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Cutting Edge in New Milford
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Contemporary times do not necessarily demand contemporary styles—especially in furnishing and accessory demands, and especially here in America.
As an example, take a peek around Litchfield County, an area of Connecticut where the antiques industry is a virtual magnet for shoppers of the most discriminating tastes. In Woodbury and New Preston and Kent, this particular field is both thriving and competitive. Colonial homes outfitted with Federal furniture are cherished in the state’s Northwest Corner, and it’s a theme that prevails up and down the quaint country roads of one of the country’s most historic regions.
Paradoxically, in Europe, a continent with a decorative history so rich and extensive it absolutely dwarfs any trends on the western end of the Atlantic, the design tendencies seemingly pull toward contemporary.
Europeans apparently embrace the fashionably new. Bolstered by high-end names such as Danese Milano and Ragna Berli and Santa & Cole it could be convincingly suggested that the finest in 20th and 21st century products hail from the eastern end of the Atlantic.
Still, though it may not be dominant, a contemporary design market exists in the United States. There is certainly a steady, loyal and perhaps swelling clientele of Americans and American institutions that find the modern fashions of Europe oh-so-appealing. Peter Kahane, often of Bridgewater, has done a spectacular job taking advantage of that modestly snowballing stateside demand.
“In Europe there is a much bigger market, people here are much more into contemporary,” explained Mr. Kahane, the founder of the contemporary design outfitting firm AMEICO. “But it’s growing in America.”
Notice that he described the European arena as “here.” That’s because as Mr. Kahane explained the industry and his company’s role in it, he did so from Zurich, Switzerland. For the international traveler, the mountainous, landlocked country is home away from American home, or perhaps it’s the other way around.
He was born in New York but moved to Switzerland at age 12. Twenty years ago is when his career started to gain traction and he came back for a job with a high-end Swiss carpeting company known as Larsen Carpets. That job ended only a few years later, but sans discouragement. In Mr. Kahane’s words, he quickly decided he “wanted to stay in dealing aesthetics.”
So in New York City he opened AMEICO, an importer and wholesaler of quality original designs. A short time later he moved the operation to Bank Street in New Milford, then seven years ago relocated two blocks away in its current, and rather unassuming, office location on the corner of Church and Main streets.
Its presence is relatively inconspicuous (that may change soon with the company purchase of an unoccupied town-owned building down the block) but as a niche business there is little concern that it will be suffocated by some brash competitor. The way Mr. Kahane explains it, not haughtily but factually, “We don’t have to try very hard.” Continued...
As an example, take a peek around Litchfield County, an area of Connecticut where the antiques industry is a virtual magnet for shoppers of the most discriminating tastes. In Woodbury and New Preston and Kent, this particular field is both thriving and competitive. Colonial homes outfitted with Federal furniture are cherished in the state’s Northwest Corner, and it’s a theme that prevails up and down the quaint country roads of one of the country’s most historic regions.
Paradoxically, in Europe, a continent with a decorative history so rich and extensive it absolutely dwarfs any trends on the western end of the Atlantic, the design tendencies seemingly pull toward contemporary.
Europeans apparently embrace the fashionably new. Bolstered by high-end names such as Danese Milano and Ragna Berli and Santa & Cole it could be convincingly suggested that the finest in 20th and 21st century products hail from the eastern end of the Atlantic.
Still, though it may not be dominant, a contemporary design market exists in the United States. There is certainly a steady, loyal and perhaps swelling clientele of Americans and American institutions that find the modern fashions of Europe oh-so-appealing. Peter Kahane, often of Bridgewater, has done a spectacular job taking advantage of that modestly snowballing stateside demand.
“In Europe there is a much bigger market, people here are much more into contemporary,” explained Mr. Kahane, the founder of the contemporary design outfitting firm AMEICO. “But it’s growing in America.”
Notice that he described the European arena as “here.” That’s because as Mr. Kahane explained the industry and his company’s role in it, he did so from Zurich, Switzerland. For the international traveler, the mountainous, landlocked country is home away from American home, or perhaps it’s the other way around.
