I first came across Dutch Small’s collection of mid-century modern furniture on Fab.com. When I learned how successful the e-retailer has gown in the past few years, I wanted know how furniture—the kind of product that needs to be experienced (or so I thought)—can enjoy the successes recorded by Fab.com. So I asked the brains and power behind Forma Revivo, about the milestones that have lead to his success, his thoughts about selling excellent modern design at retail (not long ago such furnishings were available only through showrooms that cater to the design trades), his grandfather, and Elvis. With his new gallery about to open in Houston in May, I felt it was time for Dutch to share the secrets of his success.

Susan S. Szenasy: Dutch, I read that your interest in mid-century modern furniture began when you worked as a conservator. What was the first piece you fell in love with and why?

Dutch Small: I was raised in a creative environment by skilled conservators and successful artists. My mom is an accomplished carpenter. My grandfather did masterful furniture conservation work for Elvis. My grandmother did beautiful trompe l’oeil and worked for decades to perfect her gilding skills. I didn’t realize the value of being reared in an environment with very high skill, standards, and unmatched artistic integrity until about four months after I started working in the business full time. We found a desk by James Mont on which the original, very intimidating silver leaf finish was destroyed. Fortunately we work with modern design where restoration, if done well, does not diminish the value of an important work. I launched into the restoration and meticulously recreated the finish, sent the piece to auction, and at $20k, outsold any previous Mont desk. I fell in love with the piece as I took two years of decoding and tirelessly recreating to get the finish right! Its results at auction were affirmation that the skills I brought to the table were sufficient to satisfy the most discriminating collectors at the most influential modern design auction house. Read more…

The stunning Apple store on New York’s Fifth Avenue—the 28th most photographed built landmark in the world—designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson.

We met Steve Jobs at NeXT and in 2000 we shaped Pixar’s home. Steve said he selected our firm [Bohlin Cywinski Jackson] because of our “great houses,” and we have been involved at Apple since the beginning of its retail spaces.  We got to know him as someone with a clear, personal, and powerful vision, intellectually rigorous and highly intuitive. He had great focus at all scales and saw himself at the intersection of science and art. Everything he touched was a reflection of these attributes.

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Castle Square Apartments, before the retrofit.

On May 19th, Castle Square Apartments (a 1960s, 192 unit, mid-rise-tower low-income housing in Boston’s South End) welcomed Shaun Donovan, U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Mayor Thomas M. Menino, and Congressman Capuano. They were there to see for themselves the nation’s “largest and most aggressive energy savings project of its kind”. The three officials were joined by members of the Castle Square Tenants Organization and Winn Companies, the co-developers and owners of this project.  They came to view the future of Deep Energy Retrofit, just beginning construction, an important foundation of a broad based strategy to fight climate change and achieve further energy independence.  It’s also a great example of the Green Jobs movement in action. Read more…

I see Hong Kong as a model of smart growth management and land use planning. It’s a city were policy dictates that development must concentrate on only 25% of the land area, with the remaining 75% preserved as open space. This policy ensures that the region’s lush green spaces remain intact. It also maintains scarcity and high land values in developable areas. This is crucial to the local government because its primary source of income is land leasing.

Looking at development in Hong Kong through Western eyes, I noticed another impact of the city’s tightly concentrated density: the compact clustering of residential and working populations supports a diverse, competitive, and often ingenious retail community.

My first up-close encounter with the retail streetscape occurred in Tsim Sha Tsui, an upscale neighborhood on the Kowloon side of Victoria Harbor (map). What struck me most was the extreme permeability at the pedestrian level. Few storefronts at the ground floor, save a handful of banks and higher-end boutiques, have full walls. Separated from the sidewalk by only a few inches of floor height, merchants do business in cheerful cubicle-sized spaces under fluorescent lights while people flow past, around, in and out. Read more…

Setting the right mood and sending the right message are keys to the success of any space, whether it’s your design for a holiday party or architects’ spaces for successful retail environments. The Apple stores, designed by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson, do this extremely well. We know this intuitively. But let’s take a look at the location on Chicago’s North Michigan Avenue (while others blog about the newest Chicago store in Clybourn corridor). Read more…

La Marqueta, between 111th and 116th streets in Harlem, New York, was once the place to drive a bargain on plantains and avocados. But it never recovered from a slow decline in the 1970s, and several attempts to revive it have failed. Luckily for neighborhood residents, however, La Marqueta was built under the tracks of the Metro North rail line. That has given the Harlem Community Development Corporation (CDC) a rather bright idea. With the Center for an Urban Future, an independent think tank, the Harlem CDC is arguing that it is time to give Harlem its High Line.

