Putting / pitching with one arm only One common piece of advice is to putt one-handed. This will help in two different ways: First, it teaches you to release the putterhead properly, which is one... Read more
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The trending retail concept where you can shop in a storefront that’s actually a living room or an apartment isn’t new, but New-York based The Future Perfect has taken it one step further with Casa Perfect, a fully shoppable, by-appointment-only midcentury modern home located high in the Hollywood Hills. (Sadly, the house itself isn’t available for purchase. I checked.) The 3000-sq-ft home was designed by Korean American architect David Hyun in the 1950s and now operates as a backdrop to showcase the latest in contemporary design.
In a truly unique, quintessentially LA setting, Casa Perfect offers designers and collectors a chance to privately view an impeccable collection of works (some of which are debut designs and not available anywhere else) from designers such as: Lisa Eisner, Adam Pogue, Christian Woo, Eric Roinestad, Lindsey Adelman, De La Espada, Michael Anastassiades, Bec Brittain, Calico Wallpaper, Piet Hein Eek, Dimore Studio, Pinch, Roll & Hill, Kasthall Carpets, Lex Pott, Christopher Stuart and more. Today, we chat with The Future Perfect founder David Alhadeff about his vision for Casa Perfect and the biggest lesson he’s learned since opening the store.
Why did you pick this location versus a traditional storefront?
It’s been a long personal dream to do something in LA. I love the city and you could say this is a “dreams do come true” moment for me. The Future Perfect is a destination-type shopping experience, which fits because LA shopping is a destination driven experience in general. So the idea of creating a space that was a by-appointment-only, very private shopping experience made sense to me.
Where did you get the name for your store?
The Future Perfect says something about the people we represent. When I had first started almost 15 years ago, we were working with an emerging group of designers that nobody had ever really heard of. I hoped that this group may someday turn out to be our industry leaders. It certainly has proven true now looking back! I really like The Future Perfect as a grammatical tense. It means, “I will have done that then,” which is to say, when we speak in the future perfect, we are speaking in the past tense about something happening in the future.
This tends to be the way creatives speak about their work. And on top of all that, I loved (and still love) the inherent optimism in the phrase. Now more than ever we need to work for the future perfect.
Casa Perfect is our affectionately titled name for our Los Angeles outpost since it’s in a home.
What’s one of the challenges you have with the business?
Finding great people to work with is the hardest part. I mean this both for our staff and the designers we represent. The Future Perfect is a family at this point and adding a new member is more than just adding a head or a title or great work to the mix. We are adding someone to a close knit group of friends (in and out of work).
What’s your favorite item in the space right now?
I cannot pick a favorite amongst my children! Sorry, but that’s real. Every item is very personal to me. Some of them are commissioned by me or created in collaboration with the people I work with.
What is the theme?
For the opening of Casa Perfect, I selected a group of work that’s quintessentially The Future Perfect. I chose work from the three categories of work we present, all of them contemporary in nature. The first category is the limited or one-of-a-kind pieces that are part of our gallery program. We have work from local designers Eric Roinestad and Kristin Victoria Barron on display as well as work from Lindsey Adelman, Michael Anastassiades, Lex Pott and Christopher Stuart from this group. We also have work we exclusively represent in the market from Dimore Studio, Pinch, Hagit Pincovici and Rooms, among others. And finally we are showing work from the contemporary production lines we represent including De La Espada, Gubi, Arflex and more.
Are you carrying any new products and/or undiscovered gems you’re particularly excited about?
A lot of the work at The Future Perfect is new to Los Angeles. There’s such a large part of our program that’s exclusive to us, so that what we have here at Casa Perfect is truly unique to LA. In addition, we have brand new work from Eric Roinestad, Lisa Eisner for Commune, Adam Pogue for Commune, Jonathan Cross, and an entirely brand new collection of outdoor pieces by Christian Woo.
Since opening, what’s been a consistent best seller?
Eric Roinestad ceramics.
Do you have your own line?
Yes – we have the Kent and Goddard upholstered seating collections that we make. The Kent is designed by Jason Miller. Goddard is by Russell Pinch.
Any special events/exhibits/pop-ups/collaborations coming up?
