BEAUTIFUL BRANDS SPOTLIGHT

In our ongoing Beautiful Brand Series, we spotlight brands that embrace beautiful design and thoughtful craftsmanship. Discover Olive Ateliers, a Los Angeles–based design destination known for its weekly drops of antique, vintage, and reclaimed objects, curated with a reverence for patina, provenance, and timeless beauty.

Step into Olive Ateliers and you enter a world where history feels tangible: stone troughs worn smooth, reclaimed wood darkened by time, vessels that carry the quiet dignity of their making. From its Los Angeles atelier, the brand has cultivated a devoted following around weekly drops: curated edits of antique, vintage, reclaimed, and artisan pieces that sell out almost as quickly as they appear. Its newest chapter, Lieu de Vie, is Olive Ateliers’ own collection of furniture and décor, pieces designed to carry the same storied, soulful spirit as the antiques that inspire them.

From monumental stone troughs to sculptural planters and reclaimed wood furniture, Olive Ateliers curates one-of-a-kind furniture and decor that feel enduring by nature. Sourced globally, each piece is chosen with intention, woven into collections such as Provençal Flea, sourced from the markets of southern France, and Orchard Lore, drawn from pastoral life, turning curation into an act of storytelling that evokes a sense of time and place. 

With a following that stretches from interior designers to Hollywood names like Kim Kardashian, Kendall Jenner, and Kristen Bell, the brand has secured a reputation as both a design insider’s resource and a coveted cultural favorite.

True beauty endures not in perfection, but in provenance.

Olive Ateliers Origin Story

Olive Ateliers was founded in 2021 by friends Kendall Knox, Ben Knox, and Laura Sotelo, born from a fascination with vintage relics they call “objects with old souls.” Their first offerings appeared as biweekly Instagram drops—small, globally sourced, considered edits of antique and reclaimed pieces that vanished within hours.

The response quickly spilled into real life, with pop-ups across Los Angeles drawing lines around the block. By early 2022, Olive Ateliers had established a permanent home in a soaring warehouse in the Arts District, where the cadence of discovery became ritual. Today, that rhythm continues online, with weekly drops that extend the brand’s curated treasures far beyond Los Angeles.

As a natural evolution of the brand, Olive Atelier has expanded from sourcing to creating. Its design arm, Lieu de Vie, translates the same ethos into original furniture and décor, conceived with the same reverence for patina, permanence, and narrative.

“Objects with Old Souls.”

Why It’s Uncommon

One of the most unique aspects of Olive Ateliers is its retail space, which is as inspiring as the objects it curates. Inside the warehouse-style space, visitors are greeted by thoughtfully arranged vignettes, sun-lit corners, and the trademark presence of a century-old olive tree at its center, a quiet marker of the brand’s identity and spirit. The showroom’s layout emphasizes discovery: objects are spaced to breathe, layered with texture and story, encouraging lingering and exploration rather than rushed retail browsing. This sensory, tactile experience carries through to the website. Olive Ateliers’ online platform mirrors the showroom’s aesthetic via immersive imagery and narrative-driven storytelling. From in-person to online, there’s no touchpoint with Olive Ateliers that’s not considered, intentional, and unique. 

Patina Revered

“Objects with Old Souls” is the guiding doctrine for Olive Ateliers. The brand gravitates toward objects that bear the touch of time: pieces with worn edges, weathered surfaces, and the quiet dignity of long use. Rather than concealing signs of age, Olive Atelier embraces them as part of the story, treating patina as provenance and wear as a testament to endurance. Pieces are chosen not for flawlessness but for the history they hold.

Drops as Ritual

At Olive Ateliers, the drop is a ritual of anticipation. Each week brings a curated edit of antique, vintage, reclaimed, and artisan objects, pieces defined by their rarity and quiet beauty. Offered on a first-come-first-serve basis, they disappear quickly, turning every drop into a fleeting moment, a brief chance to collect something truly singular.

Curated Collections

One of the brand’s signatures is its ability to assemble collections rooted in provenance. Collections like Provençal Flea sourced pieces directly from the markets of southern France, while Orchard Lore brings together objects that echo the quiet rhythm of pastoral living. In these collections, vessels, mirrors, and furnishings are not presented as isolated finds but as part of a larger narrative. Each collection is assembled with intention, offering not just objects but an invitation into the worlds that shaped them.

