subscribe!Michael Wollaeger writes about his visit to the World Market Center in Las Vegas on July 28-30, 2008
This was my first visit to the Las Vegas Design Center, and I didn’t really know what to expect. As with anything that’s new, you hear different things from different people, and as usual with something new, there is a chorus of naysayers on the sidelines. So as Publisher Jennifer Matthews, Regional Manager Erica Springer and I approached the impressive complex of buildings that make up the World Market Center Las Vegas (Buildings A, B and C), I was more than a little curious. The first thing we noticed is that the market was a hive of activity. It was packed! I’ve since learned that registrations exceeded 50,000 designers, buyers and retailers, a big increase over last year. As we made our way through Building C (a 16-story structure that adds 2.1 million square feet of space), we were also struck by the quality of the exhibitors. Robert Allen has an incredible showroom on the lobby floor that showcases all of their extensive lines together for the first time. Jolie Cross and Glenn Gold gave us a quick tour, and we could see how excited they were with this new venue. French Heritage out of Los Angeles has a beautiful space, too, and we waved to Henessy Wayser on our way to the room where I would be speaking.
My topic was How the West Is Redefining Luxury, which was an appropriate theme for Building C and Las Vegas (did you know that the word luxury has its roots in the Latin for lechery?). We had a full house, which was gratifying, as I wasn’t at all sure what the turnout would be. (I should have known, though, since World Market Center’s Margaret Casey is a pistol and had done a great job of promoting the event.) Afterward, there was a reception with wine and hors d’oeuvres, and I was able to meet some talented designers who had come to Las Vegas from throughout the West for the summer market. The turnout confirms what we’ve been seeing in the West since we launched the magazine five years ago: massive growth, a burgeoning design community, and a populace hungry for more design resources in the West.
Jennifer and I then took some time to explore, which is always fun. There was a fabulous Design Italia showroom that showcased a number of the great Italian furniture companies, including B&B Italia, Cassina, Flexform, Minotti and Georgetti. There was a historical installation as well, with key Italian design pieces dating back to 1948. What was most impressive was to see how contemporary the 60-year-old Italian chairs looked! The Italians are always ahead of the curve, and they are smart to realize that Las Vegas and the American West is an excellent market for their innovative design. We then dropped by the Kreiss showroom, where tennis starts (and Las Vegas residents) Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf were presenting the second edition of their sleek new furniture line for Kreiss. Andre explained to me that the collection is an extension of the relaxed, casual style that he and his family enjoy in California and Las Vegas. He and Steffi are very much involved in all of the details of the line, and they’ve had a great response to the collection. I was thrilled to meet them, of course, and I was also impressed with their commitment to this new arena of competition. Jennifer, Erica and I then did a few more showroom drive-bys, and the day was done. We ventured out to a working dinner, and then (no gambling or glitzy shows!) it was off to sleep.
The next morning, we had breakfast with New York designer Larry Laslo and Robert Allen’s Jolie Cross. Larry was to receive a Design Icon award on Thursday, which is well deserved (though, as Larry says, he’s much too young to be an icon). He’s doing a lot of interesting work in the West, in the Aspen, Colorado, area in particular, and it’s exciting to see his glamorous point of view applied in iconic western settings. His fabrics for Robert Allen are rich, textured, colorful and luxurious (kind of like Larry himself!). It was a fun breakfast, and we cooked up some intriguing ideas to collaborate on in the future.
We then met with Colleen Yoshida and Jennifer Dunne of the Wynn Hotel group. The Wynn is opening a new luxury tower this fall, the Encore. Designed by the remarkable Roger Thomas, who has single-handedly redefined hospitality design in Las Vegas, bringing a contemporary sense of style and wit to the table. I’ve heard that Mrs. Wynn is a fan of Western Interiors & Design, and the magazine is displayed in many of the Wynn’s suites. We’re returning to Las Vegas in November for some special events, and we discussed ways we could partner that would benefit all.
It was time to head back to the World Market Center for the Sustainable Furniture Council’s One Good Chair awards ceremony. I had served as one of the judges for this wonderful competition, reviewing nearly 300 chair designs that focused on sustainable materials and production processes. It was fascinating, and inspiring! The Sustainable Furniture Council’s Susan Inglis first spoke about the organization’s important mission to both educate manufacturers and consumers about sustainable design and to set standards for production. Then Lance Hosey, author and partner in the pioneering green architectural firm William McDonough + Partners, talked about the competition and showed a wide variety of the chair designs submitted from around the world. Susan Szenasy, editor-in-chief of Metropolis magazine, was also a judge, and she and I then had the pleasure of presenting the top five entries and announcing the two winners (yes, there were two winners of the One Good Chair competition!) The winners, Jessica Konawicz and Jittasak Narknissorn, were on hand, and Bob Maricich presented each with a check for $2,500. Lance, Susan, Jessica, Jittasak and I then had a lively panel discussion about the competition, lead by Susan Inglis. Jessica is still a design student in North Carolina, and Jittasak is a young Thailand-born designer who now lives in Southern California, and it was exciting to see a new generation of furniture designers win such a prestigious competition.
Before Erica and I headed to the airport, we stopped in the Green Living Pavilion to see Greg and Lori Harden, who create beautiful sustainable wood furniture in Upstate New York. They were excited about this new market and had been receiving a strong response from an entirely new audience of professionals in Las Vegas. Harden was green before the term had any real cache. Why? Simply because that’s been the ethos of the company for more than a century. Jennifer was staying the night and was able to see many more showrooms and friends before flying back to New York, but I had to catch a flight that evening, so we drove out of the glittering gulch with a new understanding of what the World Market Center Las Vegas means in the design landscape today.
Michael Wollaeger writes about his visit to Sub-Zero/Wolf on June 25-27, 2008
If you’ve never seen how a high-end refrigerator is made, the Sub-Zero/Wolf plant outside Madison, Wisconsin, is the place to go. I rendezvoused there recently with Publisher Jennifer Matthews and Regional Manager Kate Sollitt to meet with Michele Bedard, Director of Marketing, and Christopher Parr, Consumer Marketing Manager, to see what was new at Sub-Zero/Wolf. What struck us first was the new Sub-Zero/Wolf headquarters themselves. The structure is designed to be extremely energy-efficient and also very open, contemporary and dramatic inside. After bringing each other up to date with our respective companies over coffee, Chris Parr walked us through a display of the company’s history (or companies’ histories, actually, since Sub-Zero and Wolf only joined forces in 2001). It was fascinating to see photos of the early Sub-Zero models created by company founder Westye F. Bakke (they still have a very cool retro-chic look!) and the advertising campaigns from the 1940s through today. Before being acquired by Sub-Zero, Wolf was a Southern California company that made industrial ovens for restaurants and other commercial concerns. It’s interesting to trace how these small, entrepreneurial businesses survived, thrived and have now become international luxury brands–chic, must-have products for the modern kitchen.
