Over the last decade, Katherine Mason estimates she’s helped tens of thousands of Buckhead residents fulfill their fitness goals through her unique offering, SculptHouse. She says it’s the first fitness studio in the world to combine the Woodway Curve treadmill and Lagree Megaformer, giving SculptHouse devotees a one-two cardio and strength training punch.
SculptHouse offers two classes, both based on the Lagree Megaformer, a Pilates reformer-like piece of equipment that uses springs, pulleys, and a moving carriage to create a resistance-based workout. One is StrengthSculpt, a Megaformer resistance-based class true to the Lagree Fitness Method. The second is CardioSculpt, a 50-minute treadmill and Megaformer combination class. It’s the brand’s signature method, incorporating the self-powered, low-impact Woodway Curve treadmill for a mix of cardio and strength-training.
The business was a natural progression of Mason’s interest in sports, although she didn’t necessarily set out to start a fitness empire. Mason, who grew up in Charlotte, was a childhood athlete, a passion she wanted to tie into her professional career. After receiving a degree in public relations from UGA, she moved to Atlanta, but didn’t love her only stint in the corporate world. She quickly realized a 9-to-5 didn’t hold much appeal for her. “I’ve always been entrepreneurial and had an independent mindset. I come from a family of entrepreneurs,” she says.
Mason had been exposed to boutique fitness studios, a trend that was taking off around the time she graduated in the 2010s. Curious about the fitness industry, she chose to dive headfirst into finding a career in it and moved to New York in 2013. “I wanted to learn, but I didn’t really have a path when I got there,” she says.
During the two years she lived in New York City, she worked at popular interval training studio Barry’s and trained clients as a personal trainer at SLT, a Lagree studio. Wilhelmina also signed her to its fitness model division. All three of these jobs drove Mason towards her “aha!” moment. The resistance-based strength training she loved at SLT and the cardio-focused workout she loved at Barry’s could be combined—and no one else was doing it. “It just hit me on the subway one day that this could be the most effective workout,” she says.
She realized she had a deep knowledge of athleisure fashion from her time as a fitness model, working for niche brands, and wanted to bring that element into her studio. So in 2016, she opened her Buckhead location with a large retail footprint featuring fashion-forward athletic brands like P.E. Nation and The Upside, as well as lifestyle brands like Bala Bangles, Varley, and Arrae, among others, in 2016. A successful Dallas location followed in 2019.
Mason renovated the Buckhead location in late 2025, gutting the retail side and adding upgraded lighting and new MegaPro machines in the fitness studio. As she began thinking about how to kick off the brand’s next decade, she serendipitously came across the news that Atlanta-based Jamie Weeks, once the largest Orangetheory Fitness franchisee in the country, had created a new investment and operating firm called Founder’s Row. The two, who had known of each other for years, quickly reconnected, and a deal to help SculptHouse craft its next decade was done in early 2026 as a fitting birthday present for the brand.
Mason is still the majority owner (“I always will be,” she says), but Weeks’ new investment will allow her to expand thoughtfully to cities throughout the Southeast, such as Charlotte, Nashville, and South Florida. She’s also got her eye on a Midtown location. “SculptHouse was built on the belief that fitness and style should live under one roof, and this partnership gives us the opportunity to evolve and grow this brand into its next chapter,” she says.
Many in Atlanta know Don Purcell as the go-to for interesting, unique, and colorful fine jewelry these days, but that wasn’t what he necessarily wanted to do after school. Purcell originally wanted to be an artist. “I was a studio art major in college. I thought I was going to make money being an artist,” he laughs.
A chance encounter with Morris Kalinsky, owner of Bob Ellis Shoes in Charleston, changed his path. Purcell met him in Charlotte, where he was living at the time. He moved to Charleston to work for Kalinsky and met Kalinsky’s son, Jeffrey, the founder of Jeffrey, the beloved Phipps Plaza boutique.
Jeffrey Kalinsky and Purcell worked together in various capacities for decades in the boutiques, including opening the New York City Meatpacking District location and the Palo Alto location. He was made general manager of the Atlanta location in 2007 and stayed with Kalinsky until all three locations closed in 2020.
Jeffrey was known for having forward-thinking designer bags, shoes, and ready-to-wear, but Purcell argues that the fine jewelry selection was just as important. “It was one of the best jewelry stores—a lot of designers wanted to be in the store because of the collectors we had shopping with us,” he says.
After the stores closed, Purcell saw an opportunity. “There were all these people shopping at Jeffrey and buying this jewlery, but now there was nowhere for them to see it. They can’t buy a $100,000 necklace online,” he says. Those foundational relationships gave Purcell the idea to focus on jewelry and the confidence to go out on his own. In 2021, he opened his eponymous store at Buckead Village District.
Purcell specializes in what he calls “design-driven, modern fine jewlery,” more akin to wearable art than just a fashion accessory. The pieces he carries are colorful, evocative, and playful, representative of personality and not only status. His pieces are meant to be worn, irrespective of the price tag. “I’m a fan of jewelry that gets out [of the safe] all the time,” he says. Purcell plays to that in his merchandising, displaying his wares as works of art and not just goods for sale.
Most of his designers are exclusive to the store in Atlanta, and several have very few outlets in the United States. For example, pieces from French designer Marie-Helene de Taillaic and Japanese designer Mio Harutaka sit alongside pieces from New York-based Sidney Garber and Darlene de Sedle. There is jewelry from Atlantan Kimberly McDonald, known for mixing geodes and natural elements with diamonds, and colorful statement pieces from celebrity favorite Irene Neuwirth. “My customer is someone who likes exclusivity and who responds to art. They have a different point of view,” he says.
Purcell has also become known as the place in town to buy Ashley Longshore’s irreverent, funny, and colorful pop art. “I knew Ashley before she blew up. I admire her tenacity,” says Purcell. “We’re kindred spirits in that way.” That partnership, like many of his, came about organically. “We were just off the pandemic [when we opened], and I thought it was the perfect time to make everyone smile, and walk into my store and give them a happy and fun experience. Ashley’s art is perfect for that.”
In addition to Longshore, Purcell carries two pottery lines: the small batch Atlanta-based brand abm.ceramics, and Hazy Mae, a whimsical Brooklyn-based line of cookie jars. He’s constantly adding artistically-driven collectible items to the store from hard-to-find brands, such as Poposition Press, a purveyor of unique pop-up books about artists like Keith Haring and Andy Warhol.
Purcell is proud of what he’s built in the last five years and is enthusiastic about the next five. He’s planning a store remodel, led by designer-to-the-stars Fred Dilger of Dilger-Gibson, and getting more pop-ups on the calendar to spread the word beyond Buckhead in places like Nashville and Charleston. “I’m getting my tentacles out there,” he says.
When not helping Atlantans choose fine jewlery, Purcell is an avid supporter of nonprofits, including Dancing Stars Atlanta. “My father and grandfather both passed from Alzheimer’s,” he says. He’s done events with Marlo Thompson’s Glam It Up!, a nonprofit organization that empowers foster care girls, and he plans to do more in the store with his own peaceful protest nonprofit supporting LGBTQ+ rights, Pansy Patrol, in the future.