Meet the Couple Behind the Lower East Side's Best Home Goods Store

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They say that working with your significant other can be pretty difficult, but that's definitely not the case for Helena Barquet and Fabiana Faria, the couple behind the Lower East Side shop Coming Soon. "We don't live together, so this is our home. We live in the store," Helena recently told us as we lounged upon the awesome vintage furniture pieces at the Orchard Street boutique.

Coming Soon is the type of place you'd come to when you're looking to redecorate with stuff that no one else has. "We have that thing that's popping in your home, that nails everything together," Fabiana explained — and she speaks the truth. We chatted with the owners about everything from being the Opening Ceremony of home goods to why they're photographing customers in their apartments wearing animal masks.

For the uninitiated — what is Coming Soon?

Helena: It's home accessories from a lot of young designers. It's the things that you'd buy for your home, whether it's furniture, a gift for a special occasion, or just stylish accessories.

Fabiana: We have that thing that's popping in your home, that nails everything together. Someone described us as not interior decorators, but more like stylists for the home.

Helena: We love to be a part of people doing that for themselves, which is also the beauty of our price point. We have everything from items that start at $7 to vintage furniture for much more, but our store is accessible. Everybody can have a beautiful, stylish home.

How did you meet and decide to become business partners?

Helena: We worked together in 20th century design. We did a lot of fairs, and we knew how each other worked. Our style is complimentary, and the way we live helps us speak to every person who comes in here — I live with a dog and kids, and she lives with a roommate. So we have a broad spectrum of styles, which helps anyone come in here and find something that they can connect with.

Fabiana: I feel like we wanted to be together all day, too, which was a big reason to open a store and do it together. We just wanted to hang out!

Helena: We don't live together, so this is our home. We live in the store! [Laughs]

Fabiana: We treat this a little bit like our own apartment.

Helena: And that's why it's so intimate, at least for me, and I think for everyone who comes in here — because it really does feel like our home.

Did you both always have an appreciation for housewares and vintage furniture?

Fabiana: Yeah, especially for vintage furniture. We have an appreciation for things being timeless. We try for everything in here to have that timelessness, and 20th century furniture really holds that.

The collection in here is super eclectic. Is there a science to pulling these random pieces together into a space that really works, visually?

Fabiana: I think that each thing by itself holds an inherent value, but then can also stand together with other pieces.

Helena: That's the real key. You can't take a bunch of disparate, not-really-great things and put them together and think the sum of the whole creates this amazing space. If each element in that grouping is great and can by itself be a great thing, then there's no place it can't rest and be amazing. That's the beauty of something being classic.

What made the Lower East Side the right place for Coming Soon?

Fabiana: It felt like the last little piece of New York where you could still carve out something for yourself that wasn't already predetermined. Every neighborhood has a vibe, and I think that this one was still open for all of us.

Who are your customers?

Helena: We have all sorts. We have a lot of artists who call this their art supply store, which is probably our favorite description. When we first opened, it was primarily the community that lives around here — people in fashion, designers, artists, writers. Now that we've been around for two years, certainly the community has grown a bit. We've helped with homes all over the city and Brooklyn, and we just drove out to Sag Harbor yesterday.

How do you see yourselves in comparison to other home goods shops?

Helena: To be honest, I don't compare us. I have such an appreciation for the many interesting shops in the city. I love them as a fan. I just think we know what we do, and when you know intrinsically what you do, unless there was literally a clone of our two brains it's really hard for somebody to do the exact same thing.

If you had to compare Coming Soon to a clothing store, which would you be?

Fabiana: I personally think we're like Opening Ceremony, with that young and fun vibe. And I don't know if this is necessarily a good thing or not, but a lot people tell us, "I've never really bought anything in here, but I love your store." I feel like a lot of people have that same thing with Opening Ceremony — you just wanna go there. As a business owner, I'm like, "I wish that weren't the case," but it's nice to hear, too, because those people still think that one day they will buy something, and we want to be part of that.

Helena: We talk to people about just coming here to visit, and not feel the pressure of having to buy something.

Where do you source all of your products?

Fabiana: Everywhere. It could come from going to a friend's home and drinking out of a glass that we really like and thinking, "We want to sell that." It's also from past experiences — the candle we sell, I've had it for ten years.

There are friends who bring us things, too, and also a community of these young designers that are making things, like Chen & Khai and Chiaozza and Fredericks & Mae and Bower and Concrete Cat.

What are your sources of inspiration?

Fabiana: I'm inspired by the designers in here. We had Chen from Chen and Kai over here [recently], and he's very inspiring — always moving and doing new things and creating.

Helena: They're problem solvers. They just bring beauty, design, and thought to problems and try to make our lives better. And in our small way, we try to make people to feel better about their homes, so that's inspiring, too.

Tell us about your Chinese zodiac animal signs project, Tiger Homes, where you photograph customers at home wearing animal masks that correspond to their sign.

Fabiana: The idea came from a friend's party, where he had a couple of masks. Then we incorporated Chinese zodiac animal signs, because it's an ongoing thing in my family that my dad calls us by our animal zodiac. Helena and I happen to both be tigers, which is uncommon because you either have to born in the same the same year or 12 years apart.

Helena: We learned from this project how uncommon it is for couples to be the exact same animal.

A photo posted by Coming Soon (@comingsoonny) on Feb 16, 2016 at 12:42pm PST

Fabiana: We wanted to photograph these items in people's homes because that's when they look lived in, and you can really imagine using something in a certain way ... I don't like having my photo taken, but with a mask I really don't care, so it makes everyone much more comfortable. We wanted everything to be playful.

Then there's this whole underlying thing from Feng Shui culture about how you're supposed to incorporate certain elements [in your home] depending on your animal sign. It's an ongoing project, so we'll continue photographing Coming Soon collectors' homes, and maybe one day do a book about it.

What's changed since you first opened in 2013?

Fabiana: Everything's changed. We really found our voice and our concept and what it is that we're doing, and that takes a while.

Helena: We have the basement now which is basically the same size of the store and it's pretty fantastic. It's more space to play with for exhibitions events and pop-ups.

Are you planning to open other stores in New York or elsewhere in the country?

Helena: We would love that.

Fabiana: At first, we were offered to open in a hotel — €”that was the first time we had to think about eventually branching out. Unfortunately, that wasn't the city we wanted to be in, but it put the idea in our heads. Then we realized the importance of the second store not being so far away, so maybe we would start within the city or in Brooklyn, and then from there maybe Miami—I'd love to be there.

What's next on the Coming Soon agenda?

Fabiana: We have Rachel [Berks' pop-up] opening in April — she has a store called Other Wild in LA. She'll be here for four to five months. She's mostly known for this tee shirt that says "The Future is Female."

We [also] have a few pop-ups for ourselves in the works — we just haven't finalized them. Usually, we do a lot of in-store events, but right now we're focused on being outside the store to reach a bigger audience.

Thanks for letting us chill here! Let's finish up with a lightning round: Whole milk or almond milk?
Both: Whole.

The 1950s or the 1980s?
Both: 1950s.

Sushi or Pad Thai?
Both: Sushi.

Taxi or Uber?
Fabiana: Uber.
Helena: Taxi.

Sweet or salty?
Both: Salty.

Books or movies?
Fabiana: Movies.
Helena: Books.

Brooklyn or Manhattan?
Both: Manhattan.

Wine or water?
Both: Wine.

Gold or silver?
Both: Gold.

Marcel Breuer or Ludwig Mies van der Rohe?
Both: Breuer.

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Coming Soon

37 Orchard St, New York, NY 10002 (212) 226-4548