This Intimate Boutique Feels Like Shopping Inside a Jewelry Box

The first New York flagship of Trove, a purveyor of finely crafted lacquer jewelry boxes, will captivate collectors thanks to its assortment of wearables, fine art, and collectible design

January 3, 2025

Trove is located on West 4th Street and Bank Street in the West Village. Photo: Ori Harpaz

Naming one’s favorite jewelry designer often means overcoming choice paralysis. Is it Elsa Peretti, whose sensuous silver wearables for Tiffany & Co. recast the medium as sculpture in the 1970s? Or perhaps you’re drawn to the extravagant bijoux of Van Cleef & Arpels, whose dazzling gems often merit the rarefied realms of royalty. Designers of jewelry boxes, however, are much harder to come by—a conspicuous gap that motivated collector and entrepreneur Hannah Ward to launch Trove, a purveyor of handcrafted lacquer jewelry boxes. “I felt my pieces and my friends’ pieces deserved to be kept somewhere wonderful,” the Melbourne-based Ward, a devoted collector of antiques who began her career in auction houses, tells Galerie. “I wanted a vessel that was as precious as the pieces themselves.”

Trove’s appeal lies in its use of traditional lacquerware methods. Each wooden box is painted three times before receiving eight coats of clear lacquer, a painstaking process that can take up to six months but imbues the final product with a uniquely alluring sheen. “Lacquer furniture adds such a bold and alive feeling to any room,” says Ward, who was first introduced to the material through her parents’ Japanese lacquer antiques. Inside each box, sumptuous micro suede lines the stackable storage compartments and cossets your keepsakes; hidden magnets in the outer shell keeps them secure. The brand launched during the early pandemic but was a runaway hit, selling out its entire inventory in a brisk four months.

Ward enlisted interior designer Tali Roth to help create her vision. Photo: Ori Harpaz

That early success encouraged Ward to expand. Trove recently unveiled its first outpost in the United States, an intimate boutique on a quaint corner of New York City’s West Village. Ward envisioned the red-brick storefront to resemble the inside of one of her jewelry boxes—warm, refined, and intricately detailed—and enlisted interior designer Tali Roth to make her dream a reality. Much like the art-filled residences and shops devised by Roth’s decade-old studio, Trove’s boutique tastefully melds eras and influences while keeping jewelry—and the sui generis gossamer that binds us to treasured pieces—as the main focus. “We wanted to create an inviting space that was elevated but still felt welcoming,” Ward says. Nods to nostalgia and craftsmanship abound, from high-gloss ceilings to a curation of collectible design pieces by the likes of Ian Collings, Tobia Scarpa, and Galerie Creative Mind Orior.

The journey begins in the light-filled entryway, where Trove’s array of jewelry boxes in lustrous shades of malachite green, jet black, and evening blue preside in bespoke wooden displays. It’s also the site of Trove’s new jeweler in residence program, which invites select artisans and brands to display their wares to both customers and passersby. “Other categories, such as art galleries and hotels, use [similar programs] to support artists and add interest to their spaces,” Ward says. “There’s a natural crossover to jewelry designers doing the same. We want to support designers and help them share their work. It’s a win-win for everyone.” Kicking the program off is Fernando Jorge, the vanguard jeweler who uses traditional techniques to infuse earrings, necklaces, and rings with fluidity and nods to his native Brazil’s natural beauty.

Trove’s array of jewelry boxes are on display. Photo: Ori Harpaz

The location features world-class art from the personal collection of Jen Rubio. Photo: Ori Harpaz

The store’s middle room is moodier but transportive, akin to being embraced inside one of Trove’s boxes thanks to chartreuse velvet wallpaper and Murano glass fixtures illuminating Art Deco–inspired oak cabinetry. The effect is magnetic, coaxing exploration of the many drawers and cabinets with pieces by Beck, Howl, Natalia Pas, and Tabayer contained inside. While the entire store conjures intimacy, it’s most deeply felt in the back room, which is reserved for private appointments. There, VIPs can try on their next favorite pieces around a metallic bejeweled Misha Kahn table that glimmers in the glow of a Noguchi-inspired lantern.

There’s also a world-class art collection courtesy of Away co-founder Jen Rubio, whom Ward enlisted to help oversee Trove’s global expansion. Works by exclusively female artists—Paulina Olowska, Rachel Lancaster, Poppy Jones, Sanam Khatibi, and Pacita Abad among them—lend bursts of color and dynamism. They underscore Trove’s raison d’être: “Ultimately, Trove is for collectors and people who appreciate beauty,” Rubio tells Galerie. “As an avid art and jewelry collector, it only felt right to have some of the works I love have a home in Trove’s flagship. The works here have come from fairs and galleries all over the world to be inside our special life-size jewelry box.”

Below, see more images of the boutique.