Images via Totokaelo & Garance Doré
Totokaelo (TOH-toh-KYE-yo) is a Latinate term, which roughly translates “the sky is the limit”.
Owner and founder Jill Wenger opened her first women’s store in Seattle, 2008 before expanding into menswear and creating sister brand Totokaelo Art-Object – art, objects, furniture, textiles. After moving e-commerce operations to New York, a second retail location in the city was a natural progression for a company with such high ambition.
Situated in a five-floor property on Crosby Street, previously owned by the sculptor Arturo Di Modica, Jill has opened up a previously partitioned space to reveal a huge skylight and partially enclosed, high ceiling rooms. Lanes of stark white sheetrock divide the volume into open, sun-soaked spaces that are warmed by walnut shelving and hand-cobbled stone walls.
The destination is so open and big it could be overwhelming, but the expansive space has been expertly divided to create more intimate areas, broken up into colour themes, including a minimal black and white rooms, V.I.P. dressing rooms, dedicated denim and shoe areas, a mini library and outdoor areas filled with green plants and hand-dyed indigo blankets. Downstairs, a shadowy, track-lit tunnel leads to beautifully curated menswear.
As much a place of inspiration as it is a shopping destination, be sure to visit if you’re in the area, or head to the webstore to view the expertly curated offering.
Totokaelo, 54 Crosby Street, New York
www.totokaelo.com