March 6, 2017

Meet Thea Murvanidze Gonzalez of Style Within

Local Stories

Today we’d like to introduce you to Thea Murvanidze Gonzalez.

Thea, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.

I was born in the Republic of Georgia in 1987 during communism and Russian rule. Both my parents were heavily involved in arts, politics, and community work. When I was 10, my parents moved us to New Jersey for my mother’s master’s program at Princeton University. I didn’t speak a lick of English and knew nothing about American culture. Even though now I sound more American, I still have my wife read over everything I write to make sure it makes sense.

The move to the US was a huge surprise that was meant to last only a year but things changed and we stayed. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Saved by The Bell, Martin and The Flintstones taught me all the English I needed to survive school with American kids.

I received a BA in Art and Art History from Mount Holyoke College. Originally, I wanted to study Psychology due to my obsession with understanding how the human mind works. However, art kept pulling me in. I wanted to continue art one way or another and not starve. Graduate school felt like a waste of time and money for me, so I worked until I would figure it out. Loving graphics, fashion, architecture, interior design and pretty much everything that had to do with design made it very difficult for me to pick a graduate program. I simply couldn’t define myself by one thing, one type of art, one type of thinker.

Retail was my safety net when I was in college, and continued to be after college. Always loving clothes, it was very easy for me to work and wait until my career came to me. Retail paid the bills. I learned a lot during my 10 years in retail working for various brands. I know “they” say it’s bad to move around jobs a lot, but, actually, I disagree when it comes to retail. I loved learning about brands, their history, and their clientele. Dressing clients, not just getting sizes for them, telling them what I truly thought of their fits, and suggesting more items from different places to complement their style. No matter what store I worked at (I chose the small, intimate ones because you learn more when you have time with each client) I was usually the number one sales person.

During that 10 year run in retail I met Maylin. Shortly after we met in NYC, we both decided that California would be our new home. Eyes closed and hopeful we’d both find a better, more fulfilled life in Los Angeles. UHaul here we come!

Clients in LA kept suggesting I’d become a stylist, along with my wife putting pressure on me to find my passion, feed the artist in me, and maybe, possibly make a living from it. After working 3 years in retail in LA, learning the shopping behaviors, the layout of the stores, and client expectation, I took the plunge and quit Retail!

Style Within was born in 2015 and the creativity started to flow out of me. Graphic design was quenched by designing my logo and website for my company. Closet, home and work organization feed my interior design mind. Visual merchandising, creating the displays, and the artwork for Eyed LA store each month was allowing me to have a studio space to show my art. Styling allowed me to enhance my client’s lives by helping them feel beautiful and confident each day. Through the process of creating my own company, I reignited my passion of connecting all my arts into one. I finally achieved what I had been trying to find for many years…no limits to my job title.

The world is made of shapes and color with a sprinkle of humans. To me graphic design, interior decor, visual merchandising, styling are all one art that I get to play with each day. It’s incredible.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?

Understanding ourselves is the hardest journey we all face. Finding our passions and being able to make a living from it was the biggest struggle I have ever faced. Not thinking I could have it all since I had so many different interests within art. Feeling lost in my 20’s without a guide to point in the right direction. Finding that part within myself and explaining it to others wasn’t easy. Having so many ideas in my mind and not letting language express them for me was very limiting. You have to let go of fear and hope your creative mind doesn’t take you down a rabbit hole. I was lucky enough to have someone like my wife, her love and injection of confidence allowed me to take that final leap of faith.

Another challenge is to grow a business as a freelance artist. It’s risky, it requires lots of patience and organization. Constantly, especially when business is slow (in my mind), you have to create, innovate and improve all other parts of your business.

The third challenge I have found is constantly to remind myself, that everyday since I started my company it has grown, and I have become happier even with the rough patches.

Style Within – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?

I’m an Image Consultant that will translate your desired emotion into anything you see. I do more than just shop for clients, organize a workspace, or just create a window display. I bring out the style in my clients that we all have within us.

For instance, my questionnaire for wardrobe consultation is quite specific, asking clients questions to get a better understanding of their lifestyle goals, not just knowing what event they are attending on a given day. Digging deep into the emotional state/feeling the client wants to project while with their family, friends, and colleagues with the absence of words. Because we all know, there are no second chances on first impressions. Unfortunately, we live in a world where the cover, aka branding of merchandise, leads us to make our choices. Translating emotions into a visual is my rewarding strength.

Manipulating clothes and space is another unique experience I bring to my clients. Just because a skirt was designed as a skirt doesn’t mean you can’t wear it as a shirt. When I shop, I see a product and all its possibilities for usage rather than just what it is designed for. Reduce and reuse, I guess that’s the communist Georgian in me. We live in a world with too much, we need to repurpose ourselves with what we already own. My motto in life is taking something old and making it new again, why not!

What is “success” or “successful” for you?

Now, my success is happening right now. My passion has become my income. My love for helping people to improve their lives has come true.

Each time my phone rings with an unknown number, I know there’s an opportunity to help (or hang up because it’s a telemarketer). Help someone feel strong, confident, identified, proud and seen. I’ll enter someone’s life to change it for the better, watch the client grow into a powerful version of themselves, and then step away and see how art has changed them. It’s incredibly rewarding to have that impact. I get to restructure a space for clients, no limits on their perception for their space. No more labels on where art is born or dies, but simply exist within it, style within. I get to create, guide and express more beauty into the world. Change the landscape just a little bit. I live for the instant gratification of art and as an image consultant I get to have art in my life each day through my clients.

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