Chris then took us on a tour through the actual manufacturing plant. Sub-Zero has ultra-modern assembly-line equipment, of course, and remarkable quality-control testing at every stage of the production process. There’s even a room that fills up with helium so that any microscopic leaks in a refrigerator can more easily be detected (I may have garbled the technical facts about that, but trust me, it’s impressive!). There’s also a lot of pride evident on the floor in that plant, and for good reason. When you see what actually goes into producing each refrigerator unit, you gain a much better perspective on the Sub-Zero/Wolf brand.
I’m curious about these things for several reasons, professional and personal. My great-grandfather Franz Wollaeger had a furniture company in Milwaukee, the Wollaeger Manufacturing Company, from the 1870s until 1918, when it vanished into history. And my great-great-grandfather John Pritzlaff started a large hardware company in Milwaukee in 1850, which eventually disappeared in the 1950s. Both companies were fairly large and successful in their day, but it takes real visionary leadership to take any company to a Sub-Zero/Wolf level of success.
We said goodbye to Michele and Chris (they had to get back to their real work!) and took the opportunity to drive into Madison for lunch. Jennifer was excited to be back in Madison, as she spent part of her early youth there when her father was a professor of literature at the University of Wisconsin. My father graduated from UW-Madison, and my son, Ryan, is just entering his junior year there, so the town has a special place in my heart as well. We parked near the student union on campus and then strolled down State Street and had lunch at Joe’s. After lunch, Jennifer and Kate were heading back down to Chicago (Kate and her family are moving there from Jackson Hole) and the airport, and I was going to visit my sister Anne’s family in nearby Oconomowoc (love those Wisconsin town names!) before heading back to Los Angeles the next morning. But it was nice to be able to enjoy a summer afternoon in a place that had such deep ties for us all.
Michael Wollaeger writes about La Fete de la Musique, June 18th, at the Exquisite Surfaces showroom in Los Angeles
On a warm evening in Los Angeles, most of the Los Angeles design community turned out for La Fete de la Musique, a summer party Western Interiors & Design hosted at the new Exquisite Surfaces showroom on Robertson Boulevard. The new space, showcasing an amazing selection of the finest stone, wood and tile from around the world, is incredible, located in a beautiful brick building that had been nearly derelict for years before Exquisite Surfaces acquired it and did a complete renovation. I arrived at 6:00pm sharp, and was able to sip some wine with owner Paula Nataf , her sons Franck and Alexis Nataf, and marketing czar Gavin Carey before the inevitable crush. Paula started the business in 1997, and she’s steadily built Exquisite Surfaces into an internationally known design resource. Impressive!
There were busy bars and lively musical groups both on the first floor and up on the fabulous rooftop deck, and wonderful hors d’oeuvres were being passed continuously. As the sun lowered and the heat outside subsided, I made my way up to the roof deck and into one of those glowing Los Angeles evenings that make living here so alluring. Who was there? The trim and fashionable Luis Ortega; the debonair Tim Clarke; the impeccable Douglas Marsceill; the glamorous Jaime Rummerfield and Ron Woodson; the talented Robert Zamora; the cinematic Tom Boland (he designed the wildly popular interiors for Something’s Gotta Give and Holiday); the peripatetic Barclay Butera; the architectural Jim House; the lighting impresario Kevin Kolanowski; the ethereal Katerina Tana; the aesthetic Richard Johnson; the San Franciscan Michael Booth; the earthy Art Luna; the sparkling James Magni with his lovely associate Penelope Francis; the Design Mart’s Jeff Sampson; the innovative Steven Bryer; the influential Nancy Joseph; the charming Brendan Butera; the accomplished Mark Cutler; the stylish Bryan van Thun; the inventive Hanson Hsu; the delightful Tina Wakino; the Western Interiors editorial wizards Laura Mauk, Caren Kurlander and Brittany Kaplan; our own artistic Carly Hebert and advertising-savvy Debra House; and many more (there were at least 200!) too glamorous to mention.
Exquisite Surfaces is a new partner of Western Interiors, and La Fete de la Musique was a wonderful way to kick off our relationship. Paula, Franck, Alexis and Gavin put so much creative energy into the evening that it was assured of being a resounding success. And it was gratifying to have such a strong turnout from our friends in the design community as well.
To see pictures from the Exquisite Surface party go to http://www.westerninteriors.com/events/index.htm
Michael Wollaeger writes about the WID Fifth Anniversary Party, May 14, The Hudson Hotel Penthouse, New York City
On a beautiful spring evening, the penthouse of the Hudson Hotel is a good place to be. With wide views out over the Hudson River and a spacious outdoor deck, it was the perfect place to host our friends and supporters in New York. (I’m always impressed with publisher Jennifer Matthews and her staff in New York, who manage to engineer remarkable settings for our many events across the country.) It was also fitting that our June-July cover features a Malibu project by the brilliant New York designer Denise Kuriger. (That illustrates the point we often make that the West is integrally connected to the international design and architecture world in myriad ways.) Denise was thrilled with the coverage, and it was great to see her and her staff getting so much positive feedback about the cover and the story itself.
