STORM RITTER STUDIO
2015 - 2019
RETAIL STOREFRONT
14 West 8th Street, Greenwich Village, NYC
In 2015, Storm truly aligned with the heartbeat of the Village and launched her first business. She opened the two-story, brick-and-mortar storefront, Storm Ritter Studio, at 14 West 8th Street. Originally the store was named, Graey Studio, but quickly re-named with the artist's authentic branding. Downstairs was the retail storefront and upstairs, a working production studio for fashion and artwork. With staff and interns, the storefront was known for it's vintage shopping experience and eccentric fashion style. Storm painted constantly to produce new textile designs and covered the walls with murals ceiling to floor. Seasonally, she would repaint and curate the spaces to accommodate the changing collections. A hub for creatives, Storm Ritter Studio provided a location to find unique fashion and inspiration in the historic West Village.
Inside Retail Storefront
Storm Ritter Studio, 2016-19
ABOUT THE STOREFRONT
Storm Ritter Studio featured original textile apparel, painted fashion, artwork, and curated vintage. The fashion collections were one-of-a-kind, created on-location, and completely cohesive with the fine art in the showroom.
Upstairs: Production Studio
The private studio on the second floor gave the artist and staff space for manufacture, painting, and inventory storage. Before the shop was opened, Storm designed textiles and garment patterns in bulk, all manufactured locally. Yards of textiles were digitally printed, based on her paintings and illustrations. Once the location launched, all garments were handmade upstairs with head seamstress, Jenny Lin. The artist continued to design for collection releases on a monthly basis. Painted fashion was another popular product, producing wearable art with original pieces, vintage, and on client's custom orders. Not only providing accessible street style, the studio provided pieces for stylists, stagewear, wardrobe departments, and theatrical costumes.
Downstairs: Retail Shop
With sales staff and interns, the showroom floor constantly evolved with new designs and murals added by the artist. Photoshoots and personal customer shopping experiences were a commonplace, creating a truly eclectic and fun destination shop for locals and tourists.
ABOUT THE RETAIL
The vibrant environment invited visitors into an immersive work, always changing to keep customers returning for a new experience. The downstairs housed launch parties, sale events, music performances, live painting, and scheduled photo/film shoots. The artist and staff wore the original garments constantly, shooting Polaroids of shoppers as they styled original apparel. With Storm always present both upstairs and downstairs, it was common for clients to become friends and collectors of the work. The store was known for creativity and celebration, becoming a sage haven for all.
Scroll The Retail Archive
Storm Ritter Studio, 2016-19
VIDEO ARCHIVE
Storm Ritter Studio worked with the Greenwich Village Alliance for street fairs and arts workshops and collaborated with other businesses in the area. With press interviews at the location, videos were made time-stamping events and creation process. With Storm shooting film and photos daily, the visual archiving was abundant. The rate of production was exceptionally high, moving products to the sales floor and to clients before staff could market online. The handful of videos provided share a glimpse of the aesthetic of the storefront.
PHOTO ARCHIVE
View the 2015 to 2018 photo galleries of images by season at Storm Ritter Studio. All inventory, events, and day-to-day images are included in the archive.
2019-2020, the artist had plans to move the store to the Lower East Side but due to the pandemic, the business was operated from her West Village home studio. Sales were moved online with a focus on custom orders and fine art until 2022 with the opening of the Storm Ritter Galleries in Meatpacking, NYC.
