ER is a growing marketplace and archive for the black home. It’s grounded in culture, material, memory and highlighting the people and stories behind the work.
Shopping here is less like scrolling a catalog and more like flipping through a magazine. Every piece is tied to the person who made it — who they are, how they work, why we love them. So yes, you’ll find a beautiful rug. You’ll also know whose hands it came from..
The full mix that a real home runs on:
- Furniture & lighting
- Rugs, textiles & soft goods
- Kitchen & dining
- Decor & objects
- Vintage & one-of-a-kind finds
It’s a little of small-batch handcrafted pieces, a lot of retail staples, and made-to-order designs, plus the occasional One-of-a-Kind find. (More on how restocking works below.)
Spotlighting Black designers and makers across the diaspora is the reason Empyrean Roots exists. It’s not a category on our site, it is the site.
Every element of this site is built around our community’s Creators and the work they’re putting into the world. And everyone is welcome to shop it.
To be honest with you: When a Designer’s line doesn’t move, retailers clearance it and quietly drop the collection, and that’s happened to far too many Black Designers. Visibility is survival.
Every purchase here, every shared page, every product that finds a home keeps these lines in production and these Makers on the shelves.
Want to go deeper? Read our Buying Intentionally guide.
what's your
question?
For basic questions, partnerships or press you can use the form on the CONTACT page. We review all messages and respond as quickly as possible.
Please allow 2-3 Business Days for a response. We are a small yet growing team and we strive to be as responsive as possible.
If your inquiry is time-sensitive (order-related, delivery issues) include “URGENT” in the subject line.
THE BAR: it has to be well-made, hold it’s own in a space, and we have to know who made it (not personally, but as in a verified maker, not a fake avatar creator or AI products).
So the products are curated, but not gatekept. We are not looking for sameness, quite the opposite actually, we are trying to highlight the diversity within the diaspora – from stories to taste. Heirloom or oddball, neutral or loud, there is something for all of Us.
We source from all over the globe and Beyonce’s innanet to find the best mix of independent makers, small studios and trusted vendors.
While we have a particular focus on Black studios, many of the products are offered by large retailers or design houses as capsule collaborations.
Many are, but not all, and that’s on purpose.
New and experimental pieces are usually handcrafted in small batches; Everyday staples are well made, and well priced.
A growing number are Made-to-Order: you pick from styles and materials we’ve already vetted, choose a few details and the piece gets built for you. And when a One-of-a-Kind piece appears, it’s exactly that: handmade and an original.
Fair warning: made-to-order and One-of-a-Kind pieces are final sale – when something’s built for you, it can’t go back on the shelf. Full details in our Return Policy.
Our Furniture FAQ covers our made-to-order and upholstered pieces: lead times, swatches, shipping, cancellations, returns and care.
It depends on what you’re eyeing.
Retail staples and ER Studio core items: restocked or reintroduced as we go.
Small-batch and made-to-order pieces: small-batch runs return when the maker runs them again; made-to-order is always available.
One-of-a-Kind and limited runs: when they’re gone, that’s it.
Third-party listings: on the maker’s own schedule, and every time one sells out, it’s an argument for the next production run. Which is a huge reason this site exists.
Heads up: everything in our Run, Don’t Walk section is on sale or clearance. For a lot of those pieces, it’s your last chance to grab them before they’re gone for good.
Inventory moves quickly here; small batches, limited runs, and makers on their own production schedules. So we recommend two ways to keep up:
- The Newsletter. New arrivals, restock heads-ups, what’s coming, what’s almost gone. (Sign up directly below.)
- Check back often. Especially for pieces you’ve been eyeing — these don’t sit forever.
A “Notify me” button is on the way for individual products. Until then, the Newsletter is the closest thing.
Join the Notes Set
Occasional NOTES and commentary mixed in with what we are watching, eating, and visiting. Nothing consistent with the timing, so think of them as inbox surprises.
Subscribe to the Newsletter
A quarterly selection of what has our eye and pocketbooks stressed. A mix of the best sculpture, furniture, textiles, lighting and more from our community to your inbox.
It came to our founder in a dream. Empyrean: the highest heaven, the sky above the sky. Roots: what anchors you to the ground, to the people & places who came before.
The whole name in two words: Elevation & Grounding
Black design history has a long track record of being lost, uncredited, or written out. The Archive is our small refusal of that; a growing record of the makers, materials, references, and ideas shaping how we live and design now. Think of it less like a museum and more like a working library that the site keeps adding to.
Mostly, yes – with a caveat we actually love. Handmade and small-batch pieces vary a little from the photo: grain, weave, color, finish. That’s the maker’s hand showing up.
Vintage and One-of-a-Kind pieces have it even more, including possible wear; every quirk is part of why they’re worth having.
Retail pieces will match what you see. Your screen, on the other hand, makes no promises when it comes to color.
Often, no.
Because we work with makers and studios around the country (and the world), pieces ship directly from their own studios or fulfillment partners. If your order has items from more than one maker, expect multiple packages, sometimes on different days.
Shipping details and timelines live on each product page, and you’ll get tracking for each shipment once it’s on the way.
A few good front doors:
- Meet the Makers – start with the people. Every piece on the site is tied to someone in here.
- Shop the Space – see full rooms styled around an artist’s or maker’s work, then shop the pieces.
- The Newsletter – join to get the new arrivals, restocks, and stories before they hit the site.
Or just hit Shop and follow your eye. There’s no wrong door, open and explore.
Send it our way: [[email protected]]. We read everything.
For real! We’re small and still finding our feet, so if there’s a question we should be answering here, or something on the site that’s not working the way it should, tell us. No question too small. No compliment too generous.
