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Business & Tech

Bridgehampton Boutique Is Launch Pad for Emerging Designers

Michelle Farmer Collaborate carries unique and handcrafted jewelry and clothing.

Michelle Farmer Collaborate, now entering its second summer in Bridgehampton, is a retail store that aims to be much more — a venue for emerging artisan jewelry and clothing designers to get established.

The women's boutique carries Michelle Farmer's own pearl necklaces and fine jewelry, plus accessories and clothing by about 30 up-and-coming designers, with many products that are one of a kind.

"She's trying to bring luxury back to the idea of rarified objects," said Jesse Elliot, who is also among the designers featured at the store.

Farmer's background is in design and retail in St. Barts, where she worked for companies such as Oro De Sol. She began to design jewelry herself in 2000, and just recently began designing clothing.

For her pearl jewelry, strung on leather or graphite, she only works with baroque pearls, which are irregular and non-spherical. "Every one is like a sculpture and every pearl is unique," she said. "They look great on everybody."

Her jewelry is understated but impactful, mixing the Old World with modern design, Farmer said. It can be worn one piece at a time, or layered. "Pretty much everything I design has to be something that works day into night."

Farmer opened her own by-appointment jewelry showroom in East Hampton in 2009 and sold her line of jewelry privately and wholesale. But she said she wanted a store in Bridgehampton, so she can walk to work from home with her dogs.

She and her husband, Peter Farmer, the company's CFO, spend their winters in Florida. When he bought a building in Palm Beach, she convinced him that she should open her first shop there. That store opened in December 2011, then she realized her plan to open a Bridgehampton shop in May 2012. After a winter break, the Bridgehampton location reopened this April. Also this season, she introduced a third store at Dorado Beach, Puerto Rico.

The word "Collaborate" in the name of her stores indicates her relationship with designers.

"We really try to seek out designers who are just launching," Farmer said. In addition to carrying their products, she also offers them promotion through social media, the press and other means, she said.

One of those designers is Elliott, an artist whose watercolor paintings are printed on silk that becomes dresses. He makes the draped, jersey-style dresses himself by hand, he said.

"Jesse strives to make a dress that looks good on every woman," employee Natasha Berg said.

Elliot and his WhiteWash Collection are based in Greenport.

Another designer is Bettina Anderson, a model and the face of Michelle Farmer Collaborate. Elliot said she is introducing a bikini line with Farmer's help.

In addition to clothing, Michelle Farmer Collaborate in Bridgehampton also features local designer lighting, by Helen Bilt, of Sag Harbor, and Lalous Design pillows by Dorothea Tomczyk, of Montauk. And while opening the shop in Dorado Beach, she discovered Puerto Rican designers whose work she is now introducing to the Hamptons and Palm Beach.

Farmer said she supports artisans who could not work for big companies because their designs and products are too unique. It is a lost art she hopes to recapture, she said.

On Aug. 2, Elliott will have an all-day trunk show at the store, and the following day there will be an informal fashion show at Pierre's restaurant.

Berg said there is a flash-mob style fashion show at Pierre's every Saturday during the summer, featuring different designers.

Michelle Farmer Collaborate, at 2391 Montauk Highway, is expected to be open 10 months a year from now on, closed in January and February. Visit michellefarmer.com for more information.

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