Laura Novak and Madde Pontin the mother and daughter team behind Pon The Store
As you may have noticed, something new has arrived in Essex. It’s Pon. A lovely place full of unexpected juxtapositions. Japan meets Sweden. Whimsy meets sophistication. Useful meets wonderful. All of these marvelous odd couples are happening in a delightful new space at the corner of Southern and Main. In a store called Pon.
On a drive from Western Mass to New York City, Photographer Madde Pontin and her mother Laura Novak passed the time by considering all of the wonderful items jammed into their tiny car. The collection surrounding them was beautiful, meaningful and as it turns out—their home. An eclectic mash up of bits and bobs these objects of utility and wonder were truly, for them, what made their home home. And so the philosophy behind and the soul of Pon The Store was born.
Madde explains, “We’d realized our meaning of home wasn’t about the geographic location or the physical space, but about the things that occupied it, or even in the absence of those things, it was about the representations and their arousal of memories. The way a blanche byredo perfume brings us right back to Sweden, and the light green color that’s not quite mint green that we call our “Japan Color” sets us right back on that street in Tokyo, or how the blue and white plates that resemble an old set of blue and blue porcelain we used to have at our home in Sweden brings us that same sense of comfort.” Madde’s father is a native of Sweden.
Beginning at first with an online shop, Pon in brick and mortar arrived in Rockport for the summer of 2021 as a pop-up shop. It had a great run. So Madde and Laura began looking for a permanent home for Pon and, lucky for us, chose Essex. Here the mother and daughter team are creating a space that shares a sense of home and belonging through their carefully selected objects of life.
Inside the store you will find bags, hats, dishes, pop rocks, jewelry, puzzles and all manner of quirky and gorgeous items, including the ubiquitous crates. This curious collection of colorful crates came about when Madde became enamored by them in Berlin around 2017. And again, in the states at the MoMA Design store in 2018. She saw them as a “magical thing that could be
used in endless ways,” and they decided to stock them at Pon. And they have. You need one.
Pon is delightful and full of enchanting goodies. Madde and Laura remind us to curate our own unique and eclectic life, but also not to take it too seriously. I mean, after all, you can literally fit it into your car. Visit.
Pon The Store 164 Main Street | Essex (pontheonlinestore.com)
