Ann Gish's new retail store: No Themes, No Rules

Cecile B. Corral -- Home Textiles Today, 8/5/2011 4:37:59 PM

New York - Longtime luxury linens and home furnishings designer, manufacturer and supplier Ann Gish this summer opened her first store here in Manhattan's Flatiron District.
The storefront sits in a 4,000-square-foot space in a landmark building at 4 West 20th St. with another 3,000 square feet of basement space to accommodate her ample collections and support her penchant for regularly updating her selling.
Officially open since June 9th, the store is stocked mostly with Gish's products, but about 10% of the mix comes from other vendors, such as candlesticks, consigned artwork, "weird things I've found along the way like giant hands from China, interesting porcelain pieces," said the 20-year veteran of home furnishings design.
In the linens area, price ranges stretch from about $20 for individual silk napkins through $1,900 for luxury coverlets. The product assortment in the home textiles category includes sheets, sheet sets, shams, duvets, comforters, coverlets, box spring covers, throws, decorative pillows, and table lines.
Two things shoppers won't find at the store: themes or rules.
"The theme is what I want to show right now," Gish asserted. The 10 beds that occupy the selling floor - a number Gish said will remain constant, adding "I don't want it any fuller than that," - are currently decked in a variety of styles.
It's a style Gish can call her own because of her reluctance for rules.
"Having a line that you can design yourself gives you a chance to honor a lot of different styles. I am definitely not down a narrow slot. I just like things that are beautiful," she said.