Concierge Access

Olive Ateliers extends its philosophy of intentional living into a Concierge service designed for those who want a more personal touch. Unlike other retailers that simply display their inventory, Olive Ateliers offers private consultations, access to pieces not available online, and a process that transforms sourcing into a tailored experience.

Quiet Restorations

Olive Ateliers treats vintage cabinets, dressers, and sideboards like living archives—preserving what matters, then thoughtfully reimagining what’s missing. Pieces are hand-finished and updated for modern function without erasing the character that drew you in: the patina, the wear, the sense of a previous life. The result is furniture that feels quietly elevated—restored with restraint so it can slip into today’s rooms while keeping its history intact.

From Curator to Creator

In a notable evolution, Olive launched Lieu de Vie, its first original homeware line. Roughly 40 pieces channel French farmhouse living, including spindle stools, scalloped candle holders, baskets, nightstands, and bespoke linens inspired by the inner sleeves of vintage French novels. Prices begin around $35, bringing the brand’s rustic-luxe sensibility into reach while preserving its devotion to honest materials and lived-in charm.

Storied Living

Olive Ateliers earns its place for its devotion to pieces that carry both form and memory. It champions age and authenticity, invites serendipity through weekly drops, and lends its eye through its concierge services so discovery feels personal. With Lieu de Vie, the brand proves it can design with the same quiet conviction it curates with objects and furnishings that hold space for life, gather marks with grace, and make the everyday feel a little more storied.

BEAUTIFUL BRAND SPOTLIGHT

In our ongoing Beautiful Brand Series, we spotlight brands that embrace beautiful design and thoughtful craftsmanship. Meet Heirlome, a slow fashion brand founded by Stephanie Suberville and husband Jeffrey Axford that partners with artisans across Mexico & Latin America to transform time-honored traditions into refined, contemporary womenswear.

The rhythm of a loom in Oaxaca, the pull of a needle through embroidered cloth in the southern highlands, the slow dyeing of silk for a rebozo in San Luis Potosí—these quiet acts of craftsmanship shape the world of Heirlome. What began as a vision to honor Mexico’s fading craft traditions has evolved into a women’s ready-to-wear clothing brand that transforms traditional embroidery, weaving, and printmaking into ready-to-wear collections designed for today. Partnering with artisans from Latin America for each collection, Heirlome preserves these skills passed from one generation to the next and brings them into dialogue with modern design. Each collection is a tapestry of heritage and modern tailoring, where centuries-old motifs are revived through the hands of master artisans and reinterpreted in silhouettes that feel at once timeless and contemporary. To wear Heirlome is to step into a narrative of memory and craft, carrying forward artistry that might otherwise be forgotten.

Craft is the quiet language through which culture endures.

Heirlome: Born of Tradition

Founded in 2022 by Stephanie Suberville and her husband, Jeffrey Axford, Heirlome is a womenswear label built on the preservation of heritage and craft. Suberville’s path began in 2004 when she moved to New York to study at Parsons School of Design. From there, she went on to hone her skills at houses like Rag & Bone and La Ligne before launching Heirlome with Axford. Together, they built a label rooted in durability and artistry, producing garments from materials like deadstock calf leather, Italian wools, and silks. While the line is largely crafted in New York City, each season Heirlome introduces an original collaboration with a Latin American artisan.

Heirlome traces back to Stephanie Suberville’s childhood in Monterrey, Mexico, where her family’s love of Mexican artesanía turned everyday trips into journeys of discovery. Weekends often meant detours into small towns, stepping into workshops scented with wood, clay, and dye, while her parents sought out handmade pieces to add to their collection.

From these trips, she learned that each region of Mexico carries its own creative language and that to value artisans is to keep culture itself alive. That lesson—that craft is a living legacy—became the foundation for Heirlome. Even its name carries that weight: drawn from “heir” and “lome” (meaning tool) and rooted in the Middle English word for heirloom, it reflects the belief that craftsmanship itself is an inheritance to be preserved and passed on.

