ITEM PHOTO BY OWEN O’ROURKE
From left, Ana Nenshati, Lynn native artist Dr. Eleanor Ruth Fisher and Katerina Nenshati at Kats Boutique in Swampscott. On the left are two of Dr. Fisher’s paintings.
BY GAYLA CAWLEY
SWAMPSCOTT — A mother and daughter are keeping business in the family as owners of Kats Boutique, which specializes in pearl jewelry, but also sells women’s clothing and accessories.
Katerina and Ana Nenshati, mother and daughter respectively, are both the owners of Kats Boutique, located at 212 Humphrey St. The hours change seasonally, but are currently 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. every day, with the exception of Mondays, when the boutique is usually closed.
The older Nenshati said she had been working in the boutique business for 20 years, with the time spent in Marblehead.
“I always wanted to open up my own boutique, but I never had the courage,” she said. “I saw this space and felt it was the right moment.”
The older Nenshati said she had been working as a pianist at the Academy of Fine Arts in Albania, before coming to the United States in 1994. With the boutique, she saw it as an opportunity to put both of her talents, with retail and as a pianist, together. A piano is featured in Kats and she plays at events featuring artists whom the boutique hosts.
The older Nenshati said the boutique’s soft opening was April 20, with the grand opening and ribbon cutting held on July 17. She said it is the first boutique on Humphrey Street.
The younger Nenshati said the store’s essence is pearls and wants the store to be known for her mother’s knowledge of the stone. Some pearls sold at Kats include Komoka and Kojima pearls.
With all of their products, the younger Nenshati said she and her mother support a lot of local designers, with Made in USA products. She said most of the jewelry sold at the boutique is from independent artists and is not mass produced.
“(We want to) put that appreciation of quality back into fashion,” the younger Nenshati said.
The older Nenshati said the focus on pearls came partly from wanting a connection to the ocean. She said she and her daughter both live in Swampscott by the water. She said the pearl also signifies the “struggle and beauty of women” and is not just something a woman wears. She said the meaning of the pearl also connected with her spiritually when she was going through a difficult time in her life. “Find the pearl in you” is the slogan for Kats.
The younger Nenshati said she does not have a background in retail, but helps run the technical aspects of the business. She said she studied Environmental Studies at Suffolk University, which makes her conscious of different brands that could potentially be sold at Kats. She tends to show her mother brands that are made sustainably and locally, so there’s “transparency behind where they’re coming from.”
Kats features the work of local clothing designers, jewelry makers and artists. Every few months, the boutique hosts artistic events honoring those artists. The older Nenshati always plays a piano piece, accompanied by the younger Nenshati, who reads poetry during those events. One such event will be held on Feb. 12 from 5 to 9 p.m. when Kats will showcase the work of Lynn native Dr. Eleanor Ruth Fisher. The event is called “Glass Shard Dreams.”
Fisher said she is a doctor of psychology and has been a psychotherapist in Lynn for over 30 years with her own private practice. In 1991, she said she had brain surgery and an out of body experience as a result, which led to her writing her first book. Six weeks later, she said she was back in her office with a patient, when she thought she heard a voice that said “paint.”
“Every day, at least once a day, I would hear paint,” Fisher said.
Fisher said the voice could have been divine or simply a result of daydreaming and having her mind wander. However, six months after that, she went to an arts store and asked for paint and six of the biggest canvases the store sold. Not knowing anything about what she was doing, she used her home as a gallery and sold from there.
About three years ago, Fisher said she had a dream after a trip to a workshop. She said her dream involved all of the masters, or famous legendary artists, that she had studied and learned to paint from.They were telling her “you have learned enough. Now go and smash glass and we will guide you.” From that point on, she said her husband gave her a cinder block and mallet and she started smashing glass as art.
As a featured artist at Kats, Fisher said she has been given the opportunity to exhibit her new art form of painting with glass shards. She said she layers glass with different things like seashells for sea pictures. She will be featuring a series she did on sea dreams for the February event.
“We’re just going to really give space to Eleanor and display her work as much as we can,” the older Nenshati said.
Gayla Cawley can be reached at [email protected].