As the terrace began to fill with guests, it was quickly apparent that we would have a big crowd. Steve Cohen, editor of Media Industry Newsletter (min), was there with his associate Iris Dorbian, as was the fabulous rug designer Rosemary Hallgarten with her associate Jennifer Pearsall, Los Angeles designer Philip Nimmo, New York designer Amy Lau, Austin architect Mell Lawrence, Robert Allen’s Jolie Cross, Pierre Frey’s Kim Huebner, Claudette Blackwood of Bernardaud, Carolyn Bayas and Katie Dodd of Tufenkian Carpets, writer Valerie Cruice and her husband Jay, furniture designer Paul Mathieu (we’re hosting a party with him at Ralph Pucci in Los Angeles next fall), Susan Inglis and Amy Chender of the Sustainable Furniture Council, Kate Jensen of Colorado’s ID Interiors, the wonderful Dottie Larson from Arizona, Lyn Schroeder, designer John Mahoney, Connecticut designer and author Cindy Rinfret (we’re shooting an amazing house by Cindy in Wyoming this summer), Los Angeles design stars Jaime Rummerfield and Ron Woodson (who have a new book coming out in the fall, as well as a new furniture line), Esther Perman of Karastan, Gwen Toline of Niermann Weeks, David Ryan of the RyMac Agency, Helmut Goetz of Rangecraft, designer Thomas Fuchs, Kathy Woldner of Edelman Communications, Joe DelGreco and lots of his associates from DelGreco & Company, Michael Chaves and Hillary White of Michael Chaves Advertising, Clair Pijoulat of Roche-Bobois, Valerie Moran of Grange, Robert Sacks of Precision Media Group, Nicholas Sterlington of Waterworks, Greta Gabaglio of Sicis, Ryan Finegan of Richard Schultz, Leslie Hart of Fry Communications, Margo Lea (my wife), Richard Matthews (Jennifer’s husband), Catherine B. Stein of the Color Council, Liza Vadnai of Good Inc., Ann-Marie Kishbauch, Carla Graubard, Christine Arrington, Tina Manis of Tina Manis Associates, Karin Craig of Nancy Koltes, Jeanne-Marie Byington of Lindal Cedar Homes, Georgina Bliss of Schlossberg of Switzerland, designer Barclay Butera and his associate Elizabeth Quinn, Elena Frampton of Curated Design Studio, and others too glamorous to mention.
There was a great relaxed feeling about the evening, and I enjoyed talking to our array of interesting guests as the sun set and the lights of the city sprang up around us. The party was supposed to end at eight o’clock, but there were still people happily hanging out at nine-thirty. I was beginning to lose my voice, however, and Margo and I reluctantly took our leave. On the way out, I reflected on the wide network that has grown up around Western Interiors & Design over the past five years, and how the magazine has filled an unique niche in the design marketplace that people are responding to in a gratifying way. Our anniversary parties in Los Angeles, Chicago and New York allowed us to stop and celebrate that fact, and to gather our breath for the next five years, which no doubt will be an exciting ride as well.
To see photographs from the party, go to www.westerninteriors.com/events.
Michael Wollaeger writes about his trip to New York, May 13-20
I lived in New York for eight years, back in the day, and I’m always glad for any excuse to return to the city. ICFF (the International Contemporary Furniture Fair) is as good an excuse as any. During the fair, New York is alive with design energy, innovative new products, great parties and interesting people to meet. (Actually, New York is always like that, just a bit more so during ICFF.) We were also hosting another Fifth Anniversary party at the penthouse of the Hudson Hotel on Wednesday evening. My wife, Margo, and I arrived Tuesday evening (JetBlue, Burbank to JFK, easy) and checked into the Empire Hotel, just across from Lincoln Center. The Empire, an old New York hotel, has been completely redone, with snappy design, a hip lobby-lounge and a LA-style pool deck on the rooftop. (Our publisher, Jennifer Matthews, discovered the Empire, as it’s just around the corner from our New York office.) After settling into our room, Margo and I strolled out in search of dinner. I’d always liked Café Luxembourg, and I was happy to find that it’s still there and still thriving, the kind of timeless New York bistro that makes me feel reconnected to the city when I’ve been away for awhile.
On Wednesday morning I dropped by the Western Interiors & Design office to catch up with our team there, Donnalynn Civello, Craig Abrams, Dina Duncan, Vic Sauerhoff, Rachel Zucker, Bruce Leong and Jennifer. We also met with our new production team, Publishing Professionals, headed up by the talented Janet Mannheimer and her associates Elaine Callender and Kady Francesconi. Jennifer, Dina and I then headed out to meet Jolie Cross of Robert Allen at the Kips Bay Decorator Show House (stopping for a glamorous stand-up lunch at a nearby Starbucks). Jolie met us at the penthouse designed by Larry Laszlo, who has done such remarkable fabric collections for Robert Allen. The rooms had a fresh, bright, sophisticated feel to them that reminded me of California (say, a modern San Francisco apartment from 1940s?) And his Walker Zanger bath design was a star of the show. We then went through the various rooms to see what was what. It’s always great to see Charlotte Moss’s beautiful work in person, and Geoffrey Bradfield’s room was spiffy, too. On the whole, though, it seemed to me that Kips Bay could use a fresh jolt of western talent.
From Kips Bay we walked over to the B&B Italia showroom, where we had a quick tour of the Maxalto Collection by architect Antonio Citterio, which is remarkably sleek and chic. Before I knew it, though, it was time to prepare for our party at the Hudson. After a pit stop at the Empire, I walked a few blocks down to the Hudson, whose lobby is still one of the liveliest scenes in Manhattan. I took the elevator to the Penthouse suite, which I hadn’t seen in person, and I was impressed. The large living room is bordered with wide expanses of glass and opens onto a terrace overlooking the Hudson River and sweeping views to the west (appropriately). It had been a warm spring day, and as the sun set, the lights of the city came on and a cool breeze stirred the ornamental trees that were placed around the terrace. It was the perfect setting for a party, and I took a moment to enjoy it before our guests arrived. (See my separate blog post about our Hudson Penthouse party.)
On Thursday morning, Jennifer and I had a meeting with business associates near Madison Avenue and 54th Street, and I miscalculated the time it would take me to walk there from the Empire (you know, we don’t walk that much in Los Angeles). Realizing that I was going to be late, I walked faster and faster until I was out of breath and felt completely disheveled as I stumbled into the lobby. I managed to compose myself somewhat in the elevator, and the meeting was quite productive, but the experience reminded me that I’m officially an out-of-towner now by New York standards.
Our next stop was downtown, with Beth Greene and Ann Feldstein of Kravet and Lee Jofa. (On the way, Jennifer and I stopped for lunch at Aspen on 22nd Street, a tongue-in-cheek hip-rustic restaurant and bar that we loved.) They showed us some amazing new lines, including the new fabrics from Los Angeles designer Windsor Smith, which looked right on the money. It will be a big hit: casual, fun, sophisticated, very California.
