On first push, the massive double doors to Just One Eye appear to be locked. Then you hear a quick flick of the deadbolt and a gentle click, and the left door opens thanks to a burly, suited security guard. This choreographed dance feels intentional.
“To be in midcity Los Angeles and walk through two giant doors and be confronted with all of this extreme beauty and style, it’s exciting,” said Brett Robinson, a furniture maker in Los Angeles whose work was first stocked at Just One Eye last year. “You are excited.”
The world inside the store, an airy yet intimate two-level, light-filled space, plays with proportions. The rear wall is consumed by a colossal Damien Hirst “Cherry Blossoms” painting from 2019. On either side are retail areas, arranged to encourage exploration: Furniture, including a Pierre Jeanneret file rack, a Franco Albini rocking lounge chair and a pair of 1960s cane chairs by Joaquim Tenreiro; jewelry from Cartier (starting at $3,200 for an 18-karat pink gold, chalcedony and garnet ring from the Les Berlingots de Cartier collection), Azlee charms (from $2,300) and Venyx X CVC Stones necklaces (from $3,150); and men’s and women’s clothing from designers like the Row and Prada, as well as smaller brands such as God’s True Cashmere (shirts from $1,980) and High Sport (kick pants from $860).
“When you walk into a concept store you are almost always disappointed; it’s everything and nothing at the end,” the French fashion designer Alexandre Vauthier said by phone from his atelier in Paris. “But Just One Eye is more life as art. It’s more than a clothes shop, it’s Paola’s unique vision.”
He was referring to Paola Russo, who founded Just One Eye in 2011 with a silent partner, Victoria Niarchos. Ms. Russo, who was born in Tunisia and raised in Paris, has lived in Los Angeles for more than 30 years. She cut her teeth in fashion and art during an eight-year tenure as artistic director at the Maxfield boutique in Los Angeles,…
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