Industry / Retail

Equestrian Jeweler Turns A Tiny House Into Her Perfect Mobile Store

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Marry the excitement of a pop-up shop with the convenience of a tiny house, and the result is Karina Brez’s new jewelry store innovation called the Jeweled Barn.

Brez commissioned a tiny-home builder to help her create the Jeweled Barn, which she is now using as a retail store that can move locations. The effort and expense is well worth it, Brez says, as the Jeweled Barn meets Brez’s brand story, design standards, and desire to have a shop ready to display her jewelry anywhere she goes.

Brez regularly travels to shows to promote and sell her jewelry, which largely has an equestrian theme. What makes the Jeweled Barn ideal for this lifestyle is that it provides an upscale experience on a mobile platform, Brez says. So, when she’s ready to return home, the Jeweled Barn can go with her.

Karina Brez barn
The exterior of the Jeweled Barn features large windows, wood siding, and copper lamps to evoke a rustic yet upscale setting.

“With so many retail spaces costing so much to operate, the next decade is going to be about going mobile,” Brez says. “I always like to think outside of the box, and I encourage people to take that leap of faith in going tiny. Jewelry is small, so you don’t necessarily need all of that space.”

The exterior and interior of the tiny shop is a tribute to Brez’s creativity. From the outside, Brez worked with her construction team at Florida-based tiny-home builder Movable Roots to make it look like a rustic barn with copper lights, fresh flowers and plants, and ebony-stained cedarwood siding.

The interior—which Brez designed to look like an English tack room—focuses on Brez’s signature green while incorporating gold highlights and a regal Ralph Lauren tartan wool fabric repurposed as a wallpaper into the color scheme. The reclaimed wood from the exterior returns again but in a more refined way along with shelves made from old tobacco barns.

Jeweled Barn
Having a mobile store allows jeweler Karina Brez to be instantly ready to sell when she arrives on a site. Previously she called the work of getting her store up and running “backbreaking” given how much she had to move.

One highlight is the handmade leather trunks Brez uses as storage for boxes and bags as well as to hold up her display cases. These trunks come from Nick Coggon in Nottingham, England, and they add a feeling of elegance while also meeting the tiny-home mandate that every space have a purpose and multiple uses, Brez says.

Another key to making the space feel welcome and comfortable is its large windows. Brez says she loves her location at her first stop at Winter Equestrian Festival at Wellington International in Wellington, Fla., because it overlooks the picturesque grounds, and you can see the horses running as well as the stunning sunsets from inside of the Jeweled Barn.

Brez also sought to make the tiny shop safe with all of the same standards and insurance a traditional jewelry store has. She also wanted to be environmentally conscious. For example, the entire barn is powered by solar panels on its roof, allowing Brez to go off-grid during the barn’s travels. She also has battery backup just in case.

Jeweled Barn interior
English trunks serve as storage and equestrian-themed displays within the Jeweled Barn, creating an English tack room feel to the store’s interior.

“I always wanted to do a tiny-house setups to avoid the backbreaking labor of moving in and setting up at a show for four days or seven days at a time,” Brez says. “I got approval [to set up the Jeweled Barn] in an area where I usually do most of my business three or four months of the year.”

The newly debuted concept store is already receiving rave reviews from customers and onlookers at the Winter Equestrian Festival. Brez shared the entire experience on her social media accounts, making the construction and reveal part of the fun for her customers.

“I haven’t slept in six months since I got [the plans] approved—it’s been all hands on deck,” Brez says. “I was nervous that it wouldn’t happen, but with Movable Roots, we pulled it together.”

Brez also has a retail flagship store in Palm Beach, Fla., which she opened in 2021. Her signature fine jewelry collections, including Huggable Hooves and Lucky Horseshoe, are available on her website and from other national retailers.

Top: Karina Brez dreamed of a transportable shop and created one within a tiny-house setup to use when she is on the road with her equestrian-themed jeweled. The Jeweled Barn is now reality, and Brez says she sees this as larger trend for jewelers (photos: Raphael Macek/courtesy of Karina Brez). 

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Karen Dybis

By: Karen Dybis

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