Margo and I met a good friend that night at Commerce, which is tucked away in one of those magical corners in the West Village, near the Cherry Lane Theater. Commerce is in the charmingly irregular space that once housed the Blue Mill Tavern, and it’s now a first-rate bistro with an excellent (and reasonable) wine list. After a leisurely dinner, Margo and I wandered around the Village for a while before cabbing it back uptown.
Jennifer and I had a breakfast meeting on Friday with David Schaffer and Nancy Green of Waterworks at Brasserie 44 in the Royalton Hotel. Waterworks is one of the most innovative design companies around, and we were excited to hear about their new flagship store opening in Los Angeles. It’s an ambitious project and could serve as a prototype that helps position Waterworks as a premier global brand.
From there, we walked across town to meet with Richard Schultz, the renowned furniture designer who was holding forth at the DelGreco & Company showroom at the D&D Building. As the rain came down outside, I relished the opportunity to sit and talk with Richard about his long career. Richard is a living American treasure, who worked with all of the midcentury greats at Knoll before starting his own company. His designs from the 1950s and 1960s look utterly contemporary today, which I guess is the definition of “classic.” I really could have spent the whole day there enjoying his company (along with his fabulous pr person Nancy Joseph, of course), but we had to move along.
We wanted to see Ralph Pucci before his big party on Monday, so we grabbed a cab and headed downtown to his showroom. If you haven’t been to the Pucci showroom, do yourself a favor and go. The vast floor-through loft spaces are exhilarating, and the views across the roofscape of lower Manhattan are breathtaking. Aside from that, of course, there is some of the most interesting new furniture design on the planet. We said hello to Ralph and Maria Pucci, and met India Mahdavi, whose new collection is fresh from London. Resin, wood, metal, with a dash of Mod styling, her pieces are unique. We also met Kevin Walz, whose new pieces include superb lighting forms and epoxied ash and walnut tables and chairs. I looked forward to returning on Monday evening.
Jennifer had arranged a visit with Christopher Peacock up in Greenwich, Connecticut, so we headed out into the rain and treacherous field of umbrellas to Grand Central. We had just enough time to have lunch there, looking out over the broad main hall of Grand Central, before hopping the train. The Christopher Peacock showroom in Greenwich is an oasis of ideal kitchen scenarios that immediately made me want to redo our Los Angeles kitchen entirely. Unfortunately, due to rain and customers, Christopher couldn’t meet us at the showroom, but we had a detailed tour and it was good to see the flagship for such a trend-setting company.
I returned to the city, caught my breath at the hotel, and then Margo and I headed downtown to meet my sister, Karen, and her husband, Don, at the Blue Note to see the great South American tenor saxophone player Gato Barbieri (you may remember his evocative theme for the film Last Tango in Paris). After the show, we had coffee at Caffe Reggio, a Village landmark. Karen and Don were early pioneers in SoHo in the 1970s and now live in Upper Grandview, New York, so it was great to be back in the old haunts with them for a night. But I had to go to bed, as we had morning meetings at ICFF on Saturday.
On Saturday morning, Jennifer, Dina and I met our European Director, Paolo Capitini, at the Javits Center and embarked on a series of meetings, among them La Murrina, Natuzzi, Molteni & C, Hansgrohe, Boffi, Merdiani, Poltrona Frau, Rosemary Hallgarten (beautiful rugs!) Yves Behar’s collection for HBF (smart, plugged-in furniture), Sicis Tile, Flexform, Amy Helfand (more beautiful rugs!), dform (cool laser-cut wood-veneer lighting), and many more. It was great to be with Paolo when we met with the Italian companies, as any language barriers melt away in a mellifluous stream of Italian. There is such a strong line of contemporary taste running throughout the American West, and it was exciting to see the range of modern furniture available for many of the contemporary architectural spaces I’m seeing in Texas, Arizona, Los Angeles, Seattle, etc. (Having Paolo there to articulate this in Italian was a great benefit, as I’m more or less limited to Ciao…)
One of the great things about ICFF is that you run into so many people in the design community, strolling the aisles. It’s a stimulating reminder of the interconnected nature of this business, and its international reach. But as exciting as it is, one needs a break after eight hours, so we took our leave. That night, Margo and I had dinner with friends at Smoke, on the Upper West Side, a great hole-in-the-wall jazz club with great music. That night there was a tribute to the great alto saxophonist Jackie McLean, a quintet that was as good as any I’d heard in a long time. (I regret that I didn’t get their names, as each was a master.) By that point I was blissfully tired out, and as we slumped in a cab back to the Empire, we were looking forward to Sunday in New York with nothing to do and no particular place to go.
On Sunday Margo and I wandered through Chelsea, then down to the Meat Packing District for brunch (we ran into Paolo, who was on his way to Pastis between ICFF meetings). Then we walked through Tribeca, and over to Chinatown and Little Italy, through a sprinkling of rain. Happy tourists. By the time we hit the boutiques on Elizabeth Street, where Margo bought me a new tie, I was beginning to fade, so we hopped into a cab back to the hotel. We had a quiet dinner that evening, content to relax into a low-profile enjoyment of the city’s ebb and flow.
Margo headed for the airport to return to Los Angeles for work on Monday morning, and I met Jennifer for more meetings. First up was a stop at Polo/Ralph Lauren, where we met with Virginie Farre, Sophie Thomas and Jamie Gershenbaum. Excellent to catch up with such a first-rate organization, and to brief them about the magazine’s news. Then we stopped to visit with Michael Mandapati and David Rubin at Warp & Weft, the innovative rug company that keeps bringing fresh design options to market. From there we hit the ad agency Cramer-Krasselt and saw Jodi Monroe, who handles the Benjamin Moore paint business, and after that, we went to SoHo to see our friend Janet Provisor, who with her husband, Brad Davis, owns Fort Street Studio. Fort Street Studio continues to create some of the most beautiful rugs on the market, and they recently opened a Los Angeles showroom in the PDC that’s also taking off for them.
