Lauren Kolodny and Johnny Flanagan never actually meant to have a storefront. The couple opened their Etsy store, Right Tribe, in 2014 as a creative outlet deriving from Kolodny’s days running a lifestyle and fashion blog and Flanagan’s production design career.
But their business, driven by the growing popularity of Flanagan’s handmade leather visors, drove the two to find a workspace, which soon became a storefront at 803 Manhattan Ave.
“This place became available and we lucked out,” Flanagan said. “It’s a perfect little shoppable studio — we get to work here, but we get to interact with people and do custom work.”
What you see is what you get at Right Tribe: The front room of the studio has more than just their collection of handmade bags and goods. It also features Flanagan’s 10 foot work desk, leather scraps, paintings and industrial sewing machine.
It’s a welcome reprieve; before the studio, the work was strewn about Kolodny’s apartment.
“The rafters were full of hides of leather, the table, the sewing machine, trunks full of materials,“ Flanagan said. “I was saying, we’ve gotta get the apartment back, because it was taken over completely.”
Now the entirety of the space, which still looks like the old house it once was (kitchen and all) is part of the store. Practically everything is for sale, from the antique knick-knacks, to art pieces made from found natural materials, to new and repurposed leather goods.
“It’s funny — when something sells, we can feel it missing,” Kolodny said, gesturing to a driftwood mobile hanging near the front door. “When the first one sold, I said ‘We need to make another one right now.’”
And being the owner-operator-artists of the place gives them the flexibility to make what they want when they want.
“It’s cool the way it’s set up — we don’t have to buy a bunch of stuff or have inventory, but if we make something nice and it’s one of a kind, we can just make another. It’s an endless artistic outlet,” Flanagan said.
A woman walked into the shop as Flanagan was experimenting with a canvas sack material, Kolodny recalled. He was in the middle of repurposing the bag, sewing leather handles, pockets and a base onto it. But even it its unfinished state, the bag had a buyer.
“She said she’d pay for it now and pick it up the next day — she just loved having a one-of-a-kind bag,” Kolodny said.
The shop’s growth happened organically, from web sensation to storefront, Kolodny said, and she’s glad it happened that way.
“I don’t know if I would’ve been able to open a shop otherwise; the nerves, the stress, the inventory,” she said.
Now, the two are prepping for the future. This week is the Manhattan Beach Sidewalk Sale — their first after opening the shop in November — and while they haven’t set their discount plans in stone, they’re excited to be able to hang with neighbors and visitors.
“It lets us really connect with people,” Flanagan said. “It’s good, even if people don’t buy anything, they love the style and the feel.”
The Manhattan Beach Sidewalk Sale runs from Friday, Jan. 13 to Monday, Jan. 16. ER
