Winter Wellness, Ski Chalet-style, in the West Village
Everyone knows about CBD these days. The market for the anxiety-reducing, pain-relieving cannabinoid oil has become a multi-billion dollar industry with CBD products seemingly available at every drugstore, corner bodega and rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike. With so many options and further projected growth, it’s hard to know what you’re looking for and what works best for you. Cue Kaleidoscope. No, not the trippy telescope thing, but a line of CBD products designed to work in a “pattern,” for your everyday wellness.
To put these patterns in perspective, Kaleidoscope Lab’s Winter Wellness Pop-Up shop has landed in the West Village. The shop highlights Kaleidoscope’s products as well as numerous other brands and items that go hand-in-hand with each style of CBD Kaleidoscope has to offer.
Throughout the month of December, Kaleidoscope’s Winter Wellness Pop-up will hold small events, cocktail hours, and offer services such as massages, manicures and ear seeding, as well as products that align with the healing powers of hemp. Keep up with the latest goings on going on at the pop-up @kaleidoscopelabs.
We sat down with Kaleidoscope founder and CEO, Ana Rosenstein to learn more about CBD, patterns and the products she chose to collab with for the New York City ski chalet pop-up on the corner of Jane St. and 8th Ave.
Kaleidoscope founder and CEO, Ana Rosenstein kicking back chalet-style with Jeffrey Goldstein, owner of Blue & Cream Boutique.
What encouraged you to create this company? What have the benefits of it been for you?
Ana Rosenstein: Honestly, I’m as sick of CBD as everyone else is. And that’s really why I started this company.
I saw all of these CBD products on the market and so many of them didn’t make sense to me from a functional or a scientific perspective. I wanted a CBD product that could help me and help other people with distinct ailments that plagued them throughout their day in a format that was convenient to consume and just simply made sense.
Has the rapid acceptance of CBD been surprising to you?
Ana: I wouldn’t necessarily say it has surprised me, but I would say it has frustrated me. CBD is everywhere and in everything. And it shouldn’t be. I see crazy CBD-laced products that are truly just marketing gimmicks or a way to charge people a couple extra bucks. I wish that the rapid acceptance was happening in tandem with rapid education of how this stuff works and how it should be used.
Honestly, I’m as sick of CBD as everyone else is.
What sets your brand apart from other CBD companies?
Ana: A couple things. First, we use a hybrid of Ayurvedic medicine, western medicine, and CBD to create each of our formulations.
We believe each body is different, has its own distinct pattern, and should use a different combination of products, or rather, pattern of products, to fit their needs. We help you figure out which of our formulations you should be using each day for your own body.
We use a cap in cap technology to provide a more bioavailable CBD capsule. What’s cool about the cap in cap is that the outer cap protects the inner cap from the first pass of digestion so the ingredients don’t get completely destroyed in the way most CBD infused food products do.
Standards. We hold ourselves to high standards. We do extensive stability and toxicity testing on our products, which we’ll actually be releasing on our product pages in the next couple weeks. Since the FDA has yet to produce a framework or guidelines under which CBD companies should operate, we try to operate under the best practices we can.
I didn’t bring anything into the store that I don’t use regularly. Well, except for the men’s beard oil.
Explain why finding the right CBD pattern for your customers is so important to you and your brand.
Ana: Everyone is different and, in turn, their needs are different. Sometimes, your needs can even change from one season to the next. In the same way women take different types of birth control depending on their bodies, people use different types of moisturizers depending on their skin type, or even use different exercise equipment depending on their body types or injuries, CBD should be considered in exactly the same way. You should find the right pattern for you.
Where did the idea for the pop-up come from?
Ana: I’m a big believer in brick and mortar. The idea to create a “ski chalet” in the middle of the Village really came out of my love for skiing. If I could live in a snow-coated winter wonderland all year round I’d be the happiest girl on earth. I wanted to bring the Kaleidoscope mantra of “a pattern for daily balance” into a winterized, physical concept. Thus, our pop-up mantra of, “a pattern for winter wellness.”
I believe Kaleidoscope shouldn’t sit on its own. It should be paired with other brands and products that fit with our brand’s ethos and reason for being. So, I curated a bunch of products that I love and use everyday alongside my Kaleidoscope capsules and brought them into our store, The Kaleidoscope, on Jane and 8th Ave.
We see the kaleidoscope patterns as iconic works of art and that’s the goal of the Patterned collection.
Of the brands you chose for your pop-up, which are you most excited about for you and your audience?
Ana: Oh, that’s so hard to choose because I love them all so much. I didn’t bring anything into the store that I don’t use regularly. Well, except for the men’s beard oil. But in all honesty I’ve always thought I’d look fantastic with a beard and that it would keep my face incredibly warm in the winter. But back to your original question. The coolest thing in the store is the YuYu Bottle. It’s a cashmere-wrapped long hot water bottle. It’s a bit phallic looking but it is the most fantastic thing to curl up with at night. In the back room of the store we have a section called “have fun too.” I like to say I created the CBD for type-A people; people who work really hard, push their bodies and minds to their limits, and may not realize that CBD can make them a more productive version of themselves. So just because you’re type-A doesn’t mean you can’t “have fun, too.” In that section of the store we have really beautiful lighters, pipes, and custom printed rolling paper packs with the Kaleidoscope geometric patterns printed on the papers. I love that section.
Our most recent additions to the store are the first pieces in our “Patterned by Kaleidoscope” collection. We partnered with Silk Diaries, an amazing silk brand from Austin, to develop beautiful silk scarves and pocket squares embossed with our geometric patterns and hand-dyed with natural dyes to match the colors of each of our capsules. They’re a work of art. And we even have an in house designer who is embroidering them for customers upon purchase in the store. We see the kaleidoscope patterns as iconic works of art and that’s the goal of the Patterned collection. We’re imposing the patterns upon unique garments and accessories and producing gorgeous, high end fashion pieces. I like to say patterns are the next tie dye. But one can only dream.
To find your pattern check out Kaleidoscope Lab’s Winter Wellness Pop-up on the corner of Jane St. and 8th Ave, or visit kaleidoscopelabs.com