He was born in New York but moved to Switzerland at age 12. Twenty years ago is when his career started to gain traction and he came back for a job with a high-end Swiss carpeting company known as Larsen Carpets. That job ended only a few years later, but sans discouragement. In Mr. Kahane’s words, he quickly decided he “wanted to stay in dealing aesthetics.”
So in New York City he opened AMEICO, an importer and wholesaler of quality original designs. A short time later he moved the operation to Bank Street in New Milford, then seven years ago relocated two blocks away in its current, and rather unassuming, office location on the corner of Church and Main streets.
Its presence is relatively inconspicuous (that may change soon with the company purchase of an unoccupied town-owned building down the block) but as a niche business there is little concern that it will be suffocated by some brash competitor. The way Mr. Kahane explains it, not haughtily but factually, “We don’t have to try very hard.” Continued...
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The many uptown clients he works with often seek his business, and these include a host of architects, interior decorators and famed museum stores. Here are some of the more recognizable names: Museum of Modern Art; Art Institute of Chicago; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Smithsonian Institution.
“I’ve been at this 17 years, I have 400 clients in the U.S.,” he noted.
AMEICO might broker one of these big-market customers a wholesale deal on lighting, like the the Estadio hanging lamp, which is an oversized halo of light designed in 2002 by Spaniard Miguel Mila. Timepieces and other accessories are popular, and one recent feature of InStyle magazine was Victor Vetterlein’s 2010 Trash Me Lamp, made from recycled cardboard materials. Though most of the lamps it sells are made from some kind of metal, the Vetterlein (who is actually American) piece is too much fun to overlook and is available through AMEICO.
But these products are susceptible to being illegally copied. Since AMEICO has moved into the branch of licensing agreements that effectively give the company worldwide marketing rights, it has a heightened interest in ensuring authenticity.
After all, it’s that crafted European genuineness that makes these products so marketable. Jeannette Purdy, the general manager of AMEICO and one of the company’s six employees, calls that flare “design value.” It’s an intangible that helps shape the company.
“We look for products that have something to say, not just another product you find on the shelf,” Ms. Purdy, also of Bridgewater, said. “We want it to be innovative in its essence.”
As far as knockoff products are concerned, it is frustrating for AMEICO to know that its legal remedies are seemingly few. The firm does all it can to “stand up against it,” but a walk down numerous New York City avenues will reveal just how overwhelming piracy is. Cheap merchandise with designer names affixed are strewn across blankets on countless street corners.
No matter what, at AMEICO, the products are the real thing.
People can learn more by visiting www.ameico.com. ■
“I’ve been at this 17 years, I have 400 clients in the U.S.,” he noted.
AMEICO might broker one of these big-market customers a wholesale deal on lighting, like the the Estadio hanging lamp, which is an oversized halo of light designed in 2002 by Spaniard Miguel Mila. Timepieces and other accessories are popular, and one recent feature of InStyle magazine was Victor Vetterlein’s 2010 Trash Me Lamp, made from recycled cardboard materials. Though most of the lamps it sells are made from some kind of metal, the Vetterlein (who is actually American) piece is too much fun to overlook and is available through AMEICO.
But these products are susceptible to being illegally copied. Since AMEICO has moved into the branch of licensing agreements that effectively give the company worldwide marketing rights, it has a heightened interest in ensuring authenticity.
After all, it’s that crafted European genuineness that makes these products so marketable. Jeannette Purdy, the general manager of AMEICO and one of the company’s six employees, calls that flare “design value.” It’s an intangible that helps shape the company.
“We look for products that have something to say, not just another product you find on the shelf,” Ms. Purdy, also of Bridgewater, said. “We want it to be innovative in its essence.”
As far as knockoff products are concerned, it is frustrating for AMEICO to know that its legal remedies are seemingly few. The firm does all it can to “stand up against it,” but a walk down numerous New York City avenues will reveal just how overwhelming piracy is. Cheap merchandise with designer names affixed are strewn across blankets on countless street corners.
No matter what, at AMEICO, the products are the real thing.
People can learn more by visiting www.ameico.com. ■
Contemporary times do not necessarily demand contemporary styles—especially in furnishing and accessory demands, and especially here in America.
