Wednesday, January 23, 2008
I'm going to Paris. In four days. Which I didn't know until yesterday.
Here's the deal: as previously mentioned, I've sourced plenty of vintage furniture and art to sell at the store, but I'm still somewhat lacking in the area of small design-oriented decorative items. The best places to find said items are design fairs, but there are really only four each year that carry the types of interesting new pieces from emerging designers that I'm looking for: Milan's Salone del Mobile, New York's ICFF, Chicago's SOFA, and Paris's Maison et Objet. The Milan fair's in April, ICFF's in May, and SOFA's in October (none of which do me much good for a store that could be opening as early as March). Maison et Objet's in September ... or so I thought. Turns out that while there is an adjunct Maison et Objet fair in September, the main one takes place in January, starting this weekend.
I am not normally one prone to taking impetuous transatlantic trips, but since I will rather conveniently be in New York this weekend for Saturday's Rago auction; I've accumulated a ridiculous number of unspent frequent flier miles over the years; and Air France still has at least one award-ticket business-class seat available for a Sunday night nonstop from NYC to de Gaulle, I decided to pop over for the final two days of Maison&Objet. I'm arriving first thing Monday, jumping on the RER from the airport, dumping my bags at my hotel, and heading straight to Porte Maillot to catch the shuttle bus to the fair (which is huge enough that it has to be housed in a massive convention center on the outskirts of town). Rinse and repeat all day Tuesday, then fly back to Austin Wednesday morning. So, no, this ain't a sightseeing trip. The complete Maison et Objet fair has thousands of vendors over multiple venues, and I'm not going to have time to even make it to several big components such as the meuble furniture expo, let alone check out any Paris sights. (Fortunately I've been there multiple times and already taken in the tourist stuff.)
Although I'm trying to take this little unexpected sidetrip as frugally as possible, I did, however, have to book a room at the new Hotel Bellechasse, a top-five finalist for Wallpaper's Best New Hotel of the Year award, thanks to its truly jaw-dropping Christian Lacroix-designed interiors. My room's only €200/night, which by Paris boutique-hotel standards is pretty damn cheap (and a fraction of what the big palace hotels command per night), plus it's a block from an RER station with direct service to Porte Maillot.
I also can't possibly go to Paris without enjoying a couple of gourmand dining experiences, but thankfully my hotel is an easy walk to the new "budget" establishments run by two of Paris's most esteemed chefs, Pierre Gagnaire and Joël Robuchon. Anyway, should be an adventuresome week.
Here's the deal: as previously mentioned, I've sourced plenty of vintage furniture and art to sell at the store, but I'm still somewhat lacking in the area of small design-oriented decorative items. The best places to find said items are design fairs, but there are really only four each year that carry the types of interesting new pieces from emerging designers that I'm looking for: Milan's Salone del Mobile, New York's ICFF, Chicago's SOFA, and Paris's Maison et Objet. The Milan fair's in April, ICFF's in May, and SOFA's in October (none of which do me much good for a store that could be opening as early as March). Maison et Objet's in September ... or so I thought. Turns out that while there is an adjunct Maison et Objet fair in September, the main one takes place in January, starting this weekend.
I am not normally one prone to taking impetuous transatlantic trips, but since I will rather conveniently be in New York this weekend for Saturday's Rago auction; I've accumulated a ridiculous number of unspent frequent flier miles over the years; and Air France still has at least one award-ticket business-class seat available for a Sunday night nonstop from NYC to de Gaulle, I decided to pop over for the final two days of Maison&Objet. I'm arriving first thing Monday, jumping on the RER from the airport, dumping my bags at my hotel, and heading straight to Porte Maillot to catch the shuttle bus to the fair (which is huge enough that it has to be housed in a massive convention center on the outskirts of town). Rinse and repeat all day Tuesday, then fly back to Austin Wednesday morning. So, no, this ain't a sightseeing trip. The complete Maison et Objet fair has thousands of vendors over multiple venues, and I'm not going to have time to even make it to several big components such as the meuble furniture expo, let alone check out any Paris sights. (Fortunately I've been there multiple times and already taken in the tourist stuff.)
Although I'm trying to take this little unexpected sidetrip as frugally as possible, I did, however, have to book a room at the new Hotel Bellechasse, a top-five finalist for Wallpaper's Best New Hotel of the Year award, thanks to its truly jaw-dropping Christian Lacroix-designed interiors. My room's only €200/night, which by Paris boutique-hotel standards is pretty damn cheap (and a fraction of what the big palace hotels command per night), plus it's a block from an RER station with direct service to Porte Maillot.
I also can't possibly go to Paris without enjoying a couple of gourmand dining experiences, but thankfully my hotel is an easy walk to the new "budget" establishments run by two of Paris's most esteemed chefs, Pierre Gagnaire and Joël Robuchon. Anyway, should be an adventuresome week.
Monday, January 21, 2008
Tracey and I have been working on the design specs for the store's bathrooms and kitchen, and we both concluded that tile was the way to go in terms of design accents for both (as a backsplash in the kitchen, and on all four walls floor-to-ceiling in the bathrooms). The problem? That shit ain't cheap, at least if you're using good tile instead of the generic Home Depot stuff. I'm stealing one of my own ideas and using the "jumbled color" aesthetic I installed in my home bathroom as a template -- here's a pic to refresh your memory -- but even my comparatively "cheap" custom design ($40/sq ft from Stardust Glass instead of the $200 a lot of custom glass tile sells for) is waaaaay too pricey for such a large application. (To put it another way: I need about 300 sq ft for the bathroom walls alone. That'd be $12,000, not including installation, even going the "cheap" route.)
