The move to New Jersey was spurred by a fire that damaged the company’s former Soho office in Manhattan. Bobbi and her employees were displaced to a standard office building with low ceilings and bad lighting. For meetings and brainstorming sessions, they commuted to Montclair, just blocks from Bobbi’s home. “We felt so good having meetings outside the office, we put two and two together,” she says.

Bobbi designed the space in tandem with her husband, developer Steven Plofker. While Bobbi Brown headquarters remains in New York (the line is now owned by Estée Lauder, though Bobbi retains creative control), she currently spends three days a week at this think tank, retail space, and “education center” for the brand. Not only does the arrangement allow her to work in a space that sparks her creativity, it also makes it possible for her to be close to home and her three sons—Dylan, 17, Dakota, 15, and Duke, 9.