As an example, take a peek around Litchfield County, an area of Connecticut where the antiques industry is a virtual magnet for shoppers of the most discriminating tastes. In Woodbury and New Preston and Kent, this particular field is both thriving and competitive. Colonial homes outfitted with Federal furniture are cherished in the state’s Northwest Corner, and it’s a theme that prevails up and down the quaint country roads of one of the country’s most historic regions.
Paradoxically, in Europe, a continent with a decorative history so rich and extensive it absolutely dwarfs any trends on the western end of the Atlantic, the design tendencies seemingly pull toward contemporary.
Europeans apparently embrace the fashionably new. Bolstered by high-end names such as Danese Milano and Ragna Berli and Santa & Cole it could be convincingly suggested that the finest in 20th and 21st century products hail from the eastern end of the Atlantic.
Still, though it may not be dominant, a contemporary design market exists in the United States. There is certainly a steady, loyal and perhaps swelling clientele of Americans and American institutions that find the modern fashions of Europe oh-so-appealing. Peter Kahane, often of Bridgewater, has done a spectacular job taking advantage of that modestly snowballing stateside demand.
“In Europe there is a much bigger market, people here are much more into contemporary,” explained Mr. Kahane, the founder of the contemporary design outfitting firm AMEICO. “But it’s growing in America.”
Notice that he described the European arena as “here.” That’s because as Mr. Kahane explained the industry and his company’s role in it, he did so from Zurich, Switzerland. For the international traveler, the mountainous, landlocked country is home away from American home, or perhaps it’s the other way around.
He was born in New York but moved to Switzerland at age 12. Twenty years ago is when his career started to gain traction and he came back for a job with a high-end Swiss carpeting company known as Larsen Carpets. That job ended only a few years later, but sans discouragement. In Mr. Kahane’s words, he quickly decided he “wanted to stay in dealing aesthetics.”
So in New York City he opened AMEICO, an importer and wholesaler of quality original designs. A short time later he moved the operation to Bank Street in New Milford, then seven years ago relocated two blocks away in its current, and rather unassuming, office location on the corner of Church and Main streets.
Its presence is relatively inconspicuous (that may change soon with the company purchase of an unoccupied town-owned building down the block) but as a niche business there is little concern that it will be suffocated by some brash competitor. The way Mr. Kahane explains it, not haughtily but factually, “We don’t have to try very hard.”
The many uptown clients he works with often seek his business, and these include a host of architects, interior decorators and famed museum stores. Here are some of the more recognizable names: Museum of Modern Art; Art Institute of Chicago; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Smithsonian Institution.
“I’ve been at this 17 years, I have 400 clients in the U.S.,” he noted.
AMEICO might broker one of these big-market customers a wholesale deal on lighting, like the the Estadio hanging lamp, which is an oversized halo of light designed in 2002 by Spaniard Miguel Mila. Timepieces and other accessories are popular, and one recent feature of InStyle magazine was Victor Vetterlein’s 2010 Trash Me Lamp, made from recycled cardboard materials. Though most of the lamps it sells are made from some kind of metal, the Vetterlein (who is actually American) piece is too much fun to overlook and is available through AMEICO.
But these products are susceptible to being illegally copied. Since AMEICO has moved into the branch of licensing agreements that effectively give the company worldwide marketing rights, it has a heightened interest in ensuring authenticity.
After all, it’s that crafted European genuineness that makes these products so marketable. Jeannette Purdy, the general manager of AMEICO and one of the company’s six employees, calls that flare “design value.” It’s an intangible that helps shape the company.
“We look for products that have something to say, not just another product you find on the shelf,” Ms. Purdy, also of Bridgewater, said. “We want it to be innovative in its essence.”
As far as knockoff products are concerned, it is frustrating for AMEICO to know that its legal remedies are seemingly few. The firm does all it can to “stand up against it,” but a walk down numerous New York City avenues will reveal just how overwhelming piracy is. Cheap merchandise with designer names affixed are strewn across blankets on countless street corners.
No matter what, at AMEICO, the products are the real thing.
