Last week our friends Jocelyn and Robert Rahm, who provided the furniture for our Portland storefront, opened Beam & Anchor, a passionately curated retail and gallery space focused on “beautiful old things and very well-crafted new things.”
As the final pre-opening pieces were settling into place, we got an early look at the space and spoke with the couple about the genesis, vision and future of the shop.
The couple acquired the building last July after they “became disillusioned with our respective career paths,” and decided to pursue their shared love of craft and design. In the year since finding the large but unloved building just off the Max line on N. Interstate Ave., the space has patiently taken shape. “There was a lot that needed to go into it in order to get it to a place where it was functional and presentable.”
Among the diverse assemblage of furniture, including original pieces made from reclaimed materials by Robert Rahm, art, ceramics, bags, home wares and plantlife, you’ll find a few local favorites you may already know from Dunderdon including Wood & Faulk, Poler Camping Stuff, Otter Wax and The Good Flock.
“We want a shop that supports local makers,” Jocelyn says, though there’s not an exclusive mandate on local goods. The determining goal is, simply put, “just selling beautiful product.”
With a kitchen and a large, farm-style dinner table in the upstairs, plans for monthly live music and rotating gallery exhibits, Beam & Anchor aims to provide not just a retail experience, but to “pull people in and generate a lot of dialogue and support within the creative community.”
From its inception the framework of Beam & Anchor has been “compelled by this idea of generating community.” The space is not only a retail home for local crafters, but the upstairs workshop is an actual home to some of them. The second-story houses nine like-minded makers including Wood & Faulk’s Matt Pierce, Maak Soap Lab’s Nori Gilbert and Taylor Ahlmark, and furniture designer Ben Klebba, all of whom sell their goods through the store. A large woodshop, upholstery and painting studios and a stuffed bobcat also reside in the upstairs space.
With an online shop launching in the coming year and long-term goals to revitalize the entire surrounding block, Beam & Anchor is not just a store to keep an eye on, but one that actively invites you to share in the appreciation of good design and good people.
