{verdigreen}, like many small businesses, began at home. When owner Azie moved into an Atlanta farmhouse, her existing furnishings didn’t fit in, so she started painting them and shopping for vintage items to decorate her space. She enjoyed repurposing and refinishing older items, "up-cycling" them into décor that would work with her style. Azie soon started creating more than her house could hold, and so in 2009, she started an Etsy shop. When the Etsy headquarters in Brooklyn bought one of her pieces, Azie took it as a sign, and in 2013, {verdigreen} moved into its first brick-and-mortar location in Montclair, NJ.
When I spoke with Azie in July of 2015, she had just opened her second location, on 7th Street. “I really wanted a neighborhood that I connected with,” Azie explained, and so the East Village was a natural choice. “I love that it’s such a tight-knit community here.”
{verdigreen} is a haven of vintage clothes, salvaged, handmade, and up-cycled items. They also cater to DIY (do-it-yourself) enthusiasts, stocking Annie Sloan Chalk Paint®, stencils, hardware, and other supplies. Azie even offers workshops that teach customers how to refinish and transform furniture for themselves.
“I’ve always felt like I had to make things,” Azie confessed. She learned resourcefulness at a young age – when she wanted a Slip'N Slide for her birthday, her crafty mother fashioned one out of a shower liner. Now, Azie is committed to building a community of other creatives like herself. She brings in goods from local artists and craftspeople, and is starting a partnership with New York University art students, planning to feature their work at quarterly gallery nights in her East Village shop.
“I feel like we’ve been embraced by the neighborhood,” she told me. “It’s brought me a lot of inspiring, creative people, which has helped me hone my own creativity.”