Indie Boutique Guide: LA

Rachel Andersson is an LA fashion and branding consultant.  She’s also knows her way around an indie boutique like nobody’s business.  You can befriend her on Twitter.

A+R

A plus R equals L.A.’s most captivating independent home decor shop (and visual nerd’s paradise). Design and culture junkies Andy and Rose are not only L.A. style icons, but also curate a flawless mix of modern and retro-modern pieces; in their words, “from clocks to carafes, slippers to stuffed toys, and baubles to bright lights, the constant is design that charms, functions and inspires.” A+R’s selection of Pantone homewares, DIY cardboard animals, mod glassware and impossibly cool speaker systems brings big and small names from all over the design world to the Venice storefront (not to mention their popular webstore).

E.P.I.C.

E.P.I.C., or the Echo Park Independent Co-op for long, is an eclectic, contemporary boutique on the ground floor of Echo Park’s historic Jensen’s Rec Center. It features solely independent designers living and working in L.A., as well as focusing on eco-friendly & ethically made items, and its selection of women’s and men’s clothing and accessories is perhaps the most avant-garde and fashion-forward available to L.A.-philes. E.P.I.C. gets points for promoting local bands and artists too, and the store itself is an oasis of minimal cool that eastsiders treasure – plus, their logo is two bunnies high-fiving.

Lake

A lovely Silverlake boutique specializing in hand-selected clothing, apothecary, and home decor. Shopping here makes you into one of those chicly unreal women who wears small French labels and local artisan jewelry, and has collections of quaint things like old keys artfully arranged next to pussywillows in a handmade vase in her 1920s apartment that smells of organic candles.

Urbanic

The best little paperhouse in Venice! Urbanic Paper Boutique is where all the event planners, wedding gurus and paper junkies go for their darling letterpress cards, stylish paper goods, sweet crafty gifts, gift wrap for days, hip desk accessories and custom stationery. Somehow manages to straddle that elegant/charming line with grace (and an abundance of ways to say “Happy Birthday” in print).

Yolk

Yolk’s motto is “Free Range Design,” and it’s not just punny, it’s true – this gem of a shop goes to the ends of the earth to offer all things charming for the home (the owner is Swedish, so there’s a focus on Sweden’s iconic designs, but you’ll see pieces sourced from Portugal, India, New Zealand… and even L.A.). After you fuel up with a latte from nearby coffee haven LAMILL, the Yolk folk will help you find a handmade wallet for the man who has everything, a Milanese beaded necklace for your mother, adorable wall art for the new baby, and those robin’s-egg-blue dishes you’ve been eyeing. The ultimate one-stop gift shop!

Sarah Von is a Vianza contributing columnist and interview wrangler.  If you follow her on Twitter, you’ll be privy to all sort of tweets about small business, good ideas and, um, cheese.

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