Why It’s Uncommon

In a fashion landscape crowded with disposable trends, Heirlome stands apart for its refusal to compromise on craft or meaning. What makes the brand uncommon is not only its preservation of centuries-old techniques by partnering with artisans for each collection, but also the way it reimagines them through contemporary tailoring, sustainable practices, and collaborations that keep cultural traditions alive. The idea, she said in a 2024 interview, is to create “different ways to connect the world with what I’m doing, more than just beautiful clothes that you can pass on to your kids, it’s also the love for the artisans and the preserving of art and culture.” The result is clothing that feels singular: rooted in history, yet undeniably relevant today.

Photo: Heirlome.com

Tailoring Meets Craft

The hallmark of Heirlome is marrying artisanal detail with precision tailoring. When we first discovered Heirlome, what struck us most was how seamlessly the brand integrated artisans’ work into its garments. Their craft was never treated as an afterthought or a decorative layer, but as the starting point of each design.

Every season begins with prints. Months ahead, Suberville engages artisans with full creative freedom to reinterpret their motifs — often in hand-drawn or painted form. Once the artwork arrives in New York, it becomes the blueprint: the fabrics (often silk-wool from small Venetian mills or other sustainable sources) are selected, and the motifs are digitally printed, cut, and integrated into the pattern and tailoring. It’s a reverse-engineered process where craft informs structure, not the other way around. The result is a collection where every piece meticulously balances the hand of the artisan and the discipline of the atelier. 

Slow Luxury & Longevity

Heirlome is built on a commitment to longevity and intentional design. The brand consistently sources fabrics from small, sustainable mills, prioritizing natural fibers and materials whose integrity endures beyond seasonal cycles. Suberville personally visits the factories she partners with and has long-standing relationships with them. This hands-on approach ensures every piece is made with transparency and care using the finest fabrics, designed to last and to honor the craft at its core.

A Story in Every Stitch

Heirlome earns its place in the Beautiful Brand collection for proving that fashion can be both preservation and progress. By partnering with artisans to carry forward forgotten traditions and by shaping those centuries-old techniques into timeless silhouettes with modern relevance, each collection introduces garments that are not only beautiful but also enduring. To shop Heirlome is to invest in more than clothing: it is to carry a piece of cultural memory, a story stitched into fabric, and a vision of fashion that honors the past while dressing for the moment.

Learn More About Heirlome From Its Founders Stephanie Suberville & Jeffrey Axford:

BEAUTIFUL BRAND SPOTLIGHT

In our ongoing Beautiful Brand Series, we spotlight brands that embrace beautiful design and thoughtful craftsmanship. Meet Kindred Black, a slow beauty brand offering sustainable skincare and cosmetics in beautiful packaging alongside jewelry and rare objects.

When Alice Kindred Wells and Jennifer Black Francis launched Kindred Black in 2015, it was less a brand than a quiet rebellion—an environmentally conscious answer to overconsumption, offering natural, plastic-free skincare, cosmetics, and botanical perfumes crafted to endure. Nearly a decade later, that act of defiance has become a design philosophy where everything Kindred Black offers is thoughtfully crafted with intention. What began as a slow-fashion retailer and later a slow-beauty brand has come full circle, evolving into a curated sanctuary for slow living where skincare elixirs in hand-blown glass vessels mingle with sculptural jewelry, one-of-a-kind vintage treasures, and limited-edition home objects.

Kindred Black is at once an apothecary, a jeweler, and a gallery, unified by a philosophy of slow consumption and reverence for craft. To browse Kindred Black online is to move through a collection that feels less like products and more like keepsakes—artifacts of a slower, more intentional way of living.

Kindred Black Origin Story

Photo: Kindredblack.com

Kindred Black’s ethos was forged in motion. From its earliest days, Wells and Francis immersed themselves in the pursuit of makers who valued craft and sustainability, chasing down leads, traveling widely, and gathering recommendations from anyone willing to share them. “We talked the ear off of just about anyone who would share a recommendation,” they recall, describing their early hunt for natural ingredients, low-waste packaging, recycled materials, and locally made goods.

