Ann Yancy threads sculptural instinct through every bead, rattan strand, and hand-wrapped frame produced in her studio
The first thing Ann Yancy will tell you is that she is not a businesswoman. “I was trained as an artist, not a business major,” she says. “Every aspect of what I design comes from that experience.” Yancy earned a bachelor’s of fine art from the Maine College of Art, where she studied sculpture, metalsmithing, and jewelry-making—disciplines that shaped her appreciation for proportion, materiality, and handcrafted detail. What began as a jewelry design career in New York City eventually evolved into lighting design, where the same fine-art sensibility could shape an entire room. She has spent the decades since proving that artistic instincts translate beautifully into the world of luxury interiors.
Yancy grew up between Nashville; Asheville, North Carolina; and Charleston, before eventually returning to the Holy City, where she established Ro Sham Beaux in 2010. Her studio produces fixtures that move like jewelry with considered weight, textures, and details that invite touch. Beyond lighting, the home collection includes furniture, pillows and poufs, hand-welded aluminum outdoor seating, and case goods such as the “Bertini” bar cart and “Francesca” bar cabinet.
These days, her clientele extends far beyond the peninsula. Drawn to Yancy’s Charleston-meets-Venice Beach-meets-Paris aesthetic, clients span the East Coast, Los Angeles, and Texas, as well as Europe, Australia, and a current project in Dubai. “We manufacture in Charleston, and we’re based here. This is our headquarters,” she says, “but our clientele is everywhere. We’re worldwide now.”
The Ro Sham Beaux process begins, as all good design does, with imagination. “It starts with a dream or a need for something that isn’t in the marketplace,” Yancy says. Working primarily through interior designers, her team translates a client’s ideas into scaled fixtures. “We can make anything to any size,” she says. “It just comes down to the client’s vision.”
The line distinguishes itself through eco-conscious materials, including semiprecious stones, hemp, recycled glass, and rattan, each selected for the way it interacts with light. Custom bead and frame combinations are developed in person at the Charleston studio’s bead bar on Morrison Drive, a hands-on experience replicated in Ro Sham Beaux’s West Palm Beach showroom.
Yancy also pioneered the now-signature technique of wrapping fixture frames in hemp and jute, a process that helped establish Ro Sham Beaux’s distinct visual language and continues to anchor strong wholesale partnerships with Serena & Lily and other brands.
Two additional showroom locations—still confidential—are planned over the next two spring seasons. “The designers in our high-traffic markets will have a place to go to see things in person,” Yancy says. Even as the brand expands, Yancy’s work remains grounded in the handcrafted approach that shaped her as an artist.
Dream Big: The largest Ro Sham Beaux commission to date measures 10 feet in diameter and hangs 20 feet high, custom-built for a casino.
Signature Move: In 2010, Yancy began wrapping fixture frames in hemp and jute, a technique now replicated worldwide.
On the Road: Two new showroom locations are planned over the next two spring seasons, joining the outpost in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Pop-Up Alert: Ro Sham Beaux is heading to the Hamptons for a summer pop-up.
Coming Soon: A fall collection incorporating leather, rattan, and beads is in the works, with cement and marble pieces to follow in winter.
More: www.ro-sham-beaux.com
