above: Specializing in sustainable materials, Arhaus offers chic yet welcoming design options. – Photograph: courtesy of Arhaus
Two retailers with global perspectives and sustainable mindsets have brought their furnishings to new showrooms to our downtown’s burgeoning design district
ARHAUS
The abrupt closure of the Mitchell Gold & Bob Williams store last September left a big vacancy on East Putnam Avenue, but upscale home furnishings retailer Arhaus stylishly filled the void in May with the opening of its third Connecticut showroom.
Here you will receive a warm welcome from the chic-meets-cozy mix of dining rooms, bedrooms and living rooms that offer heirloom-quality pieces mixed with earth-friendly comforts.
“As a design-minded community with a vibrant shopping scene, Greenwich was a natural fit for Arhaus,” says Ann O’Neil FitzGerald, Greenwich store manager.
The growing national chain, known for its global approach to sourcing sustainable materials and international artisans, produces its built-to-last furnishings in North Carolina.
“From the beginning of Arhaus, its founders vowed to never use wood harvested from rainforests and to honor the Earth in everything they did,” explains FitzGerald. On the local front, the store’s grand opening community-minded initiative included an event with the Greenwich Tree Conservancy, which raised $10,000 to support the nonprofit’s local arbor preservation and restoration efforts.
The Greenwich team has also jumped into the design scene along East Putnam Avenue, hosting informal open houses with neighboring retailers to create more synergy in the district, FitzGerald says.
Besides being community- minded, Arhaus’s green efforts include using responsibly harvested woods and recycled and repurposed materials whenever possible. The result is furnishings that have an approachable aesthetic that reads uniquely discovered, yet completely refined.
Take, for example, the reclining sofa outfitted with technology that allows you to recline in your media room with the touch of a discreetly-tucked-away button (goodbye, unsightly clunky levers), all while retaining the clean lines of a well-appointed and sublimely comfortable statement piece.
Coffee and dining tables—many of which boast those recycled materials Arhaus celebrates—are also standouts. These pieces could work well in modern, transitional and eclectic designscapes, making them a good option for a variety of tastes.
Arhaus also offers design services that can range from help with scoring the perfect piece to complete an existing room to top-to-bottom makeovers. Its handsome finishing touches, including fabrics and wallcoverings, are stars in their own right and make it possible for Arhaus to serve as a one-stop resource for many design projects.
“Our Beale, Kipton and Remington collections are customer favorites, all handcrafted by artisans in North Carolina,” says FitzGerald. “Stop by and take a seat to feel the quality and comfort firsthand.” arhaus.com
DUXIANA
In 1924, Swedish chocolatier Efraim Ljung checked into a Chicago hotel and became so enamored with his ultra comfy bed, he discreetly used a pocketknife to slice open a small section of mattress to study its flexible boxsprings.
Ljung then made a deft pivot from candy to mattress-making.
Four generations later, Ljung’s furniture company, Duxiana, remains a Sweden-based family business. Last year, it brought its latest Greenwich retail outpost to East Putnam Avenue, adjacent to the Farrow & Ball store. The new Duxiana showroom almost doubled the size of its former location of 20 years on West Putnam Avenue. The space has for room for several versions of Duxiana’s signature mattresses, as well as select pieces of its sleek Scandinavian furniture, an offering that until recently was more familiar to European customers.
“Our Greenwich customers know us mainly for our mattresses. The bigger showroom allows us to share pieces that they haven’t seen before,” says Ed Curry, president of Duxiana North America.
Mattresses, of course, are still king and for good reason: Duxiana’s beds are known for superior construction and comforts so exceptional the line remains a mainstay at luxury hotels around the globe.
“Please go ahead and jump on the beds,” Curry says of the new showroom experience. “Every one of them feels great. We have always been about health, well-being, comfort and sustainability.”
Speaking of sustainability, Duxiana’s mattresses can be unzipped, so worn-out components can be easily replaced. “You get a brand-new feel and the peace of mind knowing your mattress isn’t going to the landfill,” says Curry.
Make a point to check out the luxe eiderdown bedding, and the uber-cool chairs designed exclusively for Duxiana by noted Swedish designer Bruno Matthson. One has such a futuristic vibe that it’s been christened the Jetson chair after the classic space-age cartoon. And it’s comfortable, too. Naturally. duxiana.com