Uniquely arrayed luxury awaits shoppers at one of downtown Port Townsend’s newest shops, House of the Faun.

Named after the largest and most expensive residential ruins in Pompeii, Italy, known for its craftsmanship and quality of materials, this shop seeks to elevate the shopping experience.

“The staging and the beautifying of the space is my favorite thing in here,” said Lisa Leporati, who owns the store with her sister Catherine.

Their passion for interior design is present everywhere the eye rests inside the store.

“It’s like your home is your sacred space. It’s like your buffer and your safe zone, so it’s important to fill it with beauty,” Leporati said.

Fauns are spirits of the untamed woodland typically depicted as half human and half goat, a statue of which was found in the Pompeii ruins depicting a divine, graceful quality reflected in the store’s array of pious pieces.

One of Catherine Leoparti’s favorites are the wax statues of the Virgin Mary she and her sister managed, with some difficulty, to import from Ciergerie des Prémontrés, the oldest candlemakers in Provence, France.

The pair signed the lease on the building once occupied by Olympic Art and Office in September 2022 and did months of demolition, painting, and renovating the space to create a shop worthy of the new name.

The pair said they feel like its always Christmas unwrapping new items for the shop like these Mexican candles.

The once-white walls of the office supply shop have been coated in chic, dark tones which hold a distinctive collection of hand-crafted items found nowhere else in town.

“We both have a shared love of collecting and shopping, and just loving treasure hunting,” Catherine Leporati said.

“We also thought for a long time it would be great to have a store together,” she added.

Their lives both opened up at an opportune moment, and they managed to get their treasure trove ready to go in time for the holidays, holding their opening day on Black Friday in 2022.

The uncommon commodities include things like pen ink made from dissolved guns created by Thos Little at A Rural Pen Inkworks.

“We look for people that are making and doing really interesting things, and unique and made-by-hand things, and his is just really an incredible project,” Lisa Leporati said.

She’s done some ink-making herself and has a deep interest in textiles, as well, which are some of her favorite items in the shop.

For instance, Port Townsend local Alison Kaplan’s array of organic, sustainable, plant-dyed fabrics are sold in the shop under her brand Kata Golda, which strives to have the lowest environmental impact on the planet as possible.

Beyond shopping, the storefront will also offer workshops and classes on how to create crafts like weaving, book binding, and dyeing. There will also be opportunities for small groups to host crafting parties in the backroom.

They also plan to have shows of local artist’s work in the store, starting with textile artist Tininha Silva.

House of the Faun is located at 220 Taylor St. in Port Townsend.