By Gretchen Webster

WESTPORT — Two women, both named Ciara (an Irish name pronounced “Kiera,”), have partnered to open Nômade Design, a new shop at 190 Main St.

Ciara Webster is a partner in Nômade restaurant down the street, which opened in August 2022, and is decorated with a multi-faceted international flair, including hand-woven baskets, wooden furniture from Morocco and accents of Middle Eastern decor. 

Diners’ compliments about the atmosphere inspired Webster, along with her friend Ciara Connelly, to open a shop selling baskets, home decor and other wares similar to those that pleased customers at the restaurant.

Nômade Design, although featuring merchandise with international flair, draws a large part of its inventory from South Africa, where Webster spent much of her childhood.

Everything is authentic — none of the home design items at the shop are copies. “It’s genuinely African. There are no imitation pieces from other places,” she said.

“It’s shabby chic. Nothing is posh in Africa.”

The simple yet beautiful merchandise not only provides an engaging backdrop for home decorating, but helps sustain the basket weavers who make them.

“It’s mostly women who produce them, and for them, it’s earning a living,” Webster said. “They live in small villages where people rely on the income.”

Connelly, a Westport resident for 20 years, has a background in the jewelry business, and Nômade Design also sells an array of jewelry pieces glittering in a showcase.

The shop sells “lab diamonds,” as opposed to mined diamonds, Connelly explained.  They are “more sustainable and ethically sourced,” she said, displaying gems in different settings and colors.

Lab diamonds are “the way of the future” for high-end jewelry, the women said. “They are chemically and physically identical to mined diamonds, and have the same certification from the International Gemological Institute, but cost much less,” Connelly said, as much as one-tenth the price of mined diamonds.

Aside from offering unique decor and jewelry, Nômade Design will help bring shoppers to a stretch of Main Street often overlooked, Webster said.

Another addition to upper Main Street is a second restaurant run by Webster and Patrick Jean, her partner in Nômade restaurant. The new eatery is slated to open a few doors down from Nômade Design early this summer, she said. 

“We’re bringing this part of Main Street more into focus.” 

Nômade Design, 190 Main St., Suite A, is open noon to 5 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and by appointment Sundays through Wednesdays. Hours may be expanded in the future. Call 203-293-4010 for more information or to make an appointment.

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Freelance writer Gretchen Webster, a Fairfield County journalist for many years, was editor of the Fairfield Minuteman and has taught journalism at New York and Southern Connecticut State universities.