Los Angeles-based luxury eyewear maison Jacques Marie Mage has officially arrived in New York. The brand's first gallery on the East Coast, and its largest globally to date, is now open at 140 Wooster Street in SoHo, marking a significant milestone for a label that has spent five years searching for the right space in Manhattan.
For founder and creative director Jerome Mage, the New York opening was never going to be a conventional retail exercise. "I never really saw myself making a retail space," he told WWD. Instead, the 2,100-square-foot, multilevel gallery reads more like a private collector's world brought to life, blending furniture by Eileen Gray with exotic woods, mirrored surfaces and an overarching narrative drawn from the American wilderness.
Developed in collaboration with French architect and interior designer Jacques Garcia, the interiors balance Art Deco luxury with what Mage describes as a "rewilding New York." The concept imagines a Franco-American anthropologist moving between Manhattan and Yellowstone, collecting natural artifacts and rare furnishings along the way. Three monumental animal skull sculptures by French artist Quentin Garel anchor the space, including a towering wolf whose open jaws serve as the passage to the second floor.
"They take on a kind of nobility and fragility," Mage said of Garel's works. "They're raw objects, but within that setting they start to feel almost precious, like adornments or mementos that speak to the wilderness, its vulnerability and the idea of protecting it." A large charcoal drawing by Garel further reinforces the wilderness narrative that runs throughout the gallery.
The ground floor houses JMM's limited-edition frames alongside premium leather goods and curated collectible objects, all presented more like personal artifacts than traditional luxury accessories. Upstairs, visitors will find the brand's Collections Speciales and Editions Speciales, as well as a dedicated jewelry space on the mezzanine level that previews a forthcoming fine jewelry collection handcrafted in Paris and slated for a September launch.
The gallery's opening night on May 28 drew a fittingly eclectic crowd. Patti Smith, a longtime friend of the house, performed an intimate set, with guests including Mark Ronson, Nan Goldin, Mario Sorrenti and George Cortina. Conservationist Douglas Smith, whose work protecting wolves in Yellowstone has informed the brand's stewardship initiatives, also addressed attendees.
For Mage, each gallery functions as an extension of the fictionalized character behind the brand's name. "Each gallery is constructed as a space that represents my alter ego," he explained. "It's almost like a short movie." With its fusion of art, design and collectible luxury, JMM's SoHo debut feels less like a store opening and more like the beginning of a new chapter in how independent brands choose to present themselves.
