Ram Design Home in Shelter Island offers a curated combination of art, décor by local artists and artisans
Ram Design Home on Shelter Island is a year-round shop featuring a curated mix of home accessories, furnishings and artworks. Credit: Luciana Cavalcanti
For Cristina Peffer, who co-owns Ram Design Home on Shelter Island, summer is the perfect time to lighten up. The shop is full of homey pillows decked out with playful summer images: a bike, mermaid or rainbow. And there’s the collection of neon trays that are as eye-catching and bright as stars. The hammocks? They’re waiting for you to, well, drop in.
“I really just wanted to not take everything so seriously this year. I wanted to focus on fun,” says Peffer, who owns the store with her brother, Henry Hontoria. Peffer is the shop's buyer and merchandiser and Hontoria is the head of operations.
Situated on North Ferry Road, the year-round retail space launched in 2018 as SIMM's (Shelter Island Makers Market), and was later renamed Ram Design Home. “I’m an interior designer and I’ve always had a shop,” says Peffer, 49. "I opened my first shop when I was 27 in Southampton. I like choosing the merchandise. I love working with people.”
Beautiful home accessories — artwork, ceramics, photography, paintings — and furnishings are what the store is all about. Shelves showcase a curated combination of work by local artists and artisans as well as makers farther afield.
"This island draws in so many unique artists that work in many different mediums. It blows my mind," says Peffer, adding that showcasing local talents keeps the shop “threaded into the fiber of the community.”
Peffer features work by Shelter Island-based ceramist Lora Lomuscio, photographer Luciana Cavalcanti, woven rug and pillow maker Nancy Winarick and glassblower Malcolm Kriegel.
“It feels so good to sell a local artist's piece and to experience their enthusiasm and inspiration when their work is appreciated and becomes part of someone’s collection,” Peffer says.
Peffer’s appreciation for aesthetics and making the most of your home environment has been nurtured and deepened over her life. Born in Spain, she came to Long Island when she was 6. “I grew up in Huntington but moved to Aquebogue when I was 22,” she says.
For a time, she lived on a 57-foot wooden sailboat made by her father. Such experiences made her appreciate the place she calls home.
She first laid eyes on Shelter Island when she was 17. “It took me almost 30 years to actualize my dream to move here,” she says. Her store is near her house.
Among the popular sellers in the shop are blankets and throws that run $95 to $495 and pillows, $25 to $520, depending on the materials and style.
“I want people who walk in to feel like they've entered this oasis of a million beautiful options," Peffer says.
Ram Design Home, 181 N. Ferry Rd., 631-749-5067; ramdesignhome.com.
