Studio - New York City
14 West 8th Street, NYC
2015 - 2019
Painted from ceiling to floor, the brick-and-mortar storefront shop featured original apparel, artwork, and vintage. Everything sold was one-of-a-kind and originally created on-location. Upstairs was the working studio and downstairs was the retail shop. The location housed monthly parties, sale events, live music shows, in-house DJ hosts, and video/photo productions. Storm provided fashion and accessible fine art, while offering styling pulls and custom orders.
The Creation
In 2015, Storm truly aligned with the heartbeat of the Village and launched her first business. Storm opened the two-story, brick-and-mortar storefront, Storm Ritter Studio, at 14 West 8th Street in Summer 2015. Originally the store was named, Graey Studio, but was quickly re-named to Storm Ritter Studio as it was transparent the artist branding was stronger. Once the store was leased, Storm painted it in her psychedelic surrealist style, ceiling to floor. As the environment was established, she began building a small staff of creatives, sale associates, and college interns. The shop sold fashion and art already created by Storm. She hired a full time seamstress to create garments with her patterns and original digitally printed textiles in the upstairs studio. Storm continued to create canvas, design textiles, paint vintage garments, and manufacture merchandise based on her paintings. Custom garments were created in house while retail sales operated downstairs.
About The Studio
Making Of The Studio
The Atmosphere
Embodying the quintessential downtown vibe, soon every garment and product was handmade in house. Not only were the original garments crafted, but vintage was curated for sale, as well to upcycle and paint. Her staff created an old school Village haven with vinyls exclusively soundtracking the establishment and positive, upbeat energy dominating the day-to-day energy. Photoshoots were a constant in the space, shooting shoppers and local New York creatives in the originals. Storm continued to grow the murals and create extravagant environments for the multitude of parties and events featuring sales, live music, drag shows, cocktails, and themed nights. Storm was at the shop 7-days a week managing the staff, working with garment production, leading interns, creating marketing content, and painting both the space and growing collections.
Press & Collaborations
The constant creative production blossomed new connections and projects in New York City. Storm began providing wardrobe for Mean Girls on Broadway and launched an extended relationship into 2019 for costuming for the National Tour. Styling pulls were a commonplace, catering to Netflix shows, local theater stage wear, and celebrities (Miley Cyrus, Usher, Cheap Trick, etc.) Working with Electric Lady Studios, Storm launched the Jimi Hendrix Way campaign, creating a unifying buzz in the community with a feature in New York Times. The store was also featured in NY One News, The Villager, and other local publications, drawing traffic to the downtown Village shop.
Inside The Studio (2016)
Outside The Studio
The Evolution
Storm Ritter Studio was thriving and Storm was highly active with the Greenwich Village Alliance, creating collaborations with other businesses, & contributing to local events with live community painting and local pop-ups. Thhe studio was actively participating in West Village live painting events and street fairs, wworking with painting with kids and locals. In October of 2018, the lease for Storm Ritter Studio ended, and Storm planned to re-locate to the Lower East Side in 2019. The business officially transitioned into her second corporation, Storm Ritter Inc. and as the pandemic approached in 2020, the business was operated online from Storm's home studio in the West Village until she opened Storm Ritter Galleries 2022 onward.