People can learn more by visiting www.ameico.com. ■
As an example, take a peek around Litchfield County, an area of Connecticut where the antiques industry is a virtual magnet for shoppers of the most discriminating tastes. In Woodbury and New Preston and Kent, this particular field is both thriving and competitive. Colonial homes outfitted with Federal furniture are cherished in the state’s Northwest Corner, and it’s a theme that prevails up and down the quaint country roads of one of the country’s most historic regions.
Paradoxically, in Europe, a continent with a decorative history so rich and extensive it absolutely dwarfs any trends on the western end of the Atlantic, the design tendencies seemingly pull toward contemporary.
Europeans apparently embrace the fashionably new. Bolstered by high-end names such as Danese Milano and Ragna Berli and Santa & Cole it could be convincingly suggested that the finest in 20th and 21st century products hail from the eastern end of the Atlantic.
Still, though it may not be dominant, a contemporary design market exists in the United States. There is certainly a steady, loyal and perhaps swelling clientele of Americans and American institutions that find the modern fashions of Europe oh-so-appealing. Peter Kahane, often of Bridgewater, has done a spectacular job taking advantage of that modestly snowballing stateside demand.
“In Europe there is a much bigger market, people here are much more into contemporary,” explained Mr. Kahane, the founder of the contemporary design outfitting firm AMEICO. “But it’s growing in America.”
Notice that he described the European arena as “here.” That’s because as Mr. Kahane explained the industry and his company’s role in it, he did so from Zurich, Switzerland. For the international traveler, the mountainous, landlocked country is home away from American home, or perhaps it’s the other way around.
He was born in New York but moved to Switzerland at age 12. Twenty years ago is when his career started to gain traction and he came back for a job with a high-end Swiss carpeting company known as Larsen Carpets. That job ended only a few years later, but sans discouragement. In Mr. Kahane’s words, he quickly decided he “wanted to stay in dealing aesthetics.”
So in New York City he opened AMEICO, an importer and wholesaler of quality original designs. A short time later he moved the operation to Bank Street in New Milford, then seven years ago relocated two blocks away in its current, and rather unassuming, office location on the corner of Church and Main streets.
Its presence is relatively inconspicuous (that may change soon with the company purchase of an unoccupied town-owned building down the block) but as a niche business there is little concern that it will be suffocated by some brash competitor. The way Mr. Kahane explains it, not haughtily but factually, “We don’t have to try very hard.”
The many uptown clients he works with often seek his business, and these include a host of architects, interior decorators and famed museum stores. Here are some of the more recognizable names: Museum of Modern Art; Art Institute of Chicago; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Smithsonian Institution.
“I’ve been at this 17 years, I have 400 clients in the U.S.,” he noted.
AMEICO might broker one of these big-market customers a wholesale deal on lighting, like the the Estadio hanging lamp, which is an oversized halo of light designed in 2002 by Spaniard Miguel Mila. Timepieces and other accessories are popular, and one recent feature of InStyle magazine was Victor Vetterlein’s 2010 Trash Me Lamp, made from recycled cardboard materials. Though most of the lamps it sells are made from some kind of metal, the Vetterlein (who is actually American) piece is too much fun to overlook and is available through AMEICO.
But these products are susceptible to being illegally copied. Since AMEICO has moved into the branch of licensing agreements that effectively give the company worldwide marketing rights, it has a heightened interest in ensuring authenticity.
After all, it’s that crafted European genuineness that makes these products so marketable. Jeannette Purdy, the general manager of AMEICO and one of the company’s six employees, calls that flare “design value.” It’s an intangible that helps shape the company.
“We look for products that have something to say, not just another product you find on the shelf,” Ms. Purdy, also of Bridgewater, said. “We want it to be innovative in its essence.”
As far as knockoff products are concerned, it is frustrating for AMEICO to know that its legal remedies are seemingly few. The firm does all it can to “stand up against it,” but a walk down numerous New York City avenues will reveal just how overwhelming piracy is. Cheap merchandise with designer names affixed are strewn across blankets on countless street corners.
No matter what, at AMEICO, the products are the real thing.
People can learn more by visiting www.ameico.com. ■
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