After meeting with Nigel Walker and Wei Gao at the That’s Nice agency, who handle great companies like P.E. Guerin and Thibaut, it was time to catch our breath for the evening’s events, which included parties at Minotti, B&B Italia (downtown this time), The Rug Company and Ralph Pucci, among many others. I had been looking forward to the Pucci event, as we’ve partnered with the showroom for great parties in Los Angeles, and I knew they would draw an interesting crowd. I wasn’t disappointed, and spent some time with David Weeks, India Mahdavi, Pilar Viladas of the New York Times, actress Dana Delaney (who admired my new tie), designer Mark Zeff (who showed me some of his spectacular new pieces for Pucci), Kevin Walz, and of course Ralph and Maria Pucci themselves. The party was a fitting end to ICFF, in my view, and I was feeling dazzled by the concentrated energy of New York. Fortunately, I’d arranged to meet friends for dinner at Raoul’s in SoHo, another spot I’ve been going to for more years than I’d like to admit. Raoul’s is utterly unchanged, which is a very good thing: crowded, friendly, noisy, relaxed. Just where I wanted to be at the end of a week in New York.
Michael Wollaeger writes about his Denver, Colorado, visit on May 6-7
I love the Teatro Hotel in Denver, located in a beautiful old former bank building on the edge of the city’s hip LoDo area. I had flown in for the Denver Design District market, where I’d be speaking about “How the West Is Redefining Luxury,” a topic dear to my heart, and I was content to check into the Teatro on the evening of Cinco de Mayo. My room had a little balcony overlooking the city, and strains of Mexican street music floated up on the warm breezes. After dinner and a stroll through LoDo (one of the coolest urban areas I know), I retired early to prepare for a full day in Denver.
Regional Manager Annette Lentz flew up from Dallas Tuesday morning, and she picked me up at the hotel. We headed directly over to the Denver Design District to see Eddy Doumas, whose Town showroom has really bloomed in the past four years or so. Eddy is a talented interior designer who has a thriving national business, and he also somehow manages to run a large and bustling showroom. Town carries great lines such as Baker Furniture, Ralph Lauren Home and Barbara Barry Home, as well as stylish smaller companies, and it’s a great resource for designers throughout the region. Eddy and I hadn’t met in person, so it was nice to be able to hang out a bit before my talk.
I was speaking right after the great New York designer Larry Laszlo, who’s a hard act to follow. But Denver is always a wonderful audience for Western Interiors & Design, so I was lucky that the room filled up again after Larry departed, and I could see several friends in attendance, including Design Center impresario Jo Frank and her crew. Jo is a one-woman whirlwind, and she’s active in so many different markets (I’ve run into her in San Francisco, Wyoming, Phoenix-Scottsdale, Dallas, New York ….) it’s dizzying. I spoke to the group about a new kind of luxury I’m seeing in the West, a luxury that’s not so much about excess as it is about grace. I was able to show a wide range of Colorado examples drawn from our pages, breathtaking houses that use natural materials, incorporate the landscape and honor craftsmanship and quality. As opposed to bloated houses crammed with…stuff. Been there, done that, as they say.
That evening, we dined with our good friends Marvin Wilkinson and Art Ellsworth, who run the remarkable John Brooks showrooms in Denver, Aspen and Scottsdale, Arizona. We were joined by their associates Kyle Geik and Ashley Larson, as well as Todd Huckabone of Donghia, Carolyn Reed of Bergamo, and Karin Eaton of Ironware International. Art and Marvin had selected one of their favorite Denver restaurants, Potager, which was perfect. Potager is relaxed, hip and friendly, and the food is superb. Todd, Carolyn and Karin had presentations at John Brooks the next day, but having discharged my speaking duties, I felt blissfully stress-free. Karin and I had met at last year’s market, and we’d discovered that we have some close friends in common in Nashville, Tennessee, where she lives. It was a lively evening all around, and I was grateful to Art and Marvin for putting it together. Needless to say, I slept like a rock back at the Teatro.
The next morning, Annette and I went back to the Design Center to see Karin’s presentation at John Brooks. Ironware International utilizes wonderful French ironworkers to make some of the most beautiful hand-wrought chandeliers and lighting pieces on the market today. Karin showed some fascinating video of pieces being made, with glowing iron being hammered and bent into delicate curvilinear shapes. Old school indeed. Elsewhere, Todd was presenting Donghia’s new fabrics to a group of rapt designers. Last year I’d seen Carolyn’s energetic and engaging Bergamo presentation (so much to show!), but we missed her performance this year, unfortunately. The John Brooks showroom is a hive of activity and creativity at any given time, and Art and Marvin continue to expand on all fronts. They have a unique ability to represent all the top lines under one roof, and to serve each equally well. Their showrooms are really giving designers in the West the tools they need to drive their work to new levels. Their secret, I think, is their unbridled enthusiasm for quality and beauty. Plus they’re a lot of fun to be around.
We also wanted to see our friends at Decorative Materials, the first-rate tile resource that’s going gangbusters in the Rocky Mountains, and we were able to grab owner Margo Hampleman right before a presentation by the Bisazza representative. Decorative Materials is in the right place with the right products at the right time, and they’re really taking off. Then we sat down with Kirsten Zook and Tim George of the Shanahan Collection and New Classics, whose wide range of furniture and lighting is quite impressive. Kirsten’s mother, Sara Zook, was an interior designer in my hometown of Winnetka, Illinois, before starting her business in Denver, and it’s inspiring to see what she’s created. She’s built a real family business that now has a national reach.
It was time to meet Bob Cilli at the William Ohs showroom in Cherry Creek, so Annette expertly navigated our way there. William Ohs cabinetry is all made right in the Denver area, and the company is dedicated to high-quality custom work. Cilli (pronounced like “chile,” no one calls him Bob) took us to lunch at a great Italian restaurant nearby and entertained us with his natural story-telling talents. He’s a Jersey boy at heart, and he’ll make you laugh. The short walk back from lunch in the glorious Denver spring was exhilarating. I was scheduled to fly back to Los Angeles in a few hours, but I dearly wanted to drive up into the mountains (Aspen, Telluride, Durango….), which beckoned on the western horizon. That would have to wait for another trip, though, as I had to prepare for being in New York the next week for the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF). Nothing wrong with New York, of course, but at that moment, on that fresh May afternoon, Colorado was the only place I wanted to be.
Michael Wollaeger writes about his trip to Dallas, Texas, on May 1-2
If you haven’t been to Dallas lately, you’re missing a lot. The city is undergoing massive changes, and all for the good. I was there last month to address a meeting of Design Centers International, and I was impressed with the new energy coursing through old Dallas.
