From new locations to store expansions, summer is around the corner and the sun is already shining on the home industry. BOH has gathered all the showroom news to have on your radar this month.
Showroom Spotlight
Quarters, a new design retail concept in New York, doesn’t have a whole lot in common with the average showroom experience. The 8,000-square-foot 19th century Tribeca loft aims to offer a more approachable shopping destination, courtesy of In Common With founders Felicia Hung and Nick Ozemba.
“It’s about hosting people and bringing people together, and also having our pieces in a space where people can understand the atmosphere and live with it a little bit, where [they] can feel comfortable and settle in,” Hung tells Business of Home.
“We wanted it to feel more approachable, and you can actually engage and interact with the pieces,” adds Ozemba. “They’re installed in a way that they would be inside of someone’s project or home instead of just being in a white building.”
To accomplish this, the duo, who started lighting brand In Common With six years ago, transformed the second-floor footprint into a space that blends a restaurant bar, hotel lobby and private apartment—“all of the worlds that we sell our products into,” says Ozemba. Upon entering the logo-graffitied doors, guests pass through a series of rooms where every detail has been carefully curated by Hung and Ozemba, down to the lime plaster paint on the walls. There’s a bedroom, a great room, a library, a kitchen (offering Taiwanese and Italian dishes made with local produce), bathrooms and, most notably, a bar in the back that will open later this summer. (The partners used to joke about opening a bar instead of a traditional showroom to foster a more casual, social environment—turns out they were able to do both.)
They are also working on the floor above, which will be an extension geared more toward hosting, with a commercial kitchen, a 50-person dining room, a workspace for their team, and additional showroom space for a collection of small objects they will begin to release this fall. Already on display: the brand’s lighting and inaugural furniture line, as well as restored vintage furniture, a ceramic collaboration with ceramist Shane Gabier, and other pieces in collaboration with artists like Sophie Lou Jacobsen, Danny Kaplan, Simone Bodmer-Turner and Claudio Bonuglia. “There are also pantry items, candles, books—the full immersive experience—and whatever you see, you can buy,” says Hung.
Particularly exciting to the pair are the pieces (dining tables, side tables and small light fixtures) with inscribed illustrations by commissioned tattoo artists. “It’s another layer added on to our ethos of collaboration, and the back-and-forth between a tattoo artist versus a product designer or a maker is so different,” says Hung.
The space has underscored the brand’s philosophy of inviting people into conversations, and will allow room for growth amid all the other ideas the two have in store. “I think that we aren’t taking ourselves super seriously, but we are being really specific about what we're doing, and this space at least feels as inviting and seamless as our products and collaborations,” says Ozemba. “It expresses our values in a physical space and in a tangible way beyond products.” 383 Broadway, New York
California
British brands Christopher Guy and Clive Christian Interiors have opened a shared showroom in Los Angeles. Stretching 8,500 square feet, the space features an array of cabinetry, interior decor and furniture from the two companies, including the former’s signature Chris X seating and the latter’s kitchen vignettes. 8737 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles
Klein, the Los Angeles–based furniture and collectibles maker, launched a new experiential gallery called The Annex. The space showcases some of the brand’s pieces as well as its new furniture collection, Volume III. 3300 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles
Plain English, the British cabinetmakers, unveiled a new showroom in Los Angeles, the brand’s second U.S. stand-alone outpost. This 1,000-square-foot space lies in the heart of the La Cienega Design Quarter and allows guests to look through the company’s cabinetry, hardware and tile collections. 930 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles
Maryland
Janus et Cie, the luxury outdoor furniture brand, has opened a new showroom in Bethesda, where guests will find the latest collections, as well as two touchscreens with software to help shoppers conceptualize their designs. 7101 Wisconsin Ave., Suite 102, Bethesda
New York
Floor & Decor, the Atlanta-based hard-surface flooring company, has opened its first New York–area store in Brooklyn. The largest of the company’s 238 stores, this new outpost spans a whole city block and will offer a selection of the brand’s flooring options as well as in-house interior designers to help customers with their renovations. 850 3rd Ave., Brooklyn
Harbour, the Australian brand known for its outdoor furniture, has opened a flagship showroom near Madison Square Park. The family-owned company’s new 8,000-square-foot space boasts the brand’s new outdoor collections as well as existing pieces, all designed by co-founders Nicholas and Harrison Condos. 60 Madison Ave., New York
Darren Henault has opened a New York location of Tent, his home goods and furniture shop that features bespoke furniture and upholstery, decorative accessories, and antique rugs. This second location, in the Interior Arts Building, joins the original outpost in Amenia in Dutchess County. 306 E. 61st St., Ground Floor, New York
Italian furniture brand Poltrona Frau opened its New York flagship in time for the NYCxDesign festival. Spanning three levels and 19,000 square feet, the store showcases some of the brand’s pieces alongside its Imagine collection, which launched during Milan Design Week this year. 181 Madison Ave., New York
Arclinea, the Italian design brand known for its kitchens, has renovated its NoMad showroom. Spanning the entire block, the redesigned space boasts eight new kitchen vignettes. 21 E. 26th St., New York
Barcelona-based design house Santa & Cole opened its first-ever U.S. flagship showroom in Manhattan—a Flatiron space designed like a gallery to showcase the brand’s furniture, lighting and art collections. 907 Broadway, New York
California-based Fireclay Tile has opened a showroom in Manhattan’s Flatiron district. The new space marks the brand’s first East Coast outpost and will showcase an array of the company’s tile, brick, ceramic and mosaic offerings. 26 W. 20th St., New York
Texas
Kitchen remodeling company Kitchen Design Concepts unveiled a 5,000-square-foot design studio in Dallas, which will allow designers and clients to explore the brand’s offerings through 14 kitchen and bathroom vignettes. 150 Payne St., Dallas
International
Danish design house Gubi unveils a five-story town-house retail shop in Clerkenwell, London—the brand’s first physical location in the U.K. The space is designed like a residential home for visitors to peruse different vignettes of the brand’s pieces, including a ground-floor reading room, a 1970s-inspired bar and a boho-style living room. 12 Charterhouse Square, London
Janus et Cie has opened a second new showroom in London. Located in the heart of the Brompton Cross district, the 3,400-square-foot space showcases the latest collections as well as touchscreens for easy sourcing. 139-141 Fulham Rd., London
THG Paris, the French company that manufactures bathroom fittings and accessories, unveiled a new showroom in Milan. The hallmark of the 1,238-square-foot space is a bespoke light installation by glass art company Lalique, featuring the Hirondelles collections and celebrating the two brands’ collaboration over the past 20 years. Via Fiori Chiari, 5, Milan
Danish brands Dinesen and Garde Hvalsøe have redesigned and extended their shared Aarhus showroom to showcase their respective offerings as purveyors of flooring and makers of kitchens and cabinetry, respectively. The 6,400-square-foot space originally opened in 2018 and features vignettes created by local designers that represent different rooms in a house. Kystvejen 65, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark
