Designer of the Month

We have worked with Erica from the very beginning of The Shop Floor Project. She is by far our most popular designer and her Bumble Bee necklace is our all time top seller, with the Hummingbird Skull necklace coming a close second. Working away in her Lower East Side studio she creates tiny and wondrous pieces and has gained quite a following in the US. We select and work with Erica on collections for the shop which seem to fit so perfectly.

What inspires you?

I love old advertising materials, like enameled displays from mid-century hardware stores. Americana. The 1909 Sears Catalog. The other artists, designers, and hustlers in my building on the Lower East Side. Costumes and sets from the movie "Paper Moon". My parents' farm in Maine. Homesteading guides from the 1970's like the "Firefox" series and "The Whole Earth Catalog". Postcards from the 1890's.

Favorite winter place to visit?

Mohonk Mountain House in the Catskill mountains, upstate NY. My parents were married at this giant, old hotel, which was built in 1869 as a health retreat and it's now a nature preserve. It's set in the middle of gorgeous glacial mountains and I try to meet my family there every winter where we sit in front of the massive fireplaces, eat formal dinners, snowshoe in the woods, and ice-skate on the lake.

Idea of a perfect Christmas?

My dad is Jewish and my mom was raised Presbyterian, so we always do a kind of mish-mash celebration around Christmastime. Ideally we'd be at our family's home in Maine, we'd be eating a dinner that we'd spent the day together cooking, and there would be a big tree. We always cut a tree ourselves from our neighbor's property, which has acres and acres of pines. For the past 3 years I've spent a few days in Maine and then traveled directly to San Francisco, to spend New Year's with my boyfriend's family. So snowy Maine, then foggy views of Golden Gate Park. Dinner at the vegan restaurant Millennium in the Hotel California.

What would you most like to be given as a gift this christmas?

A sparkly vintage-inspired Fulmer helmet to wear while riding my 1973 Velosolex Moped. In royal blue.

Above shows Erica’s cabinet in the new Menagerie Exhibition

Below are some of Erica’s best selling designs