Watt's in a Name?

I often wonder how Designers come up with names for their styles.  In the home furnishings business we use popular names from film and TV like Sophia, Brittany or Helena.  Inspiration can also come from flowers; names like Lily or Rose. And often we capture the ambiance of locations using names like Hampton, Versailles and Buckingham.


The Janine

When I design a new lighting fixture I agonize over what to call it.  Should I give it a style number or a name that evokes the era it was designed after?  Hm mm - maybe a mid-20th Century design called The Eisenhower Chandelier?  (just kidding).  Wherever ideas flow from, they tend to be mostly feminine - like boats!  I like to name mine after women I know.  I have lighting fixtures named after a favorite aunt, Eve, granddaughter Alex, niece Gabi, and daughter-in-law Janine.  Janine's fixture captures her perfectly.  She is very strong. She does all the carpentry, painting, and yard work around the house, so the frame is stainless steel.  She is tailored, so the shape has clean lines, yet she loves feminine touches - especially jewelry - so I've topped it off with graduated Czech crystal.

Recently, my daughter, Rachel Wood, asked why I hadn't named a fixture after her.  It occurred to me that I hadn't come up with anything appropriately befitting her personality.  She is creative, has a great sense of humor, and is always on the run - experiencing new places and making new friends. Her style is harder to pin down.  However, someone else beat me to it - she has a purse named after her!  Rachel is a high fashion makeup artist who works with Louise Roe, the fashion presenter and designer from the UK who is replacing Elle Macpherson on Fashion Star.  Louise has her own line of clothing and accessories and she too uses names of women she knows for her creations.  

Louise and Rachel also have a new show of their own called "Beauty School".  I'm so proud of them!  Do you think they'd name a lipstick after me?  Who wouldn't want to wear a lustrous red named Bébé?

The New (Retail) Frontier

So - you think the economy has tanked?  Well, retail sales may not be great in the US, but take a look in the emerging countries of the world.  Wow - have the tables turned!  The appetite for American luxury goods has gone beyond autos and iphones.



Ralph Lauren - Cheng Du Store

 Luxury stores and labels such as Polo Ralph Lauren, Coach, and Tiffany & Co. are building hundreds of stores in China, Asia, India and Russia.  Compare their new middle class to ours.  Here our largest city is New York with just over eight million people.  China has ten cities, each with over ten million people and India has a middle class that's larger than the entire population of the US.  That's a lot of jeans, perfume and jewelry!



DLF Promendade, India


In the case of home furnishings,
we are looking forward to selling a lot of .... well you get the picture!  Right now, Lampworks is producing hundreds of lampshades for store fixtures for these companies and they are being shipped to Shanghai, Macau, Abu Dubai, Moscow, Kazakhstan and well, all those other places, some of which, not too long ago, were considered very remote. Now they are becoming another 57th Street.

The kicker to all this is that so much of the merchandise is actually made in China and Asia - but it is the label that is desirable.  There is a difference, however.  Companies have to rethink how they merchandise their wares as other cultures have different buying habits. They may read from top to bottom and open their wallets based upon how goods The Indian culture is more Westernized, however, the government has been slow to lower import taxes and duty so that more luxury goods can be offered in their stores.

Lampworks Branches Out!

  LAMPWORKS' NEW SHOWROOM

These days, many businesses downsize.  Lampworks recently moved into a larger space to include furniture and flooring.  After all, lighting needs display space on walls and ceilings, so we have room for our new, exclusive lines at:

 The New York Design Center
200 Lexington Ave, Suite 903, NYC 10016
212.750.1500

Visit Lampworks' Website and Showroom to learn about designing everything you need.  We'll take you through the often confusing world of sustainable lighting choices, and show you how to integrate them into your designs.

 

Continuing our tradition of providing quality, custom, sustainable designs (ours or yours), so too may you customize our seating, area rugs and case goods.  Just as with our lighting, you specify the finish or materials, size and design.  Everything has a short foot print with fast lead-times.

Our furniture is made from the finest European leathers, fabrics from design sources - or COM.  Order sofas, sectionals and modulars "by the inch" and choose the filling, legs and cushions. We also offer great dining, lounge, pull-up, and accent chairs, kitchen and bar stools.

Along with our stock design and custom area rug capabilities, Lampworks is the only source for custom, outdoor area rugs!  Yes, your size, shape and design, made with custom colors.

We offer a variety of yarns and textural effects.  Poms are shipped quickly for those demanding Clients who want to make decisions now!

So, stop in when you're in the NYDC, or make an appointment at: 212.750.1500 to get a preview of our fresh, innovative styles and service.  And...remember our lighting too...

SM-01 Surface Mount

Surface Mounts in many sizes and shapes. 
Choose the finish and lamping for your requirements.

Fiberglass Mid-20th C Shade

Custom Lampshades and

Contemporary and Classic Table and Floor Lamps 

Make an appointment to learn about designing everything you need.  We'll take you through the often confusing world of sustainable lighting sources and assist you with integrating them into your designs.  Now Lampworks is your One Source for furniture and flooring as well as lighting!

Come! Sit! Stay! at the NYDC

Usually, we write about lighting, however, Lampworks recently moved into the New York Design Center at 200 Lexington Avenue, and so our mascots want you to know how excited they are to be here!   If you've shopped at Lampworks, then you've met our Standard Poodles, Yoshi and Caniche.  Caniche is the white female princess who holds court over the showroom, and Yoshi is the the male rescue with soulful eyes who greets everyone for pets.   