Recently, however, a little birdie told me a secret: Heath Ceramics, one of the coolest tile makers in the country, sells its remnant stock at a huge discount (75%-80% off) out of its Sausalito warehouse. The caveat? They don't sell it online and they won't ship the stuff, so the only way to get it is to buy it in person. (N.B.: You may have noticed that's been a recurrent theme on here. In our post-Internet, post-global village economy, where one can purchase most desired goods with a few clicks of the mouse, I find myself increasingly drawn to everything cool you can't buy online, and it's ended up forming the philosophical basis of my store's planned inventory. You won't see any of the stuff I'll be selling anywhere else in Austin. Or, for the most part, anywhere else in Texas. Or, in some cases, anywhere else in North America.)
I did the math: Heath's "basic" tile usually runs $27.50/sq ft. Their warehouse sells it for $5. I can either pay $8,250 to have it delivered, or $1,500 and pick it up (and drop it off at UPS) myself. Not that I generally require an excuse to visit the Bay Area but ... Sausalito, here I come.
Recently, however, a little birdie told me a secret: Heath Ceramics, one of the coolest tile makers in the country, sells its remnant stock at a huge discount (75%-80% off) out of its Sausalito warehouse. The caveat? They don't sell it online and they won't ship the stuff, so the only way to get it is to buy it in person. (N.B.: You may have noticed that's been a recurrent theme on here. In our post-Internet, post-global village economy, where one can purchase most desired goods with a few clicks of the mouse, I find myself increasingly drawn to everything cool you can't buy online, and it's ended up forming the philosophical basis of my store's planned inventory. You won't see any of the stuff I'll be selling anywhere else in Austin. Or, for the most part, anywhere else in Texas. Or, in some cases, anywhere else in North America.)
I did the math: Heath's "basic" tile usually runs $27.50/sq ft. Their warehouse sells it for $5. I can either pay $8,250 to have it delivered, or $1,500 and pick it up (and drop it off at UPS) myself. Not that I generally require an excuse to visit the Bay Area but ... Sausalito, here I come.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Eureka! I've been fretting for weeks about how to create a storefront design that achieves a wide variety of goals -- a substantial architectural statement, synergy with the surrounding area's design elements, reverence for the history of Texas modernism and, on a more practical level, effective visibility of my logo signage from every potential angle -- but at a not-batshit-crazy expense. I finally figured it out yesterday, based on what amounted to a casual comment by my architect. We're really coming down to the wire in terms of the deadline for a final architectural spec, and the storefront is its single most important element, so I'm glad the issue's resolved, at least on a conceptual level. I'll explain it more in detail when I have some design comps I can use for illustration.
I also just negotiated my first manufacturer deal! Better still, I think I'll be the first store in the U.S. to sell the product. It's a simple and yet brilliant lamp created by a young industrial designer that was featured at the 2006 ICFF show; I didn't attend ICFF (this year's will be my first) but read about the lamp and its numerous accolades on various design blogs. Apparently the process of transitioning even a really cool lighting product from concept to production, or at least one made by an independent designer, is a colossal pain in the ass, the first step usually being negotiating a deal with one of the better lighting makers (e.g. Artemide or Flos) to license the design. In this lamp's case, however, the designer ended up overseeing its commercial manufacture on his own, which is why it took nearly two years to hit the market (it launches in Europe this month, and a U.S.-voltage & plug version debuts in April).
I also just negotiated my first manufacturer deal! Better still, I think I'll be the first store in the U.S. to sell the product. It's a simple and yet brilliant lamp created by a young industrial designer that was featured at the 2006 ICFF show; I didn't attend ICFF (this year's will be my first) but read about the lamp and its numerous accolades on various design blogs. Apparently the process of transitioning even a really cool lighting product from concept to production, or at least one made by an independent designer, is a colossal pain in the ass, the first step usually being negotiating a deal with one of the better lighting makers (e.g. Artemide or Flos) to license the design. In this lamp's case, however, the designer ended up overseeing its commercial manufacture on his own, which is why it took nearly two years to hit the market (it launches in Europe this month, and a U.S.-voltage & plug version debuts in April).
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Happy New Year. I'm back from my (not so) restful holiday in Utah and already back in thick of things in terms of store planning. Tracey's finishing up her conceptual designs for the interior; Marc's finishing up the logo and conceptual design for the storefront / awning / sign; I'm busy trying to sort out my various logistics for the next few months. April is already turning out to be a huge train wreck: I already have three conflicting events the second weekend (Rago's big spring auction, a friend's wedding, and my baby brother's christening), and I may have to go to Milan right afterwards (its annual Salone del Mobile is the biggest design fair in the world).
There's also the still-open question of when the store will be launching. I don't see how there's any way we can hit the original March 8 date; it's less than two months away and we don't even have an architectural spec ready for it yet. AMLI's structural crew can work pretty quickly, but it could take eight weeks for the storefront's structural pieces to arrive -- all of it has to be custom-forged -- and there's only so much one can do on the interior with no front walls or windows. I'm not even sure April's realistic, at this point; it could very well be May for all I know. Schedule-wise, the later the better, but reality-wise, I don't want to end up having to pay rent on a space that isn't open.
There's also the still-open question of when the store will be launching. I don't see how there's any way we can hit the original March 8 date; it's less than two months away and we don't even have an architectural spec ready for it yet. AMLI's structural crew can work pretty quickly, but it could take eight weeks for the storefront's structural pieces to arrive -- all of it has to be custom-forged -- and there's only so much one can do on the interior with no front walls or windows. I'm not even sure April's realistic, at this point; it could very well be May for all I know. Schedule-wise, the later the better, but reality-wise, I don't want to end up having to pay rent on a space that isn't open.