Velato — Curated Gift Experiences

About

Gifting as a layered experience, not a transaction.

Velato is a New York–based purveyor of curated gift experiences — assembled with the same care, proportion, and editorial eye that defines the finest retail in the world.

We source with intention: small-batch producers, artisan makers, and elevated objects chosen not for category but for character. Each element is selected to work in concert — texture against texture, scent beside flavor, utility next to delight.

The name comes from the Italian for veiled: that precise moment between knowing and seeing, where anticipation lives. Every Velato experience is designed around that feeling.

Years of elevated retail leadership

NYC

Curated and shipped from New York

Upper

Price point — no compromises in selection

Approach

Source with discipline

Every product earns its place. We favor independent makers, small-batch runs, and objects with genuine provenance — sourced for character, never for convenience.

Layer with intention

A gift experience is a composition. We consider texture, weight, proportion, and sequence — building something that reveals itself gradually, element by element.

Present with restraint

The vessel is part of the experience. Minimal, considered, and designed around the moment of opening — not the moment of purchase.

Who We Serve

For institutions and individuals who give gifts that mean something.

Corporate & Executive Gifting

Recurring programs for executive assistants, HR teams, and client services — experiences that reflect the care your institution extends to its most important relationships.

Hospitality & Events

Welcome amenities, event gifts, and milestone moments for hotels, private clubs, and venue operators who understand that every touchpoint is a statement.

Personal Milestones

For the occasions that deserve more than a last-minute decision — birthdays, gratitude, celebration, and the quiet gestures that carry the most weight.

Custom Curation

Bespoke experiences built around a recipient, a relationship, or a brief. We work directly with clients whose intentions go beyond any standing collection.

Founder

Michael O'Neil · Founder

Michael O'Neil

Founder & Creative Director, Velato Co LLC

Velato is not a brand that started in a boardroom. It started in a market — hands deep in tissue paper and ribbon, assembling gift baskets alongside his mother Connie during college holiday breaks at a beloved St. Louis institution that had been doing things the right way since 1937.

That early education in layering, in selection, in the difference between a gift and an experience, became the foundation for a career spent at the forefront of elevated retail. Eighteen years across West Elm, Rejuvenation, Crate & Barrel, and MoMA — studying how objects carry meaning, how spaces shape feeling, and how the finest things earn their place.

Velato is the convergence of all of it: a lifetime of going above and beyond for the people worth celebrating, given a name and a form.

West Elm Retail Leadership

Rejuvenation Retail Leadership

Crate & Barrel Retail Leadership

MoMA Retail Leadership

Some people give gifts. Others make people feel seen. My mother taught me the difference — and that it was worth building a life around.

— Michael O'Neil · on Connie O'Neil, Creative Advisor

Inquire

Let's talk.

Open to inquiries, wholesale, and custom programs

michael@velatogifts.com

418 Broadway, Suite N · Albany, NY 12207

velatogifts.com