In Business of Home’s series Shop Talk, we chat with owners of home furnishings stores across the country to hear about their hard-won lessons and challenges, big and small. This week, we spoke with Emily Ward, the Nashville- and Los Angeles–based designer who co-founded the interiors firm and boutique Pierce & Ward with Louisa Pierce.

Well before the duo racked up a long celebrity client list—Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Hudson and Dakota Johnson, among others they cannot name—Ward and Pierce dreamed of opening a retail store. When their spouses pooh-poohed the idea, they launched their studio in 2010, honing a signature look of saturated jewel tones, layered patterns, warm woods and a general femininity summed up by this Architectural Digest headline describing their project for actress Emma Roberts: “grown-up dollhouse.”

In 2021, Pierce and Ward finally got their brick-and-mortar boutique, in the Los Feliz neighborhood of L.A., and this month, they expanded their retail reach (and price point) to a wider audience in a collection for West Elm. The huge line offers more than 150 pieces, including furniture, bed linens, tabletop, accessories, wallpaper and more. Ahead, Ward chats about how much they learned from the West Elm production staff, why she’s ready to shake their celebrity association, and how the store exists as a compliment and a complement to the overall business.

How did the West Elm partnership come about, and what are some of your hopes for it?
Louisa and I have always loved West Elm and used West Elm a lot in our projects. We shop probably 80 percent vintage, and that’s where we first started our company, but we would shop for vintage and then fill so much in with West Elm. So when the opportunity came about, we were so excited, and it has worked out so well. The team at West Elm is so talented and kind and has really let us do exactly what we wanted to do. We feel like we got to show who we are through this brand—which at the beginning I was excited about the opportunity, but I didn’t necessarily think that it would turn out as amazing as it did. We’re just really proud of it.

A corner of the store, which Ward describes as a “jewel box” Courtesy of Pierce & Ward

Tell me about the line itself.
It’s a very comprehensive line, the idea being that you could basically go furnish your entire apartment or home with the line, but it wouldn’t necessarily look like it all came from the same [place]. There are over 150 SKUs, from sheets and quilts to decorative accessories and everything you could imagine. It does all feel like it’s part of the same family, which is the way that Louisa and I like to design anyway. We don’t overplan for an install. We like to play with inventory that we have, and we wanted the line to feel like a representation of that.

Other than its size, how does the West Elm collection differ from the one sold in the Pierce & Ward boutique?
At the beginning, we were [actually] like, “Oh no, we don’t want to do things [for West Elm] that we’re doing for our own line.” But we gave up on that quickly and didn’t hold back. We thought, “Let’s do everything that we can to make this line exactly what we would want our Pierce & Ward line to be.” Because, obviously, our Pierce & Ward line is all made by vendors in Los Angeles and is a lot more expensive and [uses] some different materials. We wanted to give the West Elm shopper the Pierce & Ward experience to the max. We did some designs that we wanted to execute for years before, so we didn’t really take a different approach.

We were excited to get to work with people who know so much about production, because … this is a relatively new thing for us—producing our own furniture—and we’re doing it all locally, and it’s very expensive, and it’s a trial-and-error process. It’s been so fun to work with people that really know what they’re doing. We learned a lot, and they were so generous and patient with us. I always say that part of Louisa’s genius is that we’ll be done with a house—or at least, I’ll think that we’re done—and she’s like, “Oh no, we have to paint a mural on the stove hood.” She’s always pushing it. We did that with the process of developing the West Elm line and they were like, “Let’s do it.” Never did they say, “It’s too late” or “No, we can’t.” They went on that journey with us, and I think that’s why the product is so good now. We’re so proud of every piece in the line, and everything feels like it was so thought through.

What’s your favorite piece in the collection?
I’m going to have to go with multiple. We’re suckers for stripes and we love the Stripe slipper chair. I also love the coat rack so much, [because] it looks so elevated and [is] at such a great price point, and it can go anywhere—it can double as a towel rack in your bathroom. Louisa and I are obsessed with the vanity; that’s definitely a hero piece. I love the bed. I feel like it looks vintage. The bent-roll armchair and settee are also so gorgeous and really look vintage, which we’re so proud of.

To move over to your boutique, why did you decide to go into retail when you did?
It’s funny, when Louisa and I started our company, that’s what we first wanted to do: open a store. Our husbands at the time were like, “You’re insane. That’s so difficult. It’s expensive. It’s such a risk. You’re not doing that.” We were like, “OK.” It kind of felt like Louisa and I have, for 15 years, been buying stuff that we love, and then sometimes it takes six years to place a chandelier, but we place it.