On our first offical day, as we approached the entrance, there was Mike, one of the building staff, raising the flags of the US, NYDC, and 1stdibs.  We stopped to salute and entered the lobby where we were greeted by Eileen and Louis who qualify visitors and messengers.  Eileen is in big trouble ever since the Poodles found out she keeps biscuits at her station.  Now they won't continue through the lobby unless they get a treat.  While we were there we also met Jordan of Apropos, with his dog.

Next, we stopped in the Cafe to pick up coffee and were pleasantly surprised to find that the Poodles were allowed to accompany me where they were offered some treats.  How is a canine to keep a good figure around here?

As we rode up to the ninth floor, the Poodles, who always watch their elevator manners, sat quietly wagging their tails offering free shoe shines.   When we arrived, we met DIFFA's mascot, Spot.  Gosh, this is an exciting start to the day - another member of the NYDC Kennel Club! 

Ready for work, Caniche and Yoshi got into position for their nap and
waited for another chance to see Eileen on their way out for a walk.  Hmmm....maybe the guys at the Cafe will spare a little cheese they've been saving for those yummy paninis?  Next time you are in the NYDC, stop into Suite 903 and have your shoes shined while you view our new lighting.  Come! Sit! Stay!

7 Weeks to a New Showroom!

WEEK FIVE:

It's time to freak out!  ONLY TWO WEEKS LEFT!  Now that each of our contractors has gotten to a running start without tripping over each other, they have all promised to take us from this...

Suite 903 (October 13, 2011)

...to a finished showroom!  Although it looks like nothing is happening, the walls are being framed and almost all the piping is run for the electric wires.  Then the entire space will be painted, the floor will be installed and we'll transport our "display fixtures".  These have to be reinstalled to show off our sconces, table lamps and lampshades.

While waiting for this to happen, I took some time out with friends to attend a book signing by Ana Tzarev in her gallery on West 57th Street.  Justin Warner, Director of the gallery, whisked us away for a glass of champagne and introduced us to Ana.  Originally from Croatia, Ana specializes in scenes of nature; especially flowers and birds.  Primary colors dominate her themes and her canvasses are of a grand scale.  Ana is one of the most exuberant painters I have ever met - and so is her art!

And speak of exuberant people, in the center is our group leader, Interior Designer, Elle, of Lebeck Design Corp., and from left to right, long-time pal Sean, Courtney of B.Berger, family friend Ram, and me!

I'm cashing in all my favors and inviting everyone in town to spend the weekend packing chandeliers.  Free beer and pizza for all.  So far we have two brave participants. When I return to work on Monday, I will have photos with more progress.  I hope.

7 Weeks to a New Showroom!

WEEK TWO:
We made a lot of decisions about the electrical (whew!).  Now the work begins.  It involves a lot of chopping, drilling and concrete dust, so this part is done early mornings, evenings and weekends so as not to disturb the other showrooms.

This past Tuesday was the annual "What's New What's Next" event at the NYDC.  Since we were not officially open, but wanted to have a presence, we set up a "construction vignette" with chandeliers on ladders, a few pieces of our new leather line and a pile of lampshades peaking from a packing box.

We displayed a chair and ottoman from Leathercraft.  Their furniture is amazing.  It's all made from beautiful, top-quality European leather, eight-way hand-tied construction and is custom made in 3-4 weeks!

As you can see, the choice of style runs the gamut from Contemporary to Classic.  If you want to design your own styles or reinvent ours, be our guest!

We also showed our signature chandelier, the Dulce, which received a lot of attention.  

The best part of our lines is that they are Made in America!  So, quick lead-time for custom fabrication and a short footprint is included at no extra charge!

Now, we have to meet with the other contractors to figure out where everything else will go.  Oy!

7 Week Countdown to a New Showroom!

WEEK ONE:
Lampworks has begun the third incantation of it's professional life in NYC.  In 1996 we opened in the D&D Building, or "979 Third" to the locals.  Five years later, when we needed to expand into larger space, we moved to 58th Street in September of 2001 (good timing eh?).  At that time it would have made a good location for filming "Midnight Cowboy".  Just a seedy-looking street that leads to the upper roadway of the 59th Street Bridge, it has always been home to great restaurants like Felidia; but her jewel of a building was the exception, not the rule. 

As more and more home furnishings merchants gentrified the side streets surrounding the D&D, A&D and Fine Arts Buildings, we improved properties.  Since the values went up, property owners proceeded to raise rents.  It became a win/win for landlords and a lose/lose for tenants.

So, here we are, September, 2011 and we're doing our third build-out in 15 years!  We are moving into the NYDC, the New York Design Center, lovingly referred to as "200 Lex".

Our new space is a "usable" 1,677 square feet. As of today, it is a concrete box with 10'-8" ceilings, and two tall windows that look out onto Lexington Avenue and 32nd Street. Keep in mind that ceiling height is everything to a lighting showroom.  We have exactly seven weeks to complete a build-out, move in and open! 



Suite 903 (September 9, 2011)


The NYDC was built at the turn-of-the-century, so ceilings are composed of clay and cannot hold more than 25 pounds.  For most showrooms that's not a problem, but for Lampworks... well, we will have to install  steel extrusions called Kindorf that are literally bolted to the bottom of the I-beams by sawing away the concrete and plaster that surrounds them.  The Kindorf is electrified and the beams must be restored.  This brings our "ceiling height" down to  9'-8" - not a very comfortable height to hang large chandeliers.  We have a lot to do!

We're planning everything down to the inch, but where to display large chandeliers?  Yikes!  And - we're making room for a new category - furniture.  We'd also like to reuse as many of our existing display fixtures as possible, but don't want the space to appear crowded.  It's very tempting to put ten pounds into a five pound bag -exactly the look we want to avoid!  We'll let you know how this plays out when we get to Week Two.  Stay posted!