Shop Small Spotlight: Lost and Found

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This article is sponsored by American Express. Please remember to Shop Small this holiday season.

Jamie Rosenthal’s Lost and Found shops have everything the well-appointed world wanderer needs — from woolly, handwoven throws to the perfect ballet flat. Silky pajama pants and rugged jeans, sun hats, crafted leather wallets, throw pillows and even artist Sage Vaughn’s butterfly paintings. Rosenthal, a former superstar stylist and a designer in her own right, chooses apparel, accessories and home furnishings for the creative genius who’s lucky enough to be paid what they’re worth.

“I studied documentary filmmaking and art before becoming a buyer, so I approach things through a social ‘lens,’” explains Rosenthal. “I am drawn to culture and global craftsmanship in the hopes that people will experience human connectivity, which is often missed with mass produced products. I’m not interested in trends and I fill my stores with items that I hand pick from around the world that have a timeless appeal and will always be in fashion.”

Named one of eight must-visit places in Los Angeles by Architectural Digest in 2015, her “off the beaten path” Hollywood location comprises six storefronts — one each for women, men, kids, art, gifts, and home, commanding almost the entire block adjacent to the landmark Capitol Records building. Beautifully composed displays of handmade rugs (made to order), ceramics and lighting look like organic art installations that are meant to be touched. Even better when they’re taken home to complement a kitchen or living room.

The Lost & Found location on Main Street in Santa Monica, featuring two stores close to the beach, focuses on home furnishings and feature Rosenthal’s exclusive line of furniture and collaborations. “Los Angeles has such a uniquely diverse culture and geography that I never bore of exploring,” says Rosenthal about her diverse choice of locales. “My Hollywood neighborhood still maintains some of its gritty urban charm while being steps away from the canyons and coyotes in the hills above. It’s an interesting combination of urban and rural living. Lost & Found in Santa Monica feels like an old fashioned beach town that is lost in time.”

Spending even an hour or so in the shop is like a mini vacation - choose Paris, Morocco, the Amalfi Coast, or even Malibu - all for the cost of parking at a meter on Yucca Street. “For me Lost & Found has always been a community gathering place to connect, to share stories and ideas, as well as to shop,” says Rosenthal. “I think the key to success for a small business in Los Angeles is to be invested in your local neighborhood and to create your own community of like-minded people as your base. Old fashioned word of mouth is still the best advertising.”

American Express® Card Members can earn BIG rewards from now through Dec. 31, 2016. Find out how you could earn 2X rewards when you Shop Small with an enrolled American Express® Card this holiday season. Prepaid and Corporate Cards, American Express Cards issued by other financial institutions, The Plum Card® and certain other Cards are not eligible. Reward cap and other terms apply.

Learn more and enroll in this offer at americanexpress.com/shopsmalloffer. With the addition of more than 90,000 Los Angeles-area locations to the American Express network over the past two years*, Card Members now have more places than ever before to Shop Small in Los Angeles.

*Based on internal comparison of American Express small merchant locations in December 2013 to American Express small merchant locations in December 2015.