If The Mercantile was a woman, who would she be? “The Mercantile is a modern woman who appreciates aesthetic refinement and carries with her beautiful objects and ideals from the past. She strays from generic design and production in favour of artisanship and original concepts.” If The Mercantile was a piece of art, which would […]
Exclusive Interview with The Mercantile
If The Mercantile was a woman, who would she be? “The Mercantile is a modern woman who appreciates aesthetic refinement and carries with her beautiful objects and ideals from the past. She strays from generic design and production in favour of artisanship and original concepts.”
If The Mercantile was a piece of art, which would it be? “The Mercantile has Matisse’s energy, Donald Judd’s sense of Minimalism and Gustav Klimt’s opulence.”
Offering a curation of vintage pieces alongside locally crafted garments and home wares, The Mercantile is an editorilised commerce platform of artisanship and contemporary values. Founded by Paris Mitchell and Georgia Cherrie; The Mercantile brings together hand-selected vintage pieces from California alongside modern basics and interior accessories, all designed by the founders themselves.
Yesterday’s launch of The Mercantile was also the launch of Mitchell and Cherrie’s basics collection, suitably named Paris Georgia Basics. Bias-cut slips and loose wide-legged pants – both aching to be paired together and worn all weekend long.
Their campaign images, teased on Instagram a few months back, instantly caught my attention: the decadent shades of green and rust-coloured backdrops; the pairing of mouth-watering textures; the effortless styling, all indicating that a strong, directional vision was at work. As thrilled as I am to share this exclusive interview with girls of The Mercantile, I am even more happy that they’ve decided to launch such a brilliantly executed and exciting platform back here in New Zealand.
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When did you decide you wanted to embark on a new venture together?
We have been friends since our first year of high school and decided from early on that we wanted to start a business together. Paris went to study fashion design in Auckland and later moved to New York, whilst I studied Fashion Marketing in Barcelona. At the beginning of this year we were both finally back in NZ for the first time in years and just decided to do it. The idea had always been there, so we just booked our tickets and the next week we were in LA.
What would be your favourite pieces and why?
Its difficult to pick a favourite because we love all the pieces in fact we had to make a rule when we were shopping in LA that we couldn’t keep anything for our selves, we kept every piece for The Mercantile.
Where have you collected these vintage piece from? Any on-the-road stories?
We traveled ALL across LA, researched online, asked our LA friends and went to every single vintage shop we could find. It was extremely tiring but also so satisfying when we found a beautiful piece.
Tell us about your editorial shoot and what you wanted to translate in these images.
Our aim is to offer a curated guide to life and we wanted our imagery to represent that, to inspires our customers full look and ultimately their day-to-day wardrobe. The imagery resembles an air of sophistication with an element of playfulness, she is an individual yet never takes her self too seriously.
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www.themercantileonlinestore.com
[Campaign photographed by Adam Bryce. Art Direction by Jack Roy. Styled by Paris Mitchell. Hair by Tommy Stayton of Stephen Marr. Makeup by Richard Symons.]
