IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012 - 26

What Clients Want

These days, one of the most coveted commissions is not a boutique hotel or an art museum or the headquarters of the latest, hottest social-media company. It’s a product line. For both residential and commercial interior designers, having a collection of wall coverings, upholstery fabrics, or bath hardware is often considered to be the Holy Grail: a prestigious brand extension, a source of supplemental income and instant cachet, an opportunity to boost one’s profile. Not only that, it’s also a very logical extension of what interior designers do every day, which is to conceive and produce bespoke furnishings and finishes to customize the spaces they dream up. Gone is the stereotype of the aggressive licensee and absent celebrity. Today, manufacturers are keen to work with interior designers on substantive commissions. A quick glimpse at the results of the 2012 IIDA/HD Product Design Competition evidences the love match. Winners of this hospitality program include KNA founder Kirk Nix’s recent work for Robert Allen Contract and the Paiova Monolith collection for Duravit by EOOS, the Viennese studio specializing in retail flagships. Widening the scan of the marketplace yields various furniture collections and office systems by Gary Lee, Francis Cauffman’s recent work for Teknion, and household names like Nate Berkus and Thom Filicia conceiving thoughtful products for such companies as Target and Shaw Contract Group.
By David Sokol

FROM ThE OUTSIDE lOOkING IN

Many interior designers dream of launching a product line. But how do such collaborations take shape— and what do manufacturers look for in a partner? Perspective gets the inside track.

If there ever was a poster child for crossdisciplinary ambition, 19th-century British logician John Venn—inventor of the Venn diagram—would be that face. He may not be as obvious a choice as Kelly Wearstler or Frank Gehry, who have produced convincing evidence that an interior designer or architect can leap all the way into clothing or fi ne jewelry. Yet with a few overlapping circles, Venn’s diagram powerfully explains why design commissions go out of familiar bounds: Partnering with an adjacent field promises a shared language but refreshingly different viewpoints. In collaborating with interior designers, manufacturers say they benefited most from gaining an outside perspective. Laura Romanoff, vice president of sales and marketing at Maya Romanoff, summarizes the sentiment: “We’re so entrenched in our wallpaper that we’re breathing our own vapors! Working with out-of-house designers allows us to see our company—and our industry— from a different point of view.” Although founded in 1969, Maya Romanoff fi rst teamed with extramural talent only five years ago, launching a line of wall coverings by David Rockwell. Interior designers Amy Lau and Roger Thomas have since been welcomed into the fold. Company leaders aren’t the only staffers

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IIDA Perspective - Fall/Winter 2012