something like that, so it’s a much different experience, but I feel like to me it really represents Los Angeles where it’s a destination and it’s more relaxed.”
Going forward, the designers said they’re looking at London as their next retail location after running similar private showrooms in the city.