Yet, discovery was never just about raw materials. From the beginning, the founders delighted in hunting for unexpected treasures, from antique jewelry to pre-owned pieces revived by a network of jewelers, seamstresses, and tailors. “We believe so fervently that new doesn’t always mean better,” they explain. “There is no greater expression of personal style than a piece you won’t see anywhere else.”

This spirit of discovery continues to shape Kindred Black today, where beauty essentials live alongside one-of-a-kind artifacts and storied objects, each proving that sustainability and style can coalesce. 

It’s brands like Kindred Black that drive Uncommon and Curated’s ethos. When we first learned of Kindred Black years ago, it felt less like discovering a brand and more like being invited into a secret. Watching their journey has been just as captivating—witnessing the quiet evolution while never losing the core essence of the brand.

Why It’s Uncommon

Kindred Black’s beauty lies in the details—choices made with care and conviction, until the whole became something rarer than the sum of its parts. Each hand-blown bottle, small-batch elixir, and restored treasure reflects a devotion to craft, sustainability, and the art of living with intention. From partnering with charities to launching a refillable circular beauty model, Kindred Black proves that building a beautiful brand goes well beyond what meets the eye. 

Hand-Blended, All-Natural Elixirs

Kindred Black’s elixirs are as thoughtful as the vessels that hold them. Each formula is built from minimal, natural ingredients with pure oils, toners, and botanical extracts hand-blended in small batches to preserve potency and integrity. This simplicity is intentional: by stripping away synthetics and fillers, the brand highlights the raw beauty of each ingredient, allowing subtle variations between batches to become a mark of authenticity rather than imperfection.

Hand-Blown Elixir Bottles

Equally important is how the formulas are housed. The elixirs arrive in hand-blown orb bottles crafted from recycled glass, sealed with natural cork and wax, transforming packaging into part of the ritual. Sourcing is just as meticulous: Moroccan rosewater distilled in a single pass by a family farm, jojoba grown in small sustainable cooperatives, botanicals chosen for both their efficacy and ethical origins.

Refillables & Full-Cycle Intent

In 2023, Kindred Black expanded this ethos further by introducing infinitely recyclable aluminum refill bottles, embedding sustainability not just in what goes into the bottle, but in what happens after. With this circular beauty model, customers can now replenish their favorites without adding waste, underscoring the founders’ belief that the responsibility of sustainability lies with the brand, not just the consumer. 

Photo: Kindredblack.com

Solar-Powered Artisan Glass

Some of Kindred Black’s hand-blown glass vessels are produced in Oaxacan studios powered by solar energy, where recycled glass feeds into circular production. This integration of renewable energy and traditional craft exemplifies the integrity woven into every detail of the brand.

A Brand That Gives Back

Kindred Black’s values extend outward. The brand donates portions of sales to organizations, including the Durrell Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, Center for Biological Diversity, Planned Parenthood, The Ocean Conservancy, and the ACLU. These commitments reflect an understanding that sustainability must also mean supporting the ecosystems—human and environmental—that make beauty possible.

Beauty Beyond the Surface

Kindred Black earns its place in the Beautiful Brand roster as a sustainable brand that insists on reverence, creating and curating beauty and objects with intention. To shop Kindred Black is to embrace a philosophy of slow living—where each object carries a story, each routine becomes a ritual, and each purchase honors both heritage and the planet. 

Explore The Brand

BEAUTIFUL BRAND SPOTLIGHT

In our ongoing Beautiful Brand Series, we spotlight brands that embrace beautiful design and thoughtful craftsmanship. Meet Blue Rose Pottery, where everyday rituals meet centuries of craft with handcrafted polish pottery.

In a quiet corner of South Carolina, there exists a portal to Bolesławiec, a bridge between the rolling hills of the Polish countryside and the sunlit kitchens of modern homes. That bridge is Blue Rose Pottery, a brand founded in 2004 by Diane Missel, a retired retail executive who carried in her heart a collector’s reverence for Polish stoneware. What began as a single passion project has grown into a carefully curated collection of ceramics, glassware, and stoneware, each piece whispering its own story, each glaze echoing a tradition older than many European capitals. In the heart of Blue Rose’s vision lies the storied tradition of Polish pottery. These are not mass-produced wares, but pieces born from high-fired stoneware: shaped with intention, painted with intricate patterns that reflect generations of tradition, and glazed by hands that carry within them centuries of ceramic lore.

