Photo by Jeanne Canto
Wallure Home
There has always been an overlap between fashion and interior design, as a shift in the artistic medium and models serve parallel functions of aesthetic translation. It makes sense that those attuned to sartorial subtleties would also be sensitive to interior ambiances. When Carly Cushnie’s work evolved from award-winning fashion designer to Creative Direction in home design at Lulu & Georgia, she proved that an aesthetic sensibility can convert from the body to the home seamlessly.
Yet paradoxically, the love of style and beauty leads to expansive wardrobes and beauty stashes that inherently challenge the practice of curating your space. As satisfying as it would be to live in a serene, minimalist environment—where every item has its own designated space—storing beauty and fashion collections is far from straightforward.
Organizational solutions can be improvised with purchases from Amazon or The Container Store, but the luxury home decor sector lacks pre-existing storage and stylish solutions for shoes, cosmetics and possessions of that ilk. This is what led Alex Shamis to create Wallure Home, a line of elevated furniture for essentials like skincare, cosmetics, shoes and handbags.
Photo by Jeanne Canto.
Wallure Home
As a lifelong beauty and fashion lover, Shamis confronted with this “niche” stressor as a new homeowner. While in the midst of renovating and designing with Christie Fantis of Casa By Christie, she felt inspired to address the “absence of storage options that were both practically and visually stunning.”
Using experienced gleaned from working at her father’s hotel manufacturing business, she then set out to create a line of high-end furniture that serves as functional decor for the fashion and beauty aficionado. True to her personal aesthetic, she wanted the collection to be comprised of trend-right neutrals, satin brass finishes and quartz and marble touches. With natural oak and calacatta marble countertops, the pieces come with discreet features like custom wooden inserts, bag hooks, hidden electrical plugs and even a holder for your blow dryer.
Photo by Jeanne Canto
Wallure Home
“My vision [with Wallure] has always remained constant: to bring elevated storage that doubles as décor, adding ease and more beauty to people’s daily lives,” Shamis writes in an e-mail to Forbes.com. “When I purchased my house in Miami and began decorating, I struggled to find a way to organize some of my favorite things—cosmetics and shoes—that I probably own way too much of. Having worked in the furniture industry for years, I thought, ‘I can do this; I can create this.’”
Naming beauty and skincare as “obsessions” of hers for as long as she can remember, she began with The Bella Beauty Cabinet, $900. Shamis is passionate about her beauty practices as a form of self-care, actively keeping current with trends, trying new products and scheduling regular beauty appointments. She points out that investing in herself in this way is what helps her to show up more enthusiastically in the other avenues of her life, and The Bella’s purpose was to enhance this experience.
Photo by Jeanne Canto
Wallure Home
Facets of her design process considered whether one might prefer to sit or stand while performing their beauty rituals and space limitations. All the while, the intent was to create a piece of furniture that felt consistent with a design aesthetic as opposed to simply serving a purpose.
“Having all my beauty products organized in one place transformed my routine,” she says. “My number one organizing tip is to categorize. Grouping similar items together helps to reduce clutter and makes it easy to find what you need. For beauty products, drawer dividers make it easy to [find and] grab what you need.”
The ability to organize your stash is a game-changer thanks to removable, wooden inserts that were custom designed to fit The Bella. If you are so inclined, they can also be swapped out for dividers of your choosing from somewhere like Amazon or The Container Store.
Photo by Jeanne Canto
Wallure Home
The Scarpa Shoe Console, $1,400, on the other hand, was borne of her desire to elegantly store and showcase her shoe collection. A self-described believer that one “can never have too many pairs of shoes,” Shamis actually spent several years working in the fashion industry prior to her career in furniture manufacturing. She considers personal style to be a powerful form of self-expression; it was only fitting to create a worthy storage piece for some of her favorite belongings.
With a handbag hook on the side and a lined top shelf with a concealed electrical socket to conceal your phone charger, The Scarpa will easily appeal to fashionistas in search of elevated storage for their shoes and accessories. Truth be told, The Scarpa can just as easily be adapted Scarpa to transform and organize your office or personal gym.
Photo by Jeanne Canto
Wallure Home
“I am constantly amazed by the talent and inspiration in the interior design world,” Shamis adds, naming the likes of Kelly Wearstler and Athena Calderone as personal muses.
What Shamis has done with Wallure Home is undeniably niche, but speaks deeply and resonantly to the luxury consumer base she connects with. Though still a new company, a future expansion into the lifestyle category would feel natural. Beyond organization, interior design and self-care, she loves the notion of being intentional in co-creating life.
“I think it is so important to shout the things you want to the universe and to express gratitude for what you already have,” she says, naming popular practices like vision boarding, journaling and reciting affirmations as part of her lifestyle. The new year feels like a fresh opportunity to instill a new organizational system in your personal life. Promising exciting new launches to come, it’s only a matter of time to see what Shamis and Wallure Home manifest next.