Before my talk on Friday morning, however, we had other business to attend to. On Thursday morning our Regional Manager Annette Lentz picked me up bright and early and we headed out to meet with Bentwood Kitchens, just north of Dallas in Lancaster. Bentwood president Kevin Bryant and Todd Henson gave us a tour of the facilities, where Bentwood creates custom cabinet orders, custom paint finishes, you name it, right there in a hangar-like structure filled with talented (and loyal) craftspeople. I love to see where and how products are manufactured, so the tour was a treat for me.
We then headed back into Dallas for a meeting at the Nasher Sculpture Center, which is at the heart of Dallas’s cultural scene. The Renzo Piano building housing Raymond and Patsy Nasher’s remarkable art collection opened five years ago, and it’s an exquisite piece of architecture. As Western Interiors & Design is also celebrating its fifth birthday, we’re partnering with the Nasher for special events in Dallas this fall. Jane Offenbach and Martha Hess met with us in a beautiful conference room that looks out onto the sculpture garden, an extraordinary oasis in the urban center. We’ll reveal more details about our partnership events soon, but they will be glamorous and fun, and I’m excited about our new relationship.
It was time for lunch, so we walked from the Nasher to the Dallas Museum of Art’s Seventeen Seventeen restaurant, where we met Nickie Murchison, Executive Director of the Dallas Arts District Alliance. Did you know that Dallas has the largest designated arts district of any city in the country? Neither did I. But Nickie educated me, and I’m excited that Western Interiors & Design will be a sponsor of the Arts District’s September fund-raising event. More on that later.
Annette has a lot of energy, so we embarked on a few quick hits after lunch. At the Dallas Decorative Center we dropped in on George Cameron Nash, who is celebrating his twenty-first year in business. He had planned to take his staff on a surprise outing that evening, and Champagne was being poured as the staff gathered for the unknown adventure. George, however, was gracious enough to sit down with us and talk for a bit. He keeps adding new lines and twists to the showroom (I love his new outdoor sculptural pieces!), and he’s built a remarkable business in Dallas. I never did find out where they all went off to that night, but I’m sure it was memorable.
We made a stop at the Renaissance Tile & Bath showroom, where John Lane showed us the new installations, and then visited with Ramon Longoria at the Henredon showroom. Ramon has all the inside information on what’s going on and who’s doing what in Dallas, so we had an enjoyable and enlightening time catching up with him. We also stopped by to see our friends at Scott + Cooner, who were throwing a Spring Thing bash. Lloyd Scott is always a superb hostess, and the showroom looked marvelous (who needs to go to Milan when Lloyd has culled the best of the Italian collections?). We saw lots of other friends there but could only stay for a quick drink as we had dinner plans (how did it get to be dinnertime so quickly?).
Dallas wouldn’t be Dallas without David and Ann Sutherland, and I’d been looking forward to seeing them at Nobu along with their colleagues Tim Shaw and Wesley Vice. Sutherland’s new line with Philippe Starck is the talk of the furniture world, and I was interested to hear David talk about working with the renowned designer (it all went smoothly). Ann continues to oversee the remarkable fabric company Perennials, which sets the pace for so much of the outdoor fabric market. For one of the hardest-working couples in the industry, though, David and Ann always know how to have fun, and our dinner was no exception. (I had to remind myself that I had to get up and address a distinguished design group in the morning.)
On Friday morning I reviewed some notes, drank a venti iced latte and headed over to the Herman Miller showroom conference room, where my talk was scheduled. Design center heads from around the country were in Dallas, and I wanted to talk about the western marketplace, and Texas specifically. The West is a huge and under-served marketplace, and (incredibly!) many design companies are just beginning to figure out that our region isn’t just a provincial backwater. I pointed out that the West is an international marketplace for contemporary design of all stripes, and used our coverage of Texas over the past five years to illustrate my point. The hour flew by quickly (for me, at least!), and I was grateful to the Dallas Decorative Center for the invitation.
Annette and I then looked in at the Gerald Peters Gallery, where we spent a while talking about art and artists with Director Karen Fedri. Contemporary art in the West has been a big part of our coverage, so it always gets the wheels turning to spend time in a top-quality gallery. We also visited with Deborah Manning, who with her brother, Steve Bracken, opened Hermitage Antiques in Dallas six years ago to great success. Excellent inventory, interesting pieces, great prices. It was a pleasure to meet Deborah.
Lunch was at Charlie Palmer’s at the Joule Hotel, which has just been renovated by Architexas. We met with John and Irene Allender of Architexas, and Diane Collier of the AIA, to discuss sponsoring the AIA Home Tour in Dallas in November. There’s so much great architecture going on in Dallas that the tour has been a great success, so it was exciting to explore the possibility of working together on this year’s tour. And Charlie Palmer’s was a great room to relax in, with delicious food.
I was flying back to Los Angeles in the afternoon, but Annette wanted to show me a very cool house being built by Morrison Siefert Murphy architects before we headed to the airport. We drove to the site and got out and explored the construction site, which is another thing I love to do. The bold contemporary house seemed to signify the excitement and possibility that’s afoot in Dallas these days, and I was happy to have been able to soak some of that up in my brief two days there. I was happier still to know that we have such interesting partners in Dallas, and that we’d be returning in the fall for some very special cultural events.
Gracie: A New Take on Tradition
Gracie, a New York-based company that imports and produces scenic hand-painted wall coverings has introduced five lush new patterns to its collection. Inspired by 18th and 19th century Chinese mural paintings and wall coverings that depicted the life, architecture and nature of mainland China, the new offerings feature rich contrasting colors as well as neutral tones and metallics. There’s golden imagery on an antiqued coral background and a botanical scene set against a deep orange backdrop. Additional prints include a panoramic garden landscape on an antiqued silver leaf background and an overscale silhouette design painted on a pieced 18th century antiqued background in a rich tobacco colorway.
Gracie
419 Lafayette Street
New York, NY 10003
Phone: 212-924-6816
Fax: 212-627-8967
www.graciestudio.com
Michael Wollaeger writes about the Western Interiors & Design party at Blackbird in Chicago, April 11
We’ve been having fun celebrating the fifth anniversary of Western Interiors & Design, so we decided to have a party during the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show (KBIS) in Chicago last month. After considering a variety of glamorous Chicago hot spots (and there are more and more in that toddlin’ town), we selected Blackbird, which has been a standout Chicago restaurant for the past decade or so. After a long day working the booths at McCormick Place, publisher Jennifer Matthews, executive editor Laura Mauk, regional manager Kate Sollitt, account director Craig Abrams and I hopped a cab to West Randolph on Friday night. I admit, it was sheer bliss to relax in the private upstairs room at Blackbird, with our own private bar and wonderful hors d’oeuvres from Blackbird’s famous kitchen.
