The Shape of the Future
January 1, 2003
The footprints of contemporary furniture are nearly a century old, but Americans have yet to embrace its pared-down elegance with the same gusto as Europeans. “[Americans] drive Audis, they wear Armani suits and they stay in boutique hotels with contemporary furnishings,” says Bob van Kampen, general sales manager for Dutch furniture manufacturer Montis. “But when they buy furniture, it’s still mostly traditional.”
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Showrooms that focus on contemporary furnitureare, however, starting to pop up in unlikely locales like Birmingham, Ala., and Madison, Wis.; van Kampen believes it is a sign that Middle America’s taste is shifting, however gradually. “We’re appealing to a certain market, but it’s there,” says Charles Fayrod, national sales director of DOMA, an Italian newcomer to the American market. “Clients are coming in, looking to be educated and to get a better understanding of the product.” Brayton International’s vice president of product development Rob Scheper says, “People who grew up with modern furniture get it immediately. Many who didn’t are intrigued but not sure what to think about it.” All agree that there is no typical client for contemporary furniture. “A 60-year-old architect might come in and buy a chair, and then a 23-year-old software designer might buy the same chair,” says Fayrod. “It’s not about age or generation. It’s about lifestyle.” (Click image to enlarge)
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The two major contemporary furniture shows—Salone del Mobile in Milan and the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York—last year displayed the full gamut of cutting-edge European furniture that is now arriving in stores. “In many ways, contemporary design is overwhelmingly controlled by the Italians,” says American designer Critz Campbell. Top designers like Achille Castiglioni, Piero Lissoni and Antonio Citterio, who create furnishings and lighting for all the major Italian players—B&B Italia, Cappellini, Flos, Domus and Artemide—have become familiar to Americans through the austerely minimalist groupings of linear sofas seen in ads. “It’s clean, intelligent and high quality,” notes Campbell. “But the price for the intelligence is that it can sometimes be cold.” (Click image to enlarge)
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