We are doing special events with Sonos, art curators and swimwear companies! We will also be doing presentations of new work with Marta Sala in early April. And we have a ton of collaborations and presentations in the pipeline.
Do you have anything from the store in your own home?
So much! My house is like an archive of past and present The Future Perfect. I just recently redid my house actually and it was a huge point of inspiration for me to create new work with the people I work with, specifically for that project that is now part of our offering. Like, the lighting designs by Eric Roinestad or the stools by Reinaldo Sanguino with gold and platinum glaze.
What’s next for you and The Future Perfect?
We have our hands full right now with the 3 galleries, but we are always launching new work and thinking about new locations. Marta Sala is the next line of contemporarily produced furniture we are presenting in all 3 spaces. The work is designed by Lazzarini & Pickering and is an incredible example of a quiet and sophisticated collection of modern pieces for the home. Standouts include the Elizabeth sofa and the Miro desk. Also the Murena chair, which can be used outdoors and is so elegant. I daresay it may be the single most elegant outdoor chair on the market!
What’s one lesson you’ve learned since opening your store?
It’s been 15 years of lessons. But I think the biggest ones is simply round pegs fit into round holes. I don’t force things. Either they work or they don’t.
If you could give one piece of advice to someone who wants to follow a similar path to yours, what would it be?
There’s too little time to work with people who live in fear.
What is good design in your opinion?
Good design solves a problem, in a way that’s unique or better than the solutions that came before it. The kind of design I’m looking for solves the problem artfully with a clear sense of direction.
Casa Perfect is open by appointment only. To book a viewing, visit The Future Perfect or call 323-202-2025.
Photos by Lauren Coleman.
The following post is brought to you by Squarespace. Our partners are hand picked by the Design Milk team because they represent the best in design.
This is the point in the winter where it’s hard to believe that the days will ever be longer and warmer. It’s dark, cold and dreary. No matter where you live, the morning commute in February is not a joy. (Understatement!) If every time you close the door behind you, you’re thinking of how to transition to a working-in-pajamas situation, this post is for you. In fact it was a moment just like that, which inspired LARK+RAVEN founder Ali Macdonald to transition out of the daily grind and into a job as a full-time designer.
After a few years at Jonathan Adler and then a stint at C Wonder, Ali was at a creative crossroads. She had made it as an in-house designer for big New York City-based firms, but she recognized that she was on a career path that would only lead to more managerial positions and she didn’t want to leave her passion for illustration behind. She also had dreams of spending the whole day drawing with her pooch, Dusky, by her side. (There’s nothing quite like sad doggy eyes to make you want to stay home.) So in 2014, Ali founded LARK+RAVEN as a way to give herself an opportunity to do more of what she loved.
When Ali was daydreaming about starting the business, she started doodling her ideas in Sharpie and sharing the designs via social media. Initially, she thought that she’d move to a more serious medium (like oils or water colors), but the happy casualness of the Sharpie stuck and today she uses the marker for everything from her wrapping paper designs to her stationery. Once she had the product design down, it was time to focus on the day-to-day challenges of running a business. From learning the ins-and-outs of sales tax to the best way of shipping products, managing a business was more complicated than Sharpie color choice (that Ali has nailed). Now she’s done everything from illustrating couples for save-the-dates and wedding invites to creating custom pet portraits, and she’s offered to share some her tips and tricks for making an online creative business work.
Let’s start with the product! Can you tell us a little about your design process?
Whenever it’s time to create a new collection of cards, I sit down with a marker and doodle. I keep a growing list of concepts as they develop. The idea is always the hardest part. Once I have one that is solid, illustrating is easy. Creating wrapping paper seems to come to me more naturally because I’m always thinking of composing stories through patterns. Sometimes an element I create for one of my cards may inspire a pattern and vice versa.
How has having a Squarespace website changed or impacted your business?
Having a site has really forced me to step up my presentation and to think about the importance of a cohesive narrative. When I first started, I didn’t give enough consideration to product imagery. My site was full of weak, inconsistent photography that didn’t sell my products well. Once I began utilizing this platform to tell an enticing story through color and styling, I noticed an increase in sales and in business opportunities. I also gained a clearer sense of my brand’s direction in the process.
What are your plans/goals for the upcoming year?
