Have you ever discovered a new spot and immediately wanted to tell all your friends about it… but also selfishly gatekeep it for yourself? That’s how I feel about Ställe Studios, a skincare oasis hidden away on the edge of Soho with esthetician Elizabeth Grace Hand at the helm. Its allure is not just the calming environment or the customized approach to every facial but also the sense of connection and attention that is often hard to find in today's fast-paced beauty world.
I was first introduced to Hand five years ago. My roommate booked a Dr. Barbara Sturm facial during the brand’s pop-up at the Bowery Hotel and got Hand as her esthetician. For weeks after, she sang her praises. Once I finally met her for myself a few years later, I immediately understood what my roommate had been talking about all this time. Hand is beauty obsessed, extremely knowledgeable, and understands precisely the right points to hit during a facial to make you leave thinking, “Damn, I really do look good.” More importantly, she doesn’t take the whole process too seriously. She is relatable and funny, which is why most of her clients end up wanting her as a best friend after their first appointment (or maybe that’s just me).
What started as a business run out of her one-bedroom apartment has become one of New York's most coveted beauty havens. Her appointment book fills up quickly, and her shelves are full of Augustinus Bader, Bioeffect, Furtuna Skin, and more luxurious goodies she has curated to perfection. During our interview, one of her clients stopped in for an emergency product refill—even more proof of the kind of community she has built for herself.
Below, the talented founder shares her beauty journey, the massage technique she alone provides in New York City, and the backstory behind creating what we now know and love as Ställe Studios.
Coveteur: What was your relationship with beauty growing up? Have you always been beauty-obsessed, or is that something that came to you later in life?
Elizabeth Grace Hand: “I was always the girliest girl. I had all the Barbies and American Girl Dolls—as girly as they get. My mom was always into beauty. I remember when I started getting breakouts, she took me to the dermatologist. At 13, I was getting chemical peels and dermabrasion at a med spa in North Carolina because my acne was so bad.
Before that, I remember a big bonding part of my childhood was when my mom, my sister, and I would go to the closest Sephora in Chapel Hill and spend hours adding everything to our basket. This was the era of Pink Sugar perfume and Urban Decay edible glitter. So I’ve been obsessed with beauty for a long time; makeup first but then skincare as a necessity.”
What made you want to become an esthetician? What was your career trajectory before that?
EGH: “I graduated high school in 2008 when beauty was not real. There wasn’t much high-end skincare when you would get a facial. Treatments were more [something you got] for your birthday to relax or when I went to get extractions for my acne. You weren't leaving with an at-home routine.
Although I loved beauty, I never thought that it could be a career path. I also loved fashion, though, so I started working in retail at a clothing store and eventually decided to go to fashion camp at FIT in the summers. I ended up going to college and studying textiles at NC State. Then I decided I needed to be in New York, so I went to FIT and graduated with a major in fashion merchandising management. From there, I worked in fashion sales and retail, which came easy to me, but I didn’t love working wholesale, lugging clothing racks, and doing trade shows.
Around that time, I became obsessed with K-beauty and the Glow Recipe website—before they had their own brand—and Glossier. It was about 2014 when I knew I wanted to make the shift into beauty. I had no experience, but I kept applying and applying. I even went to the Glossier offices to hand-deliver my resume, but I never heard anything. I ended up getting a job at L’Oreal working for Dermablend. I enrolled in esthetician school, and they let me work part-time while I was in school full-time.
While I was in school, I was doing everything I could to meet people in the industry. SpaceNK did this event where you could preview their brands’ new launches, and [that’s how I met] Dr. Barbara Sturm. When I finished school, I started working for them. As an esthetician, I could do facial events, but with my sales experience, I was also a rep. I was the girl who went to the stores. When the spa opened, I did a combo of both jobs, but then Covid happened, and I was furloughed in July 2020. I told a friend who owned the med spa JECT and she asked me to help her on the side. That’s how I ended up developing the JECT facial program. I started doing facials there, and when Sturm’s spas reopened, I just did both.”
What made you want to create your own space?
EGH: “It happened as an accident, actually; the best things do. Sturm’s New York Spa pop-up ended, and while they were looking for a new location, I was helping them with virtual consultations again. But meanwhile, all my clients needed facials, people who would come every month. I knew they would go somewhere else [if they couldn’t come to me], so I initially had them come to my one-bedroom apartment. It got to be so busy so quick. I would tell my partner John to leave from 10 to 7 so clients could come. It was the first time I was really making money. I obviously needed to find a space and found a landlord that was flexible. He let me commit to three months, so if it didn’t work out, it was fine. I’ve been looking for a new space recently. We’ve outgrown this, and now I have three people working for me.”
What does Ställe mean?
EGH: “It’s short for a Swedish word: smultronställe. My partner is Swedish, and I'm part Swedish. There isn't a word for it in English, but the figurative meaning is a place that you go to relax and de-stress. A place you go to escape all of the pressures and stress of the world and your life. I thought it was such a beautiful word. That's what I want Ställe to be—a place you go to relax and feel good. [My studio] is my smultronställe.
