We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Caitlin Maestrini. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Caitlin below.
Caitlin, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?
Teak New York’s name was inspired by Scandinavian vintage furniture. In 2018, I traveled to Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and Denmark and fell in love with the aesthetics and design principals I saw. I realized that many Scandinavian people have a mix of vintage pieces in their homes with a mix of contemporary items. Their pieces were often purchased by their parents or grandparents and were of such good quality and craftsmanship that they could be passed onto the next household. Upon returning to the US, I started to scout out vintage Danish furniture from the 1950’s-70’s. I quickly discovered that I loved the warm tones of teak wood. Soon, I found my New York City apartment pilled with teak pieces including my dining table, dining chairs, and large standing modular shelving unit. When I decided to create my store and bring my love of Scandinavian design to NYC, I only had to take a look around to see what my inspiration was: teak furniture! I thought the name “Teak” was simply to remember, but also gave a nod to it’s vintage furniture heritage. Many pieces that we sell and love have been designed in the mid-century.
Caitlin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My name is Caitlin Maestrini and I am the founder of Teak New York. I started my career as a high school art teacher, but decided to go back to school after a few years to pursue a master’s degree with a focus on decorative arts and design. I originally fell in love with architecture and design when I was in undergrad and I worked at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater house as a tour guide. This college job was a catalyst for where I am today. I started Teak New York in November 2021 when I decided that I was unhappy with my job and I needed to create some new career goals. Since graduation, I had steadily increased my love for Scandinavian aesthetics and found that I had Scandinavian ancestry as well. It felt like kismet and that I should introduce my style to others. During the pandemic, I started seeing a therapist and taking anxiety medication. While focusing on my mental health, I brought in more “hygge” to my life. Hygge is a danish word that roughly translates to coziness. Its a term that promote positive mental health as you decorate your home. Think of lit candles, soft blankets, a stack of good books, fresh flowers, a cup of coffee or tea, etc. As I focused on hygge, I thought of many others who did not know the term yet and could benefit from it, so this became my mission at Teak. I wanted to educate Americans on hygge and why the Scandinavian people are the happiest on earth. Much of this stems from their love of nature and their respect for others, but also a home style that promotes natural materials, good craftsmanship, and a cozy atmosphere is also beneficial for your well being. Teak New York offers a variety of items and only sources from Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, and Finland. We have solid wood furniture that features solid oak and ash. Our furniture is usually dual function and is great for small-space solutions. We offer lighting in both modern and contemporary styles. The newest fun design on the market is a portable lamp. We love the versatility of being able to take the light with you to different rooms. For home decor, we offer products for every part of your home: vases, table games, books, candles, clocks, matchstick holders, skincare, carafes, tea towels, and many other unique items. We try to partner with brands that are small businesses, women owned and operated, or sustainable.
We’d love to hear about how you met your business partner.
My business partner and I met in the apartment building we were both living in. I was living in a 3rd floor studio in an old brownstone of the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Bianca was moving in just a few months after I had moved in and I introduced myself to her in the lobby. I already had a few stories from living in the building and enjoyed making friends with my neighbors in the past, so I invited her to share a bottle of wine with me that evening. This was in February 2021, so we had a discussion of whether we were going to wear masks in each others’ apartment. We decided soon after to be part of each other’s pods. Luckily then vaccine was distributed soon after and Bianca and I were hanging out regularly. I was about to begin a pop-up for Teak in Manhattan in March 2022. Bianca was working for another company that decided to end their lease, so she was looking for a new job. I offered her the chance to work for me until she was able to find something else. We ended up building the company together as a team and being each others’ strength. Bianca has the perfect eye of styling and retail, while I have the knowledge of the design industry and pieces we want to showcase. Between the two of us, we couldn’t have been a better fit. Today, Bianca and I run the company together while being best friends.
Can you open up about how you funded your business?
When many people start a business, funding is one of the hardest aspects to figure out. I only had about $20,000 in my savings account and then I was living month to month on my $70,000 full time salary. With this in mind, I was doing okay, but I didn’t have any capital to get my business started. I laid the foundation first: I filed all my paperwork, began connecting with brands that I wanted to work with, and built my website. This was November and December of 2021. In March of 2022, I was able to join a pop-up space in Manhattan and pay a rental fee month to month. I drained my savings account and used my high credit score to leverage some credit lines. At one point, I had about six figures in debt from inventory and marketing expenses. Today, this debt is significantly smaller. It was very stressful at some points when the pop-up wasn’t paying for itself and I would have to dig a little deeper into my pockets and forgo personal purchases because I needed the cash. We also had a few family members pitch in to help. Now we are finishing up our second year in business and things are much better. We have a brick and mortar store and three employees. We are still growing everyday and we still have debt, but each dollar belongs to us. We’ve been offered investments and we know that would help us grow quickly, but building your own success is extremely rewarding. Our final source of funding has come directly from Shopify. We utilize the Shopify Capital feature that they offer to stores on their platform. We agree on a funding amount, they send it directly to your bank account, and then you pay around 15% of your sales back until the capital is paid off. This has been great for us to jumpstart some smaller projects and fill in our inventory.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.teaknewyork.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/teaknewyork
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/teak-new-york/
Image Credits
Photos from inside the store: @als_schotz