We’d invited many of our friends and partners both from the Chicago area and from the KBIS show, and though there were myriad events taking place that night, we had a nice turnout. It was great to see the visionary Steve Rosenblatt of Sonoma Cast Stone, and Erik Ambjor of Sonoma Forge, who stopped by on their way to dinner.
Jennifer Matthews, Steve Rosenblatt and Dave Sollitt
We quaffed a drink with Arcadio Lainez and Dabney Oliver from Zephyr, and I was delighted to see (surprise!) John Cottle of the great CCY Architects in Aspen, Colorado, who tied our party in with a visit to his son. CCY is doing some incredible work across the country now, and we’re always looking for opportunities to get their projects into our pages.
Michael Wollaeger and John Cottle
I was happy to meet Lydia Youkana and Phil Hannon, with ABT Electronics, a family-owned Chicago-area company that’s built a thriving national business. Our friends from Carlisle Flooring, Gary Ryer, Erin LaRose and Megan Sprague, came by (I’m looking forward to seeing their new showroom in Los Angeles), and I was pleased to spend some quality time with Jerry and Sheila Fein, of the fabulous Denver-based Vitraform. (Jerry and Sheila are finishing up a new weekend house in Colorado, and I made them promise to provide me a room when I’m scouting in the area.) Kohler’s Lisa Ackerman arrived with her posse, which was nice, given the plethora of Kohler events she had to cover during the show.
Lisa Ackerman and friends
And I had fun talking with Stephen Fisher, of HomeRemodeling.com, about growing up on the North Shore and our years of suffering as Cubs fans (maybe this year?). I also enjoyed meeting Phil Gould of Noble, who handles a variety of accounts, including Tamko, and his wife, Liz.
Jennifer Matthews and Stephen Fisher
Trays of delectable food items kept appearing from the kitchen, which gave me strength to drink more Champagne. Then celebrity chef Jonathan Waxman arrived with fellow chefs George Grieser and Carol McMullin, along with TurboChef public relations wizard John Weiss, and it was fun to hang out with them for a while before they adjourned to Avec, Blackbird’s sister restaurant next door.
George Grieser, Carol McMullin and Jonathan Waxman
The glamorous Tanya Rashid and Natalia Tampiza, from Muse Couture, could be seen sipping some Champagne, along with the lively Merlot Marketing group from San Francisco. It was a busy night, and Holly Hunt (among others) had to cancel, which was disappointing, but I’m hoping to catch up with all somewhere else down the line.
I’m sure there were other friends and partners at Blackbird, but frankly the Champagne may have erased some of the details of that night. As the party wound down, though, I do remember thinking about how vibrant and hard-working this industry is, and how inspiring it is to meet people who have built international businesses out of their own personal visions. It takes passion and dedication and nerve and perseverance. But the people who succeed are the people who love it, and there were a lot of them on hand in Chicago in April.
We all had to get up early Saturday morning to hit the show again, so I gratefully set a course back to the hotel. My intrepid colleagues, however, ventured on into the glittering Chicago night for further adventures.
Michael Wollaeger writes about The Kitchen and Bath Show, Chicago, April 11-13
April in Chicago is indeed the cruelest month, as I should know, having grown up there. So as a 35-degree wind cut through my sport coat, I cursed myself for “traveling light” and not bringing my overcoat. Publisher Jennifer Matthews and I had just arrived from the spring furniture market in High Point, North Carolina (where it was also unseasonably cold), to attend the Kitchen and Bath Industry Show, or KBIS. (We would be joined by executive editor Laura Mauk, regional manager Kate Sollitt, and account director Craig Abrams.) But I was happy to be in Chicago despite the weather, because after the show, on Sunday, I’d have the opportunity to visit with my mother and stepfather, who live in the North Shore suburb of Northfield, and my sister Anne and her family, who live in Chicago.
Fortunately, the Kitchen and Bath Show is held indoors, at McCormick Place, and there’s a lot to see, so Jennifer and I were inside all day. On Friday morning (early!), we attended the Electrolux press breakfast. Electrolux is making a major push into the U.S. market on all fronts (you’ve seen the TV ads with Kelly Ripa, no doubt), and they have an impressive array of new products, including touch-control induction cooktops. Then we went on to see Jason McClain at Hansgrohe, a company that combines high-design with the latest in water conservation technology. At KWC, Chris Marshall gave us a tour of the company’s new luxury offerings, which are always dazzling. Meanwhile, Laura Mauk met with Scott Davies at Fisher & Paykel (I happen to have a Fisher & Paykel refrigerator in my own kitchen). We then took time to sit (my legs were already tiring, I hate to admit) with Wm Ohs president Robert Cilli, who introduced me to some very talented California kitchen designers who are using Wm Ohs’s excellent cabinetry in their projects. After that, we were running late for a meeting at Zephyr, one of those great innovative companies from California. Arcadio Lainez showed us Zephyr’s new line of sleek range hoods by industrial designer Robert Brunner, who also designed Apple’s iMac. Very cool, and a nice complement to Zephyr’s more textured offerings from Fu-Tung Cheng. Owner Alex Siow was on hand, and looked very pleased (he should be) with his booth.
As lunch time neared, we made an agonizing stop to see Brian Pember at the TurboChef booth, where chef Jonathan Waxman was cooking up delicious morsels at ridiculously fast speeds. (Agonizing because I wasn’t seated at the counter to partake of those morsels!) I was reluctant to move away from Waxman’s handiwork, but I was happy to see Reed Fry at the Blanco booth. Blanco has a great new finish they’re introducing, and its warm, earthy tones should be a popular choice in a wide variety of kitchens. Jennifer and I grabbed a glamorous lunch (a pretzel with salt and mustard, if I remember correctly) and struck out for Sonoma Cast Stone, the remarkable California company started by the visionary Steve Rosenblatt. Steve really pioneered concrete as a green, sustainable material for countertops, sinks and tubs, among other things, and Sonoma Cast Stone is still at the forefront of the industry. He’s branched out into fixtures and metalwork, all produced not far from his home in the Sonoma Valley.