Blue Rose Pottery

Blue Rose Pottery sources its ceramics from eleven factories in Poland, selecting patterns and artisans whose techniques marry fierce technical rigor with soulful creativity. The result: vibrant florals, concentric dots, vine-laced filigree, and playful confetti motifs that swirl across bowls, ladles, platters, and mugs. No two pieces are identical.

Each piece carries a reassuring weight, its high-fired stoneware forged for enduring strength, yet closer inspection reveals the story behind the delicate patterns and floral motifs with subtle nuances that bear the unmistakable mark of the human hand. As functional as they are beautiful, these ceramics are designed for modern living, safe for the oven, microwave, freezer, and dishwasher.

Where Pattern Meets Poetry

Blue Rose’s signature strength lies in its pattern portfolio with over a hundred designs that span from timeless to contemporary. Each carries its own poetry: Blue Daisy, Eliza, Summer Vine, Charleston, Willow. These are more than motifs; they set the tone of your table, capturing domestic vignettes painted in glaze.

The brand encourages a mix-and-match sensibility, inviting collectors to pair bold cobalt chargers with dainty pastel bowls, or to let contrasting designs spark dialogue across a table. In this interplay, the ceramics transcend their role as vessels and become punctuation marks in the language of home.

Why It’s Uncommon

Blue Rose Pottery sets itself apart by partnering with multiple independent Bolesławiec workshops to expand its design offerings. The brand’s portfolio of patterns spans from centuries-old motifs to contemporary artisan creations, while each piece is high-fired for heirloom-level durability that will last for years to come. Rooted in Polish heritage and refined over generations, these hand-painted patterns allow collectors to bring home a true piece of history.

Polish Lineage

Polish pottery from Bolesławiec has been studied in design anthropology circles because it blends folk motifs, guild traditions, and family-taught brushwork techniques. For instance, patterns like the “eye of the peacock” (Pfauenauge) are centuries old, but the way they’re executed often varies subtly between factories and even individual artisans.

As a result, this kind of pottery carries an anthropological story: many of the brushstroke patterns are passed through family apprenticeships, often with subtle “signatures” hidden in the design (a particular curve in a vine, a slightly irregular dot sequence). In this way, every Blue Rose piece holds not just function, but the invisible fingerprints of a lineage of makers.

A Story at Every Table

Blue Rose’s pieces are designed to be woven into life’s small rituals: a butter dish catching the morning sun, a hand-painted bowl cradling stew on a winter evening, a floral platter carrying birthday cake to the table. The brand leans into this intimacy with thoughtfully curated seasonal arrivals, gift registries, and collections that echo the rhythms of the year. 

Blue Rose Pottery earns its place in our Beautiful Brand roster as a collector’s dream—an invitation to savor the small moments of everyday life. To bring these pieces into your home is to embrace the art of hospitality, where even the simplest meal becomes a moment worth lingering over. More than a brand, Blue Rose Pottery is a philosophy of living beautifully, with pieces destined to become heirlooms in the making.

Watch the Craftsmanship in Action:

BEAUTIFUL BRANDS SPOTLIGHT

In our ongoing Beautiful Brand Series, we spotlight brands that embrace beautiful design and thoughtful craftsmanship. Discover Rafe New York handbags – beautiful works of art steeped in Filipino craftsmanship and heritage.

At Rafe New York, every handbag is a story told in form and light—where heritage craft converges with architectural design to create objects that transcend the notion of accessory. At the heart of the collection is the minaudière, a jewel-box evening bag first popularized in 1930s Paris and reimagined by Rafe as a modern artifact: faceted frames softened by the shimmer of capiz or mother-of-pearl, each one shaped by more than seventy hours of artisan work. Alongside these luminous pieces are clutches, totes, and day-to-evening bags, where abaca weaving, shell inlay, and architectural lines transform functionality into art. These designs have captured the attention of style icons like Olivia Palermo and Kate Bosworth, and have even made their way onscreen—from Simone Ashley’s Met Gala scene in The Devil Wears Prada 2 to Carrie Bradshaw’s chic looks in And Just Like That.

