Housed within a small storefront in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood, Common Things is a story-forward shop of home goods that values people over all else. Slow, small and emotionally astute, it’s a retail experience that believes in the earnest art of an empathetic aesthetic – one where every object has its own history and charisma.

Quietly joyful, the shop’s considered collection is one with deep and expansive roots that range from meticulously bespoke objects to contemporary, machine-made homewares. From decorative thrones made from upcycled oil barrels and shapely beeswax candles to chromatic textiles inspired by the craftswoman of the Bauhaus, the shop’s merchandising feels like a well-set table in the warm and hospitable home of a worldly stranger.

Founded by architect and designer Komal Kehar of Mira Projects, Common Things was ideated and designed in the spirit of cultural curiosity, admiration, and respect with many objects sourced from Kehar’s personal travels around the world.

The shop’s namesake and ideology is an earnest homage to Pablo Neruda’s Odes to Common Things, a poem in which the writer declares his affinity for the seemingly mundane objects that tie the minutiae of one’s life together. The candle holders, back scratchers, and Montessori-minded toys — the soap blocks, tea tins, and textiles. Intentionally diverse and idiosyncratic, the one near constant thread within the shop’s curation is the color blue inspired by the unmistakable, pure pigment of Yves Klein.