It’s always fun when a new brand pops up in town, sprucing up a standard shopping day.
At Home & Loft (449 Main St., Greenport) which opened on July 1, there’s not just one brand for North Forkers and visitors to explore, but nine.
Handan Anlar, founder of Home & Loft, started her Turkish cotton home linen and apparel brand in 2013. Since, she has sold at pop ups, flea markets, trunk shows and holiday markets where she met the eight other artisans whose work is featured in the shop.
Shop products from Carla Colour, an earth-conscious eyewear brand; Intiearth, selling Peruvian-made home goods and accessories; The Highlands Foundry, making sustainable apparel, vintage totes, pillows and accessories; Iwona Ludyga Design, creating handmade jewelry, vintage and wall art; Skippy Cotton, the source of cloth trinkets and other original items; Elizabeth Grubaugh, who designs stationery, printed textiles and ceramics; Namai Studio, selling garments and totes from vintage and upcycled material and Good Rhubarb’s small batch soaps.
Hailing from Istanbul, Turkey, the craftsmanship around Anlar inspired her interest in the arts. When she moved to New York City, she worked in window design visual merchandising and store planning and would bring friends back Turkish towels every time she visited home.
Anlar burned out from years of working in a corporate field, and her friends pushed her to start her own business collecting and selling Turkish blankets and goods.
What started with small batch sourcing and selling quickly turned into selling wholesale and at trade shows, and later designing her own patterns — bathrobes and one-size-fits-all, machine-washable and dryer-safe caftans using material from small artisans in Turkey.
When she saw that Barbara Fisher Home, where she had been selling some of her products, had closed, Anlar inquired about the space.
“I told my friends — we all know each other from doing a lot of pop ups — I said, ‘I can’t do it by myself, can you guys join?’ and they were like ‘Yeah, sign the lease!’” says Anlar.
Her background in store design certainly shows in the Home & Loft space, as each brand’s products are so strategically placed that it feels as though they’re communicating with each other. Gorgeous stitching, studded sunglasses, eclectic art and colorful fabrics and material fill the space.
Anlar set up shop in the store in just 10 days. The collective concept will be open until Labor Day and Home & Loft has the space until the end of the year. Stay tuned for future plans on Anlar’s Instagram.
See the unique pieces yourself from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Thursday through Sunday or shop by appointment Monday through Wednesday. Learn more online and see Anlar’s wholesale brand here.
