Since founding the shoe label Le Monde Béryl in 2016, Lily Atherton Hanbury and Katya Shyfrin have built a following around Italian craftsmanship, thoughtful design and a distinctly cultured point of view. Now, as the brand marks its tenth anniversary, it is putting down permanent roots in New York with a new flagship on East 67th Street and Madison Avenue.
Designed by Silka Rittson-Thomas in collaboration with architects Tutto Bene, the 1,720-square-foot space is conceived less as a conventional boutique than as a stage for discovery. The inspiration ranges from Renaissance architecture and antiquities to dance and cinema, with David Lynch’s enigmatic Club Silencio, from Mulholland Drive, serving as a particularly evocative reference. Inside, a continuous mirrored wall, veiled in translucent paint, creates a shifting series of reflections, bringing the shoes into focus while subtly distorting the space around them. Wooden cabinetry with mirrored doors and archival-style shelving houses the collections, while display vitrines borrow from the language of galleries.
The palette is restrained but tactile, pairing warm whites with near-black tones and unexpected finishes. Pink horsehair blinds trimmed with fringe, buttery silver satin curtains, mohair velvet upholstery and dark wool carpeting introduce layers of texture. Vintage furnishings add further character, including twin-branched Murano glass wall sconces from the 20th century and an 18th-century mirror with intricate beaded detailing. In the lounge, aluminum easy chairs by Mats Theselius sit alongside a bespoke-upholstered Adler sofa by Ransom & Dunn. Artworks include Anne Collier’s “Caravaggio By Nikon” (2012) and Beau Gabriel’s “The Splinter” (2024).
The design also nods to the brand’s origins. Le Monde Béryl began with a single silhouette, the Venetian Slipper, an elegant style that reinterprets the footwear traditionally worn by Venetian gondoliers. That connection to Venice informs the store’s Murano lighting, while the interplay of reflections, proportions and movement echoes the label’s broader design vocabulary. “We wanted a store that behaves more like a performance space than a traditional retail environment,” the founders say, describing an interior built around concealment and revelation, one that can feel different with every visit and evolve through its cultural programming.
It is an apt setting for a label whose collections balance enduring silhouettes with contemporary references. Handcrafted in Italy, Le Monde Béryl shoes are now stocked by retailers in 30 countries, but the new Madison Avenue address offers something different: a permanent New York home that brings the brand’s wider creative universe into view.
Le Monde Béryl
