7 Layer Studio’s new home & the unfiltered story of how we got here
The path to this moment has been anything but straight. 7 Layer Studio was officially founded in 2017 after a 10-year journey that began with a coffee meeting in Chelsea and the confidence to give 2-weeks notice and start a one-woman design company.
Lets start from the top…
I considered myself an artist from as far back as I can remember. Even as a kid, it was always clear that I belonged in a creative field, but my known list of possibilities then consisted of teaching art or maybe illustrating children's books. Even as an art major in college, there was no obvious path forward. This or that never felt quite right.
My husband Leeor and I have the classic high school sweetheart love story with all the bells and whistles to make anyone's eyes roll. When we got engaged at 23 and 25, none of our choices for a last name felt right. Keeping different last names, hyphenating both, or giving up one? No thank you. So we decided to make up our own. Yep, that’s right, we jumbled our insanely long names and landed on Zorel.
When it came to my career, I made safe choices after college… or at least after a short stint in Costa Rica (think Toucans and motorcycles). I had a couple of jobs in NYC as a designer but had no aspiration to climb what felt like an intimidating ladder of competitive agencies. In the back of my mind, I imagined working for myself one day. It was a half-baked dream which I thought was reserved for adults… not a just-married 24-year-old.
I set a meeting with a friend of a friend secretly hoping to be hired by her PR company, and we got to talking. I confided that eventually I wanted to start my own business and she asked me, why not now? After all, there's no right time to start a business. It was so simple and completely earth-shatteringly obvious.
Of course why not now? Of course, I should give notice the next day and begin working for myself. Of course, of course, of course.
Two weeks later I started what I then called Zorel Design. I was a freelancer… or was I? I wasn’t even sure what to call myself but I built a website (hello 2004), created business cards and was on my way. My first client was a small deli on the East Side called Eli’s Deli. I was very proud of the clever color palette (a dark red and the gold reminiscent of ketchup and mustard). In hindsight, there was still so much I was figuring out, but I was fiercely committed to getting there.
I bounced around the city taking client meetings and figuring it out as I went. I was a big believer of faking it until you make it. Or at least jumping off the deep end and hoping for the best. Do you design packaging? Yes (no), can you design a 40-page law journal? Yes (no).
For the first 10 years of my business, it was just me.
The work was so fulfilling and allowed me the time and flexibility to start a family. A lot happened in those years — marriage, buying a first home, having four kids. I remember living in Hoboken walking my first daughter around in the stroller, and needing to run home and check my email to make sure I didn’t hear back about a time-sensitive project. Thank you Steve Jobs for changing that. Hello responding to client emails while nursing a baby in the checkout line in Trader Joe's. Oy.
At the beginning of 2017, a new chapter began when I changed the company's name to 7 Layer Studio. It’s been 7 years and 7 months since then and boy has a lot happened! (Yes we kind of have a thing for 7's) We grew steadily, outgrowing a co-working space then a shared studio then another office, until we finally landed in our first completely renovated studio of our own at the beginning of 2020. (Need I comment on this timing? Life is just full of surprises.)
For several years Leeor and I had casually looked at properties — something to purchase and run both of our local businesses from. In July of 2023, I snapped a photo of 58 Vose and thought, well wouldn’t this be perfect? Long-story short, we closed on April 1st of this year, began renovations right away, and moved into the new building in July! The second floor is now home to 7 Layer Studio and The Zorel Group, and the ground floor will be a retail space set to open in spring 2025.
It's been a long road with tons of mistakes and surprises, but also a steadfast commitment and desire to be exceptional.
At times it’s exhausting, but more often it’s energizing to partner with other bold founders and fearless innovators designing the future. We love living and working in South Orange. We've raised our family and our businesses here, surrounded by the best community of neighbors and fellow small businesses, and our continued hope is to add energy and beauty that enhances our downtown.The journey has been windy and long and imperfectly perfect but it’s a life and career of doing things a little differently. What if when life zigs, you zag?
Introducing The Zag at 58 Vose Avenue.
Rachel Zorel, Founder & Creative Director
Meet the team