My main goal for this year is to get LARK+RAVEN in more stores. Finding time to do more outreach with all of the custom jobs and orders on my plate has been my biggest challenge. With each new Wholesale account gained, I feel more confident about contacting agencies in the coming months with the hope that one might have interest in representing my line. I also plan to find more opportunities for licensing and collaborations. I just recently updated my personal portfolio of illustrations, patterns and animations (alimacdoodle.com) in an effort to make this happen. Managing two separate online entities has its challenges but I’m finding it much easier to operate in this realm as an artist as opposed to a brand. It’s more work but has allowed me to experiment since I’m not worried about creating content that fits perfectly with my company’s aesthetic.
In terms of my online presence, I’d really like to be more planned in my approach to my shop’s homepage as a brick and mortar storefront. Instead of scrambling last minute to make thematic banners and tiles for holidays and events, my hope is to map out the year with ideas for site updates to keep things fresh.
What have you found to have the most impact when designing your site?
The sliding banners on the homepage have been really effective in directing traffic to specific areas of my site. They serve as a visual navigation and they give me the chance to tell an exciting story about a new product or collection that I want visitors to see.
What template do you use and did you experiment with others?
I started with Bedford but switched to Supply because I preferred the look of the left bar navigation. The rotating banner feature on the home page and the option to add product tiles below were probably the biggest factors in persuading me to make the change.
How does the e-commerce portion of the site interface with what you do in person/physically?
I’m always uploading artwork and retouching photos on my computer so when an order comes in, it’s really a seamless transition to printing out shipping labels and packing slips.
If you were starting the business today, what would you do differently/the same?
I would start smaller than I did in terms of product assortment and quantities. In the beginning, I was so focused on creating a large collection. I wanted to make my shop look full, and I was trying to produce enough content for my first trade show. I would have preferred to take the time to create a modest collection that made me proud. Though I’m happy with what I’m creating now, I didn’t have this same confidence at the start because I didn’t love everything I was making.
And speaking to an earlier point, I would have used my name for my company. It just makes certain aspects of custom work, such as collaborations and licensing, so much easier. Every time I’m hired to do a portrait through LARK+RAVEN, I’m faced with the dilemma of not knowing how to sign it. While I do like that I have a separate outlet for experimenting creatively, I’d prefer to work under one name that can be used as a signature on a product and also on an illustration.
What advice would you give someone who wants to start an online shop?
You’re going to be doing a lot of shipping! Using web-based software like ShipStation will make fulfilling orders much easier. Also, familiarize yourself with your responsibility to charge and collect sales tax. You will to want to set that up on your site when you are ready to open shop.
Did you have any failures that you’d like to share that you think people might be able to learn from?
Not insuring a box of over 300 handmade greeting cards with lined envelopes that got lost in the mail. I learned my lesson!
Any other advice for starting a business/ecommerce site that you’d like to pass on?
Don’t forget to copyright your work. I do it every season before I add new products to my site.
Make your next move. Make your next website using Squarespace. Squarespace offers online store templates and domains to help you get your business off-the-ground! And when you use coupon code DESIGNMILK at checkout you’ll get 10% off your first purchase.
New York-based designer Michael Yarinsky recently worked to convert a turn-of-the-century warehouse space outside the Brooklyn Navy Yard into an office/showroom for eco-conscious flooring company Madera and Copenhagen-based kitchen manufacturer Reform.
Madera designs their products (high quality, beautiful sustainable wood products)in their Brooklyn studio and manufactures them locally in New York, using a “forest-to-floor” approach. The building, which was run down, was appealing because of its large space and architectural charm. Yarinsky was brought on to create a more “non-commercial” experience – focusing on a boutique-meets-gallery kind of experience for their wood products.
Photo courtesy of Madera/Michael Yarinsky
The office, which is raised and out of view of the showroom floor, also contains a kitchen that doubles as a US showroom for Reform.
Photo courtesy of Madera/Michael Yarinsky
Another unique aspect of this building is that upon entering the showroom, you actually encounter a small art gallery contained within a repurposed industrial icebox. Aptly named Cooler Gallery, curated by Yarinsky, focuses on the intersections of art, design, and manufacturing through monthly exhibitions.
Photography by George Del Barrio except where noted.