We then hit Rocky Mountain Hardware (how many cool companies are there in the West?), where Patsy Nickum and Christine Pfau greeted us and showed us some of their beautiful new pieces. Rocky Mountain has been growing along with the booming western market, and it’s exciting to see them thrive. LG Electronics is bringing some very smart appliances to market, and John Weinstock gave us an informative tour. It was good to see Paul Leuthe and Michele Bedard at Sub-Zero/Wolf, whose products crop up in all the high-end projects I’m seeing in the West. And at Miele, Lori Dolnick showed us the company’s beautiful new laundry machines (who knew laundry machines would become so chic?), among other marvelous offerings.
I’m always intrigued to see what’s new at Vitraform, the Denver-based company (yes, another western notch) that produces the most beautiful glass and crystal sinks and vanities on the market. Owners Jerry and Sheila Fein were mobbed by visitors to the booth, and their business is booming internationally. No surprise, as their product is unique and on the money, style-wise.
Meanwhile, Laura Mauk had made stops at Noritz (state-of-the-art showering technology), Bentwood Kitchens (a real up-and-comer in cabinetry, out of Texas), Liebherr (the BMW of refrigeration—look out Sub-Zero!), Eldorado Stone (wonderful new surfaces and looks), Walker Zanger (yes, a California innovator in tile), Acryline (luxury tubs and whirlpools) and Toto (some of the most water-efficient toilets on the market, and they look great, too), among others. But we couldn’t chat too much as we were hosting a cocktail party at the wonderful Blackbird restaurant (look for my upcoming blog entry about our Blackbird party) that evening and had to grab a cab and head out into the cold Chicago afternoon. (That meant missing the annual Moen spa event, with complimentary foot massages, facials and such, which was heartbreaking. My feet still haven’t forgiven me…)
On Saturday morning, still somewhat groggy from our party the night before, we headed back to McCormick Place. We started out at the Bosch breakfast, where I gratefully consumed enough coffee to get up to speed. Bosch has entered the refrigeration market, adding to their market position. Of course, their dishwashers are tops (I have one), too. We said a quick hello, and then we were due at Thermador (my wife, Margo, loves our Thermador oven!), where Michele Kautz and Gregory Welteroth pointed out the many new features in their cooktops and refrigerators. At Franke, Krista Rivers did the honors, showing us their new sinks, which are outfitted with ingenious and flexible cutting boards, draining trays, spray faucets and such. A great choice for those who really do cook!
It was interesting to see what’s going on at the venerable Jacuzzi (yes, another California company!), where Tom Koos is shaking things up and giving the brand some new buzz. They unveiled a new contemporary Italian-designed shower (by noted Ferrari designer Pininfarina) that was a showstopper. Somehow we were running behind schedule (more coffee!), so we sped ahead to see Kari Tomsic at Amerock, a hardware company you’ll be hearing more about as they raise brand awareness in the consumer arena, and Dacor (southern California again!), whose line of high-end ovens has been gaining attention (and traction) in the marketplace. Sun Valley Bronze (need I point out the western connection?) always has a beautiful booth, and this year was no exception. Jennifer Hawley showed us what’s new. Lisa Jasper then clued us in on what’s new at the superbly sophisticated (and ultra-high-end) Dornbracht booth. Their new shower system has apparently been purchased by Queen Elizabeth and Mick Jagger. (Now there’s a potential ad campaign!)
It’s always great to stop by and see our friends at Rohl (a California company, of course!). I enjoyed visiting with Ken Rohl and talking to him about his new house in Idaho, while Skip Johnson was busy fielding all kinds of press interest. Jen Brough and Tom Landry then took us through the Baldwin Hardware booth, where each year a broader range of styles and options is presented.
We were happy to see Tom Liebhardt and Jamie Dalton at the Moen booth. Moen keeps bringing innovative new faucets to market, with a real eye toward user ease and function along with style. Then we headed (staggered, really) off to CaesarStone, where the glamorous Maggie Amir beckoned us to sit (thank you!) and meet with Arik Tendler, the company’s hard-charging president. Another remarkable California-based company, Caesarstone keeps outdoing itself, leading the marketplace in high-style countertops with a seductive range of colors and finishes.
Kohler’s set up at KBIS is always spectacular, with Cirque du Soleil-like entertainment, spectacular water features, and amazing new products. Mark Mahoney took us through Kohler and Kallista, which offer a complete range of beautiful fittings in every style. Truly one-stop shopping for the bath, from faucets, sinks and baths to mirrors, vanities and showers. Then we met with John Hart at Ann Sacks (out of Portland, Oregon, I should add!). The Ann Sacks tile offerings this market were phenomenal, with new tile designs by Michael S. Smith and Robert Kuo that stretch the concept of what you can do with tile. John showed us a brief video about the hand-made processes involved in each collection. Robert Kuo’s new pieces are hand-cut by master stone-workers in China, while craftspeople in Oregon create some of the other Ann Sacks lines, sustaining handcraft traditions internationally. That’s important.
After a quick drop-by at La Cornue (the luxury oven company is introducing a smaller version of its spectacular large-scale model), I glimpsed Laura Mauk at a distance, and for someone who had been to Villeroy & Bosch, American Standard, Porcher, JADO, Everpure, Viking, Elkay, Silestone, Duravit, Electrolux, Samuel Heath, Lutron and Scavolini, she looked remarkably fresh. I, on the other hand, was starting to drag. Fortunately, it was time to brave the cold (and the endless cab line) and head back to the hotel. Though I’d have liked to have gone out to hear some music or discover an exciting new Chicago restaurant (as some of the Western Interiors team impressively did each night), I was done.
On Sunday morning I had breakfast with friends at the W Hotel, which is a very cool spot in a renovated old Chicago building. On my way there, walking into the teeth of a freezing wind, I had to duck into an Eddie Bauer on Michigan Avenue and buy a sweater (the winter clothing was on a marked-down clearance rack, since it was supposedly balmy spring weather now). Then I got on the train and headed up north, through Evanston, Wilmette and Kenilworth, which brought back many childhood memories. And as the train slowed and pulled in to the Indian Hill station, there was my mother, standing far below in the parking lot, holding out an overcoat.