Read on for an exploration of Rafe New York’s illustrious origins, the refined craftsmanship that defines each handbag, and the visionary artistry of its founder.

Where creativity lives, beauty follows.

Rafe New York Origin

Founded in 1997, Rafe New York is rooted in the bicultural lens of Rafé Totengco. Growing up in Manila, he was surrounded by the shimmer of capiz windows and the natural beauty of native shells like kabibe and mother-of-pearl. When he later moved to New York, his world expanded to the sharp lines of skyscrapers, the glamour of nightlife, and the eclectic mix of cultures that define the city. That duality of natural beauty and cosmopolitan edge became the DNA of his brand, rooted in rich heritage.

And at the center of his vision sits the minaudière. Traditionally designed to hold only the essentials, a minaudière is both accessory and adornment, more akin to a piece of jewelry than a handbag. In Rafe’s hands, it becomes something greater: an artful object of architecture and heritage, carried not just as a vessel for belongings, but as a story in motion.

Totengco often describes his work as a dialogue between architecture, art, and light. His minaudières reference Art Deco geometry, Bauhaus balance, and tropical modernism, while his choice of materials reflects both tradition and innovation: polished shells, woven raffia, metallic accents, and woods that create contrast and texture. His seasonal collections often draw inspiration from various eras and artistic movements. Whether inspired by art deco silhouettes or the glamor of Studio 54 and Helmut Newton’s photography capturing the vibrancy of New York City’s nightlife, Totengco aims to bring these themes to life through the lens of craftsmanship.

Why It’s Uncommon

Rafe New York stands apart for its unique blend of heritage craft and architectural design. Each handbag is meticulously handcrafted in the Philippines using centuries-old techniques. The result is a collection of minaudières, clutches, and totes that feel less like accessories and more like modern heirlooms: glamorous, enduring, and deeply tied to cultural heritage.

Hours of Craft in Every Clutch

Every minaudière begins with shells—mother-of-pearl, capiz, or abalone—carefully sorted, cut, and inlaid piece by piece onto an aluminum frame. Afterward, each surface is machine-sanded and hand-buffed for hours to achieve its luminous finish. The process takes anywhere from 40 to 70 hours, with every stage overseen by master artisans who carry generations of knowledge in their hands. Take, for example, the Sirena Scallop Shell Minaudière, crafted from Lion’s Paw scallop shells harvested from Philippine waters. Its wooden gusset mirrors the gentle undulations of the shell, and each clasp is set with semi-precious stone. Equally intricate, the LOVE Minaudière transforms the Kabibe shell into a heart silhouette. Even Rafe New York’s more minimalistic silhouettes, like the Chriselle Flapper and the Megan Shell, are an artful labor of love. 

Heritage Reimagined

Production is rooted in the Philippines, where skilled artisans translate time-honored crafts into clean, modern silhouettes. In some collections, these techniques are paired with Italian hardware or Indian beadwork, creating pieces that bridge cultures while honoring their origins. The result is a design language where heritage is honored but continually reinterpreted.

Design Language

Rafe’s design language blends the geometry of New York architecture with the radiance of Philippine craft, creating minaudières that feel like architectural sculptures. Faceted Art Deco silhouettes and modern, tropical designs are brought to life through materials chosen for the way they catch or temper light. Sequins are hand-stitched to refract like sunlight, while polished shells and wood ground the shimmer in texture. The result is glamor that feels daring, not ostentatious—pieces defined by dualities: effortless to carry, painstaking to create; modern in silhouette, timeless in technique.

A Beautiful Brand Worth Shopping

Rafe New York belongs on the Beautiful Brand roster because it embodies what this series celebrates: craftsmanship elevated to art, heritage carried forward through design, and beauty that resists disposability. Each handbag—whether an artful minaudière, a woven tote, or a sculptural clutch—reflects more than seventy hours of artisanal labor, centuries-old Filipino techniques, and a design language shaped by both cultural memory and modern architecture. To own a Rafe handbag is to hold not just an accessory, but a piece of history, craft, and enduring style.

Watch the Craftsmanship in Action: