Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2005

Children's fine furniture takes to the mainstream

By EILS LOTOZO
Knight Ridder Newspapers

Not so long ago, shopping for baby gear could be a dispiriting exercise for expectant parents with a penchant for good modern design.

Everywhere it was canopied cribs, ruffled bedding, changing tables painted with bunnies and bears, and a color palette restricted to pastel pinks and blues.

A clean, contemporary look just was not to be had for a tot’s room.

But thanks to a growing crop of entrepreneurial moms and dads, that has changed. In fact, so many companies have been launched in the last few years by parents determined to create or promote the kind of kids’ stuff they’d want to buy, you could call it a mini-mod-design movement.

There’s the Netto Collection, for example, created by New York interior designer David Netto (www.nettocollection.com), who shelved his society clientele to put out a line of minimalist cribs and changing tables in white lacquer with ash or light oak accents ($590-$2,485).

Oeuf — whose offerings ($110 to $825) include a striking white lacquer toddler bed, and a chocolate and hot-pink baby lounger — was launched by a husband-and-wife design team who couldn’t find a suitable crib for their baby daughter.

Nurseryworks was started by a pair of Los Angeles mothers who commissioned a mid-century modern-looking line of bureaus and changing tables in yellow, dusty rose, grass green and gray-blue, with door panels that feature optional raised circles, squares or diamonds ($676-$1,270). Launched just a year ago, the line, which includes boldly patterned crib bedding in colors such as aubergine, canary and mulberry, is now carried by 40 retailers.

Among them is Modernseed.com, one of a burgeoning number of Web sites devoted to children’s furnishings with a modern edge.

“The trend is people are waiting to have children later. So you have dual-income couples who have homes that are much more established,” said Modernseed founder, Melissa Pfeiffer, a former graphic designer who is married to a contemporary-furniture designer.

Customers see their purchase of well-designed furniture as a long-term investment, Pfeiffer said. Bureaus and cabinets offered by companies such as Netto Collection and Nurseryworks can be used in other rooms when they’re no longer needed in a nursery, she said, and sturdy toddler chairs and tables can be handed down to the next generation.

“Good furniture is like artwork. You wouldn’t toss out your paintings,” she said.

Mark Woodbury, who founded Sparkability.com with Mark Eidsness in 2003, said the people who come to his Web site believe less is more.

“They’re getting quality for their kids as opposed to quantity,” Woodbury said. “It’s anti-Wal-Mart.”

That’s the idea painter Jennie Argie and her architect husband, Andrew Thornton, had when they launched their furniture company, Argington, in September.

The fussy, traditional aesthetic wasn’t the only problem these parents found with kids’ furniture. Too much of it seemed designed to be thrown away, said Argie, an art curator. There was too much plastic, and far too many objects plastered with cartoon characters.

“You just don’t want to bring that stuff into your life if you don’t have to,” said Argie, who was at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF) in New York promoting her moderately priced line ($150 to $370) made from pale Baltic birch.

Among Argington’s pieces: a sleek toy box; a toddler high chair, inspired by the classic Stokke KinderZeat, that adjusts to eight positions, including breakfast-bar height; and a table and chair set you can buy new legs for when your child grows taller.

One of the more visible trends at ICFF was companies’ introducing child-oriented collections.

Among them was a designer who goes by just the name Miguel (miguelonline.com). Included in his eponymous line of changing tables and cribs was one eye-popping model covered in ivory leather button-tufted by hand in Italy. Retailing for $4,500, the crib converts to a toddler bed.

Miguel began designing his furniture line after his daughter was born, inspired by the conviction that “not all parents want their child’s nursery or bedroom to look like a page from a fairy tale.”

Miguel stated, “I’m intending these to be heirloom pieces that will be passed down.”

Also being introduced at ICFF was ducduc, a company founded by Phillip Erdoes, the head of a Manhattan venture-capital firm.

Among the pieces shown by ducduc (www.ducducnyc.com) were an armoire with a chalkboard front, a drawing table with a built-in paper roll, a sunny orange crib that offers optional vinyl text appliques, and modular units that include a crib/youth bed, armoire and dresser and can be reconfigured in various ways. (Prices range from $599 to $2,499.)

While the traditional look still largely rules at children’s furniture retailers, Debby Fine, owner of the Baby’s Room and the Kid’s Room Too in Philadelphia, said she was considering adding the ducduc line.

“A lot of people are still in to cute and sweet, but I’ve had customers asking me to give them something new,” Fine said. “This is fresh and wonderful, and I think people are ready for it.”

A growing number of Web sites offer a wide variety of modern furniture and furnishings for babies’ and children’s rooms. Among the best: www.modernseed.com, www.babygeared.com, www.plushpod.com.