I had this name before I found my studio space. The weirdest part is that the literal meaning of smultronställe is a strawberry patch. In Sweden, they have these little patches that grow mini strawberries. [In my current studio], there is a terrace on my floor, and a man grows mini strawberries. How crazy is that?”
Can you tell me the origin story of Ställe Angels [a recurring client feature on the Ställe Studios Instagram]?
EGH: “It just came to me. There really isn’t a story. I have always loved the Fiorucci Angels. I said “Ställe Angel” and it just kind of stuck. I think I was making an Instagram caption and it clicked in my head.”
To know you is to appreciate your eye for curation, from your apartment to your wardrobe, and obviously your products. How do you curate the products and treatments you incorporate into your studio?
EGH: “At this point, I have so many clients I've been seeing for years and years. Now that I have my own studio, people are sending me things all the time, so I try everything. I'm also on the Violet Grey Creation Committee, so I get to try products that have yet to be released. Obviously, I try it on myself first to see how I like it. From there, I will test it on clients I've been seeing forever.
The last brand I tested with my clients was Retrouvé. My client Jess, who I have known for years, left my studio and got stopped three times about her skin. I had put the Retrouvé Intensive Moisturizer on her and I was like, okay, we need to carry that.
I've worked at other places, and a lot of times, you go to book a facial, and there are a bunch of different options. [Oftentimes] you don't know what you're supposed to choose. It's confusing. So, when I started my studio, I wanted to develop one facial and make it custom. Technically, I have three facials, but they are all custom. 99% of the time, someone is just booking the signature facial, and then I'll tell them what they need down to the cleanser and the massage. So, depending on what their skin needs from when I look at them, I can decide if they need more of a lymphatic treatment or if we're going to do a deeper tissue massage.”
Speaking of massage, you are currently the only trained esthetician in New York City to use the Kagan method. Tell me more about that. What is so special about this method and how do you incorporate it into your facials?
EGH: “Kagan is the best thing I have found for depuffing. [The method] brings in the chest and the back. My clients will be laying on a plastic sheet so that my hands can get under your back. Just from touching the décolleté, neck, and back, you will leave here depuffed.
The woman who started it, Natalya Fuji, has been working for years and years [to develop this practice]. It’s a combination of Thai, European, and Japanese techniques. She took all the best parts and created this amazing massage. I found out about it through an aesthetician friend of mine. We talk about what the next cool thing is. There are only 20 of us practicing this in the US.
If someone comes in and they have a smaller face and there's not much to depuff, I wouldn't even do this on them. It would be too active on them. But if someone comes in and says depuff, this is what they need, this is what I am doing. One thing with Kagan that's cool, too, is that it's a ritual. I tell people not to talk during it and just relax. Because you're releasing tension, there's a lot of stuff built up in there, and you're releasing and opening it up. Some people will cry.”
How has the experience of being on the Violet Grey Curation Committee been like for you?
EGH: “It’s so fun! Sarah Brown, the director, is an icon in the business. She was the Vogue beauty director. She knows her stuff and has amazing taste. If Sarah Brown likes something, it's good, you know? It goes through her before it even touches us. Everything that's sent to us is good and it's up to us to kind of figure out what we really love about it. Obviously I love getting really good products sent to me, but I also love seeing trends. So I get to see what brands are coming out with before they're anything.”
Social media is such a touchpoint for introduction for so many people. Did you have to come up with your own social media strategy for Ställe?
EGH: “My social media is literally just what I'm feeling. I don't do a whole lot of education on there [yet], but I would love to do more, and that is the goal eventually. It's just the fact that I'm doing everything for the studio. Luckily, I'm not the cleaning lady anymore, but I'm so overwhelmed with everything. I'm booked already without even doing anything on social media.
I've made my Instagram more of an aesthetic just because I only have the bandwidth for that. It doesn't take too much time for me, and it’s something that isn’t forced. If you go to my Instagram and really look, I'm not teaching anybody anything. It's just pretty beige photos. I always joke that if pimples were beige, I would have an acne account [laughs] but because they're red, I don't ever post it. Right now, [my Instagram is mostly] the Angels. It's the glowy, dewy girl. I could be doing more, and that's on the list for the future.”
What are your thoughts on non-experts sharing skincare advice on social media?
EGH: “A big part of my job is just helping people cut through what's real and what's not. I think that [social media] adds to it. I also think it's nice that there is a lot of information out there because, again, when I was younger, going to Sephora, I had to drive 45 minutes to find anything cool. It's really great that people are giving information, but you should always take it with a grain of salt. It’s important if you're the consumer of this content to do research on your own and not just listen. I would say almost every day, someone is texting me, and I tell them, ‘No more buying TikTok things. Text me [first].” My clients have me; not everybody does.”