This week’s guest is Melissa Kanarek, a couture upholsterer and seamstress by trade who lives in the SantaYnez Valley part of California, where she operates her Brass Tack brick & mortar.

Melissa’s work, along with the pieces she buys, is imbued with a strong sense of story. She believes who makes it and how it is made are equally important to the object itself. An admitted travel junkie (56 countries and counting), the globe is an unending, evergrowing moodboard for her endeavors.

Michelle & Melissa talk having fun with fashion, Melissa’s time, working in London, as a couture upholsterer & seamstress, her love of the process of ‘making’, curating her lines and how she envisioned the fixtures showing the curated lines, the importance, as a boutique owner, of being present in your store to meet people in your community, the creation of her Hat Bar and lastly how she finds inspiration.

She also works out of a barn on her ranch, Ranchy McRanch, a place she shares with her husband, dogs, goats, rescue horses, highland cows, pigs, and the happily revolving door of grown children, family members, and houseguests. The ranch was just featured in Domino Magazine and you can see more about the ranch, shop and Melissa this Fall in Santa Barbara Magazine.

We are so grateful that Melissa took time out of her busy schedule – which includes brushing her cows – to speak with us.

Website
Brass Tack Instagram
Ranchy McRanch Instagram

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