EXCLUSIVE: Carolina K Opens First Boutique in Miami Design District

Celebrating nearly 20 years in business, Carolina Kleinman has opened her first flagship store for her Argentinian lifestyle label Carolina K in Miami’s Design District, located down the street from her design studio.

The store will feature exclusive archival pieces from the brand, which was founded in 2005, along with current ready-to-wear collections, and a full selection of Carolina K home pieces, including her new line of custom wallpaper that will be featured throughout the store. The boutique had its soft opening last week, with its official opening date set for Thursday.

The new boutique at 4300 NE Second Avenue is located in a recovered building dating back to the 1930s, just a few steps away from designer shops such as Fendi Casa, Gucci and furniture store Design Within Reach. 

Though this counts as Kleinman’s first retail location, she is no stranger to the retail landscape, having worked and collaborated with the Faena group since 2016 to curate a shopping experience with the Faena Hotel in Miami. She also continues to operate her shop-in-shop at the Faena Bazaar inside Curio, a 20,000-square-foot multisensory space featuring fashion, jewelry, art and cuisine, which she helped introduce to the Faena Group.

“By celebrating these 20 years of working with all these artisans, I really wanted to be in an area that I’m in the heart of Miami and where everybody, whether they come from overseas or they live in Miami, it’s easy for them to come because a lot of people that go to Faena also want to come to my studio but they feel that it’s a little further apart,” said designer Carolina Kleinman.

As a pioneer in sustaining the craft of hand-embroidered details made authentically by artisans from remote regions of Mexico and Peru, Kleinman’s embroidery methods and her distinctive prints have become a key signature of her brand. The new space features intricately handwoven embroidered rugs purchased from a collector who has been collecting unique textiles from a group in Santiago del Estero in Argentina for 30 years, handmade ottomans made in collaboration with an artisanal group formed by Kleinman in Mexico, an animal ceramics collection produced in Portugal with 24-karat gold, and her unique hand-painted ceramics made by artisans in Colombia.

“I love culture, and help preserve all these communities that need support. We have a program in the checkout section of our site where you can donate to different organizations, whether it’s ocean related, climate crisis or 15 Percent Pledge, and decide which organization you want to donate a percentage of your purchase. For me, it’s about giving back always and not just making, it has to be a cycle. It’s like we are on this earth to do something meaningful, that’s what I believe,” Kleinman added.

Kleinman’s creative direction for the boutique was done in collaboration with close friend, local interior designer and chef Diego Luchetta, who also hand-painted a palm tree mural from one of the designer’s signature prints and a sun in gold leaf on the ceiling inspired by the sun of Argentina’s flag. 

The boutique also features her newly launched wallpaper line, which adorns the store’s dressing rooms; her zero waste fabrics incorporated into refurbished vintage furniture pieces, and a center table which she found in an antique shop and redesigned by adding a green tabletop made of recycled glass from beer bottles, which sits at the core of the store.

In the same spirit of promoting art, the Carolina K store will also serve as a space that will feature rotating exhibitions from local and global artists. The opening series will debut with a “Cabinet of Curiosity” installation by Beatriz Chachamovits. The installation will feature vases with corals and other sea elements in a natural ceramic color that will debut during her opening party and align with her dedication to sustainability and ocean conservation. The artists series will rotate every season, with the inclusion of workshops as well.

The designer is planning to release a unisex collection for summer, which will include a range of shirts, jackets and trousers — for the male counterpart that more often than not have stopped at the designer’s shops to enquire about a men’s range. 

“I’ve been wanting to do it for so long that I think this year is finally the year that I’m gonna get it done,” Kleinman said.