Sarasota in the City

DkVogue moves in on Manhattan.

By Carol Tisch

The Nielsen family, and their extended family at Sarasota’s dkVogue (1549 State Street, 941-955-2600), had a reunion of sorts in New York City last week. Kai Nielsen flew in from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to meet his son and daughter-in-law (Kim and Olga Nielsen) for a tour of the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, obviously focusing their attention on Danish modern furniture and housewares exhibitors who supply the chic Sarasota stores. The Nielsen clan also attended a dinner sponsored by the Danish Consulate during the weekend design show.

Kim and Kai Nielsen

Most of the retailer’s Danish suppliers were represented by high-level management and company owners, many of whom dkVogue’s Sarasota business office manager, Christy Ryle, had met in Copenhagen last August when she went through the company’s rigorous education and sales training program.

In Demark, Christy toured the factories and showrooms of Carl Hansen & Son, Fritz Hansen, PP Mobler, Frederica, Homegarrd and Erik Jorgensen, to name a few. So it was like old home week at the ICFF show, when she hooked up with one of her Copenhagen hosts, Knud Erik Hansen, managing director of Carl Hansen & Son. Christy says one of the highlights of her trip was dinner at Hansen’s estate. “It was spectacular: His home is a castle – moat and all,” she confided.

Christy Ryle with Knud Hansen of

Denmark

’s Carl Hansen & Son.

The big excitement for me was getting a peek at dkVogue’s new contract showroom (for designers of commercial interiors) in Manhattan. There the entourage met with showroom managers, Winnie Wei and Richard Moses, a husband-and-wife team who happen to have a second home in Sarasota near the yacht club. I recognized the dkVogue banner outside the new digs at 138 East 25 St, and buzzed myself in early one morning as the group prepared for meetings with vendors and designers.

DkVogue’s flag flies high on 25^th Street in Manhattan.

The 3,000-square-foot space is every bit as luxurious as the Sarasota stores, but this is a contract showroom with all the Danish classics plus furniture made for offices, like the award-winning Gubi collection. Wei and Moses have extensive experience working with the architecture and design communities, and it shows in the merchandising of the Manhattan space. Richard says he checked out the Sarasota dkVogue on the referral of an architect/client, and wound up buying Winnie her beloved Arne Jacobsen Swan chair there. After meeting Kim Nielsen, the rest was history.

At the showroom, I got to spend some quality time with Kai Nielsen, whose background in Danish furniture inspired Kim to launch the whole dkVogue empire. Kai told me that he trained for four years producing and designing furniture to earn his degree from the Design Academy of Copenhagen. In addition being a master craftsman and member of the centuries-old Danish Furniture Guild, he later produced his own line or furniture and housewares, supplying companies like Dansk Designs, Crate & Barrel, Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s.

Posted: 6/1/2007 9:32:00 AM | 0 comments

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Sarasota in the City

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