Find Mother’s Day gifts in Los Angeles at these 4 new and notable women-led businesses that put giving back front and center.
By Suzanne Ennis, adapted from WHERE Los Angeles magazine
1. Apiece Apart
The womenswear brand founded by N.Y.-based designers Laura Cramer and Starr Hout is found in more than 200 retail locations, countless fashionable women’s closets and, now, a pop-up space in Venice—its first on the West Coast. For both style and soul inspiration, check out the Apiece Apart Woman series online. Fans of the brand, including L.A. artist Emilie Halpern and designer Clare Vivier, are profiled and photographed in favorite pieces, and a portion of the sales from each story is donated to an organization of the featured woman’s choice.
817 Lincoln Blvd., Venice. apieceapart.com
2. Armadillo & Co
Founded by Jodie Fried and Sally Pottharst, this Australia-based rug company recently opened its first retail flagship location in Beverly Hills. The handmade rugs are durable, yet soft and luxurious, inviting bare feet and babies’ knees. But the floor coverings are more than the foundation for a stylish home—the company funds a school and medical clinic in a village in India, so each purchase also helps to lay a foundation for a bright future for underprivileged children.
8715 Wilshire Blvd., Beverly Hills, 424.343.0634. armadillo-co.com
3. Block Shop
To create the paper woodblock prints, rugs and other textile goods for which Block Shop is beloved, co-founders and sisters Hopie and Lily Stockman collaborate with a community of printers, weavers and dyers in India. In the process, they support family-run studios and traditional handcrafts, and empower women in Bagru through a program funded by 5 percent of their annual net profits. Support their efforts by purchasing their designs online, by appointment at their downtown L.A. studio or, on May 12-13, at the Echo Park Craft Fair (see below).
53 S. Spring St., Suite 1118, downtown. blockshoptextiles.com
4. Echo Park Craft Fair
Founded by artists/designers Beatrice Valenzuela and Rachel Craven in 2009, EPCF has evolved from a backyard event to a biannual extravaganza at the Mack Sennett Studios in Silver Lake. The spring fair is May 12-13, with a preview party on May 11 that benefits Inner-City Arts in L.A.’s Skid Row. Some of the county’s coolest female artists and makers participate, including Block Shop, bag maker Agnes Baddoo and the collective of women behind boho-clothing brand Dôen, which supports Room to Read in its efforts to promote literacy and gender equality in developing countries. What better place to do your Mother’s Day shopping?
Tickets $10-$16; preview party $25-$30. 215 Bates Ave., L.A. echoparkcraftfair.com
Echo Park Craft Fair photo by Kelsey Weller.
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