Challenging the design model
The Swedish design company HEM (Swedish for home) is challenging furniture retail concepts by having a mail-order-only business, about 60 percent in the United States from a Pennsylvania warehouse. CEO Petrus Palmer aims to create a luxury version of IKEA, bringing together designers from across disciplines. The no-store strategy allows it to keep prices from its competitors, Palmer said.
Austrian fashion designer Arthur Arbesser created a series of geometric-patterned throw blankets for HEM’s latest collection, ranging from reassuring dark green to more feminine salmon and umber shades, taking inspiration from his native Vienna. “The idea is to do something that reminds you of something old, that you have seen before,” Arbesser said. “I think living in this moment, you tend to feel comfort where you can relate to things that evoke something.”
Fashion designers kept their hands in the design world elsewhere. Ermenegildo Zegna weighed in with high-end objects for the man who really does have everything. There are woven, leather-covered soccer balls, leather-clad turntables and zip leather cases for matching slippers. Houses like Bottega Veneta have made a bigger commitment to the design space. The brand’s biennial collection included seating, with its trademark intrecciato weave falling off into a funky fringe, a bronze chandelier cast with the brand’s weave pattern, and a new version of its Arches table with a black and white marble tabletop from a French cave that had been closed for 75 years.