About
Flint & Kent's founder, Alex Bates' lifework is designing goods for good. Over the course of her career, Alex has built and led teams for some of the biggest names in the business. At West Elm, she led the effort to expand the brand's audience with innovative collections of environmentally responsible products, artisanal goods, and designer-led collaborations. At Martha Stewart Living, she was responsible for the creative development of products that generated over a billion dollars in annual revenue. She's equally at home in a start-up environment, happy to roll up her shirtsleeves and build from the ground up as she has with the latest project, Bloomist, an online retailer with a focus on the natural home. Alex is a co-founder and Creative Director of the brand and travels the world to design and curate simple goods with beauty, purpose, and a story to tell. During her travels and career, she has built a global community of artisan partners and makers who do good for the world and humanity through the environmentally responsible pieces they craft.
Alex founded Flint & Kent as a design consultancy with a special focus on social impact. Flint & Kent is a collective of like-minded product designers, graphic artists, merchants, branding specialists, art directors, sourcing-gurus, writers and photographers. This talented team of individuals is united by a commitment to sustainable design and ethical sourcing while creating an inspired retail experience or brand. They collaborate according to the needs and size of their clients’ projects, which keeps them nimble and efficient.And their all-encompassing skillset enables them to cater to a client’s needs at different phases of development and growth.
Flint & Kent at 562 Main Street Buffalo NY c 1890s
Alex comes from a long line of intrepid retailers. During the 1800’s her maternal great-great-grandfather William B. Flint, in partnership with H.M. Kent, opened Flint & Kent, a modest dry goods store in Buffalo, N.Y. As the city prospered and the store grew over the years, Flint & Kent became the destination for Golden Era industrialists at the turn of the century who needed luxury goods for their ever increasingly grand homes. Alex named her company Flint & Kent as a nod to her grandmother, a fiercely independent and elegant woman, well ahead of her time, who helped lead Flint & Kent through the depression and WWII, before it closed in the 50’s.
Flint & Kent had a rich history and tradition of traveling the world to find the best merchandise for their demanding clientele. Today, Alex continues that tradition, traveling to far flung places all over the globe, designing and curating the best from the rest, and partnering with artisan groups and makers to craft simple, handmade goods that do good.