The High Line has become a sort of urban-planning stereotype by now. Just tagging a project with the words “High Line” defines it instantly—community-led revival of defunct infrastructure for the creation of public space. The presence of an elevated, preferably abandoned rail line is, of course, vital. So the Bloomingdale Trail in Chicago, the Reading Viaduct in Philadelphia, and the Embankment in Jersey City have all lined up for their very own High Lines, but these projects are little more than replicas of what has already been achieved in New York. Thankfully, La Marqueta is actually an entirely different proposition, in spite of the overused descriptor. Read more…

In the June issue of the magazine, David Sokol writes briefly about the lighting manufacturer iGuzzini’s new U.S. showroom. Below is an expanded version of Sokol’s text, with more details on the company’s history and products.

Even if you’re not yet familiar with the iGuzzini name, you know its work. The Italian lighting brand manufactures Piero Castiglioni and Gae Aulenti’s 1993 Cestello design, which company president Adolfo Guzzini says is “the most copied light fixture ever, for sure!” iGuzzini also partners with that other great Italian architect, Renzo Piano, notably on the California Academy of Sciences.

Guzzini partly credits celebrity collaborators like Piano for his own company’s success. “Architects and designers are always on the move, they ‘pollinate’ different continents,” he says. Not only have global nomads taken iGuzzini products along for the ride, but also they have inspired specifiers in those places to emulate the visiting design dignitary, spelling far-flung orders.

When iGuzzini launched in 1958 as Harvey Creazioni, architectural and decorative lighting was but an afterthought. Quickly the company redirected its efforts, from copper objects and lighting parts to luminaires. A willingness to experiment has defined iGuzzini ever since. Much of the company’s stock was originally conceived as one-offs for architects. Work with Piano yielded the products Lingotto and Le Perroquet, for instance. Moreover, iGuzzini places importance on the science of lighting: “Some of our research activities have led to specific products, such as SIVRA, the first biodynamic light system,” Guzzini says. “Another important issue is the effect of artificial light in museum lighting—on color perception or the shape of the exhibits. Read more…

Mark Kinsley, who won a spot in Bernhardt Design’s ICFF Studio, designed his Riveli modular shelving system for his own small apartment. “I wanted something that didn’t always have to be out but could be pulled down when my book collection grew,” says the Chicago-based designer. He quickly realized that the system, made of 9-by-17-inch aluminum plates with a black anodized finish, was a shoo-in for the retail market, thanks to the image emblazoned on the undersides of the plates. DesignTex produced the images for the prototypes; in future iterations the shelves will work more like a picture frame, with a slot for images to be inserted and swapped out. Roll pins provide enough pressure that the plates remain against the wall when pushed up, giving retailers a clever way to show small items against their logo. Though not officially in production, Riveli is currently available on demand from Iconic Revolution.

This ICFF weekend, design lovers making the pilgrimage to the corner of Greene and Houston Streets, in New York’s Soho neighborhood, may experience a brief moment of panic: the storefront that has long been home to prominent displays of Moss’s inimitable wares recently changed ownership. Not to worry, though: Moss still occupies the large retail space next door, and its new neighbor is a worthy heir to the corner showroom. Read more…

When it comes to cultural design spaces in New York, I’d have to say that I sometimes get the feeling they are in crisis: Cooper-Hewitt will be closing soon for its renovation (they’ve already closed access to their collections, though they just opened their Triennial, which is worth seeing); the Museum of Arts and Design is continually having funding challenges (will they ever mount that exhibition on George Nelson?); while other spaces, like Storefront for Art and Architecture or the Van Alen Institute, need to figure out exactly where they are headed. So it was great news to hear that the Triennale in Milan will be opening a permanent space in Manhattan in September.

Located in the old premises of the Museum of Arts and Design at West 53rd Street, the new multidisciplinary space will bring the experience of Italian design, architecture, art, and food to the city, in a space designed by the Italian architects Michele De Lucchi and Pierluigi Cerri in collaboration with New York studio CUH2a. We got our hands on some of the renderings. Read more…