The storefront at 85 Broadway in Kingston’s Rondout district began, at least officially, as a temporary holiday experiment. Six months later, K/LLER + SORD has evolved into something more permanent: a compact but carefully constructed retail environment that blends jewelry, leatherwork, botanical curiosities, incense, ceramics, textiles, and sensory ritual into a single immersive space. On Friday, May 29, the shop will host its official opening celebration 6:30-8:30pm, timed to coincide with the first night of the spring Field + Supply Spring MRKT weekend.
The store is a collaboration between Kingston jewelry designer Katie deGuzman, founder of K/LLER, and Woodstock leatherworker Sage deLisio of SORD Studios. DeGuzman’s jewelry line, known for its sharp geometric forms and organic textures, has been carried by retailers including Barneys Co-op and ABC Carpet & Home. But despite running the brand for nearly 16 years, she never imagined opening a brick-and-mortar store while living in New York City. “Being here and being part of the community,” deGuzman says of Kingston, “I was like, ‘Oh, I think this could actually happen.’”
The project emerged somewhat organically. DeGuzman and deLisio, who got to know one another through the local maker scene—and a shared Pilates class—began discussing the idea of a seasonal pop-up last fall. DeGuzman had long been eyeing the narrow storefront next to Half Moon Rondout Cafe. They secured the space quickly and opened a holiday pop-up the Friday before Thanksgiving. “We really worked our butts off to make it not look like a pop-up,” deGuzman says. “Everything kind of fell into place.”
The 300-square-foot shop now carries a tightly curated mix of local and international goods: date-sweetened dark chocolate from Spring & Mulberry, botanical skincare by Accord-based Cosmic Mother Beauty, incense by Rebecca Peacock, botanical-dyed silk scarves by Kathy Van Kleeck, stained glass, Swedish clogs, stained glass by Karey Edwards, and hand-thrown ceramics by Michele Quan.
The atmosphere leans less toward conventional retail than cabinet-of-curiosities intimacy. DeGuzman displays natural specimens, minerals, butterfly wings, seed pods, and botanical objects alongside her jewelry to reveal the inspirations behind the work. “I want people to touch and look and see where the form came from,” she says.
That tactile emphasis is central to the project’s philosophy. DeGuzman describes the experience she hopes customers have as entering “a portal to a different world,” shaped by the smell of palo santo, the feel of leather and metal, and the layered textures of the objects themselves.
Friday’s opening celebration will include tarot readings by Witch and Famous, botanical elixirs from Cocorau, treats from Half Moon Rondout Cafe, and bubbles. For deGuzman, the event is less a launch than a public acknowledgment that the experiment worked. As she jokes in the interview: “We’re a failed pop-up.”
