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Karlo Gesner
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Karlo Gesner
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Alison McIndoe says she always knew she would be an interior designer. She spent a lot of time with an aunt and uncle who often remodeled and redecorated their home. “I saw the floor plans, the fabric swatches, and I became so enamored with the process that I decided to make a career of it,” she says.
However, McIndoe says she was also destined to become a shop owner. “My parents owned a shop, a variety store, so I definitely picked up their entrepreneurial spirit—I grew up in this environment,” she says with a sweeping gesture around The Shoppe at AK Interiors. “It feels a little nostalgic to walk into my own shop today,” she reflects.
AK Interiors, reflecting Alison’s initials (her middle name is Kay), is located on Lancaster’s Orange Street, just two blocks from the Prince Street thoroughfare. The boutique home furnishings, accessories, and gift shop is tucked into a cozy brick building originally built as a home. The shop’s right wall features a series of large, wavy-glass windows that look into a courtyard shared by surrounding homes. “Sunlight streams in, and customers constantly say they love being here,” McIndoe says. “I want people to feel welcomed; it’s my home away from home.”
AK Interiors contains a mixture of home furnishings (including a large selection of glassware, lamps and artwork), upholstery lines (sofas and chairs), and case goods (including all types of tables and additional furniture).
“My personal design style is very classic,” McIndoe explains. “I like things that are timeless and have a sense of history, yet still apply today. We try not to be too trendy; trends come and go. I basically follow the same design philosophy for the shop.”
McIndoe takes great pride in hand-selecting mats and frames for much of the shop’s unique artwork. She especially enjoys collecting vintage cameo brooches, which she mats and frames as works of art—a trademark of AK Interiors. Local artists’ works are regularly featured during First Fridays, when the shop offers live music on the sidewalk as well as cocktails and nibbles inside.
AK Interiors also stocks hostess gifts and entertaining essentials: marble cheese boards, covered glass cake plates, placemats made from pressed boxwood leaves, and unique glass salt and pepper shakers in the shape of chickens and hedgehogs, for example. Many gift items are $20 or less.
McIndoe founded AK Interiors 22 years ago as a home-based business. With a growing client base throughout Lancaster County, Harrisburg, York, and Reading, she needed additional working space. Plus, she was having difficulty finding the right mix of merchandise and home furnishings for her clients. Opening the shop in the fall of 2015 fulfilled both needs, while allowing McIndoe to realize her dream of becoming a shop owner. Today, two years later, she plans to expand the shop in the near future in order to carry jewelry and additional merchandise.
And the aunt who inspired her to become an interior designer? “Aunt Joanne” Griffith is now a key staff member at AK Interiors, along with senior designer Angie Stoudt and shop manager Kate Stauffer.
“It’s exciting to be a young professional involved in Lancaster’s downtown scene, working in the city and seeing it thriving,” says Stauffer, 24. The Lititz native’s childhood was shaped in a similar way to McIndoe’s, perhaps also planting seeds for her future career path. Stauffer grew up going to her father’s reproduction furniture shop, Anderson and Stauffer, before and after elementary school.
“Design has always been a passion,” Stauffer explains. “I love working with Alison and Angie—they are wonderful mentors to me, and we all like the same type of style. That’s why working here feels so easy—everything falls in line style-wise.”
Stauffer and McIndoe share a favorite item at AK Interiors—a line of little brass and glass jewelry boxes designed to showcase unique, special or heirloom pieces of jewelry. Although they appear to be antiques, they are indeed new. McIndoe encourages customers to place their grandmother’s pearls or other special items inside, on display.
It’s that nod to nostalgia that strikes a chord with McIndoe, her staff and her clients alike. “One of my goals when working with a client is to make it feel like their items have been acquired over time rather than purchased new, mixing them in with their personal items. I like to furnish a home with items that tell a story or have history (like the little brass and glass jewelry boxes).”
With that, McIndoe wipes tears from her eyes, yet smiles. “I take pride in the fact that we work in people’s homes where they’re creating memories and raising families,” she says. “I get choked up and very sentimental about it.”
AK Interiors
246 W. Orange Street, Lancaster, PA / akinteriorsllc.com