4 Women-Owned Home Goods Stores For Your Next Windy City Visit

At The Vault Creative on the North Shore, shoppers can browse through the wares of four women-owned businesses. The showroom offers a highly curated collection of global goods, including vintage furnishings sourced by Ozmun Home; Stone Textile Studio’s line of wallpapers, rugs and fabrics; home decor from Workshoppe Chicago; and artwork curated by Laughlin Gallery.

Sharing an office space in the same historic building (once home to a furrier company that stored mink coats in its vault) that now houses The Vault Creative prompted the women to collaborate. “We thought, ‘Why don’t we join forces to create something special to bring to Highland Park?’ ” recalls designer Elizabeth Mollen, founder of Stone Textile Studio. Sitting alongside vintage ashtrays, stone vessels and Postmodern furnishings sourced from auctions and antique fairs are handcrafted decorative pieces as well as abstract Expressionist works and photography from under-the-radar artists, 70% of whom are women with no prior gallery representation. “We are proud of the collaborative community of women we created,” Mollen says. “While we all specialize in different areas of design, we are able to easily come together to bring something very special to people’s homes.”