DDC will open its doors to the public for a monthlong exhibit celebrating the furniture company’s 25th anniversary, with a special focus on pieces from Santiago Calatrava, Antoni Gaudí, Gaetano Pesce and Gio Ponti. Starting May 13, the celebration will offer visitors a look back at DDC’s beginnings.
DDC founder Aghajoon Khalifan began an apprenticeship at age 13 to help support his five siblings after their father’s sudden death. Though he in time built a successful company in Tehran, he was forced to abandon it during the Iranian Revolution, seeking refuge in the U.S. with his family. DDC began afresh in New York in 1990, and since then has played a formative role in introducing Americans to European design.
Today, the business is still a family affair; Khalifan’s son Nader Hakakian and grandsons Babak, Siamak, and Daniel Hakakian run DDC, which also has showrooms in Los Angeles and Miami and is home to the largest multi-brand collection of European furnishings in the U.S.
As part of the anniversary showcase, the New York showroom is exhibiting a series of vignettes featuring both rare antiques and contemporary work. “This is not a place of furniture, it is a place of art,” says DDC partner Babak Hakakian. “People come in all the time thinking this is a gallery or museum, but we offer the finest-made furniture in the world, and every single piece in our spaces has a history and story.”
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