The pedestal dining room table from the brand’s collaboration with West ElmCourtesy of West Elm

Once we had a warehouse, we thought, “God, this would be a good time to open a store.” We could actually sell to people who didn’t necessarily need a designer. There are a lot of people who want the Pierce & Ward look, but hiring an interior designer is such an expensive thing. It’s been nice to feel like we’ve integrated more into our community. We’ve been very lucky with our hiring at Pierce & Ward. We’ve had longstanding employees and not a lot of turnover. We hired somebody to run the store who was so overqualified, which was the best decision we ever made. Also, a lot of designers have started shopping at our store, which is the dream: the people you admire shopping in your store for installs, and then you see it in publications. It’s the greatest thing ever.

How would you describe the aesthetic of the store?
The store is like a jewel box. It started with mostly vintage. We definitely carry a lot of wholesale now, and it’s fun to support local vendors and smaller companies. It’s also nice to have wholesale because everyone can buy something. But mostly we sell vintage. We sell a ton of pillows, we have custom glassware, a lot of art. At first, we were selling vintage furniture that we repurposed, but along the way when we found chairs that we were like, “Oh, my God, the thought of parting with these chairs is so depressing,” we started templating them. So we’ve started making our favorite chairs and we are making them the way that they used to be made, which is why they’re more expensive. But for people looking for a forever piece, it’s fun to provide that.

Is the space still that beautiful teal color?
Yes. When we were first building out the store, we had this plan of painting the floor a pattern, like checkerboard, but then we worried it would feel too much like a flea market vibe. [The teal] was inspired by old Technicolor movies. I was watching Singing in the Rain on repeat with my kids, and they used to use that in the old movies. Louisa is a color master and she chose that color, and it’s since become one of our favorites.

Who are your typical customers? How much of it is trade versus non-trade?
The people who spend a lot of money are the designers, and a couple clients who are good with doing their own homes and just shop the look. But we get a lot of walk-ins because we’re located near a popular coffee shop and a popular restaurant. It’s almost become like a showroom. And the e-comm is taking off, which is great. [Because of our] getting a lot of media exposure, people in Connecticut are buying a couch without seeing it. It’s nice that people have developed such good faith in the brand.

Is there a certain object or category that flies out the door?
We sell a lot of vintage art that we reframe. That moves in a crazy, crazy way. [Along] with pillows. I think those are the top two.

The Brentwood sofa from the West Elm collectionCourtesy of West Elm

Tell me a little bit about your sourcing process for the store—or if you have a merchandising team now, what that process is like, especially the wholesale pieces and finding art.
We have one person who does most of the sourcing, and she approves everything with me and Louisa. We have a very mental text thread. A lot of it is auction and estate sales. We have a couple of dealers we shop through, but then also everyone on the team sources, which is fun. In the very beginning, it was usually mostly Louisa who did all the shopping, or Louisa and me together. But now it’s like everyone will see something and send it, and if they get a thumbs-up from us, then we buy it.

How big of a role does social media play in your business? Do you have a team managing that now?
It’s tricky because we started this business with friends hiring us, and then referring us to people. Probably 60 percent of what we’ve done, we can’t share publicly, but we’ve gotten pretty lucky with the people who were willing to showcase their homes. I have run the social media account this whole time. We’ve never bought followers. It’s crazy. It’s all been organic. I wish we could post more, but we don’t have a lot to post because of the privacy stuff. That’s also why we’re so excited about West Elm: It’s a way to get our name out there more, because right now it’s pretty niche. I think a lot of people think we only work for celebrities. We don’t! It’s all been referral-based. So we’re excited to expand to a bunch of people who have never heard about us.

What’s your favorite day as a retailer? Since your business has so many arms, can you drop by often?
Oh, my God, I love dropping by the store, because it’s become this gorgeous living room. A lot of my friends live in the neighborhood and they’ll go get a coffee at Maru and then be sitting in [the store]. When I go in, I always see somebody I know. I don’t go that often, but when I do, to be able to give somebody my opinion and that they care to have my opinion? It’s very flattering, and it’s never lost on me how lucky I am. Louisa and I feel like we won the lottery, and I think it’s because early on, we got clients who completely trusted us, and that has carried through to the store. I think people trust our taste, so they’ll come in and they’ll buy things so freely. I think that’s such a giant compliment.