If you lived in New York City in the 1980s, you might be familiar with a nightclub called Area. From 1983 to 1987, Area transformed itself every six weeks or so to express different themes, which included Night, Gnarly, Surrealism and Suburbia. (I went there just once while I was in college and I felt so cool when I was offered heroin in the bathroom. I did decline though.)
The Area experience has now been turned into a shopping experience by Story, which is described on its website as “a retail space that has the point of view of a magazine, changes like a gallery and sells things like a store.” I found out about Story when I sat at founder Rachel Shechtman’s table at this year’s Fashion Group International Rising Star Awards. (Rachel won the 2014 award for retail; I won for fine jewelry in 2012). Because my jewelry designs are all about story-telling, I made it a point to stay in touch with Story. It worked out! On Wednesday, Story unveiled its latest theme, called “STYLE.TECH,” and you can find many of my pop-culture- and social-media-inspired WENDYB by Wendy Brandes designs at the store.
My jewelry on display at Story. Click to enlarge.
The STYLE.TECH concept, which runs through October 12 and was done in partnership with Intel, offers what the store calls “interesting new integrations where technology, fashion and product design come together.” Wearables are the hot story these days, especially ahead of Apple’s launch of its iWatch next week, and Story is on the cutting edge with Ringly, a collection of good-looking wireless cocktail rings (honestly, you’d never guess that they’d vibrate when an important email comes in). There’s also a baby monitor-meets-onesie from Mimo Baby for your little one and an automatic tennis ball launcher from iFetch for your pooch. I can’t wait to try out the free-standing S.E.L.F.I.E. station, a webcam-enabled mirror. And I think my caffeine-addicted, right-hand woman Eryn is going to be verrrrry interested in the TopBrewer by Scanomat, a wireless, app-enabled coffee faucet that serves up custom drinks — anything from lattes to sparkling water – on-demand.
Story is carrying a selection of my emoji designs, so if you’ve ever wanted to try them on before buying, this is your chance. And I did two new designs exclusively for Story. The emoji lips …
… are available as silver and gold-plated single stud earrings.
The gold-plated lips emoji earring.
And for the people who have been asking me for “smiling poo” emoji jewelry …
… your dreams have come true in both earring and necklace form.
The smiling poo necklace in sterling silver.
Here’s a look at both the sterling-silver lips and poo studs.
Cute, right?
Story is at 144 10th Ave. at 19th St. If you’re not in New York but need smiling poo jewelry (and I know so many of you need that!), you can get in touch with Story by phone at 212-242-4853 or by email at hello@thisisstory.com. Happy shopping!
UPDATED TO ADD: Out-of-towners who are unable to place an order at Story should contact me directly at wbjewelry at hotmail dot com.
Your pieces look great in the case! I definitely need to go check this place out. Love the new studs… your dreams can come true with a pile of poo… 😉
PS — I’m very glad you said, “no” to drugs.
Yeah, let’s go this week!
I need that lip earring, stat.
I emailed them. They said they have any, and linked back to your site.
What? Did they say they didn’t have any?