Exchange, Expansion, Extraordinary.

For the last few years, we've been fortunate enough to be part of a group here in New York called the Design Exchange. It's a group of designers, architects, editors and other professionals in the design community who get together once a month at various showrooms to network, learn about new products and keep each other informed about what's happening in the industry. A few places that have hosted our group in the past include Lepere, Pollack Fabrics, and Artstic Tile. This week we met at one of our favorite stores, Karkula, which has recently expanded to include the first US flagship showroom for Paolo Lenti and the Italian lighting company Oluce. Founded by Parson's grad John Erik Karkula, this Tribeca establishment sells sexy modern furnishings with an emphasis on natural materials, color and texture. In addition to representing Paolo Lenti and Oluce, they also rep Fritz Hansen, Hans Wegner, Santa & Cole, as well as a number of other extraordinary lines. The new space is absolutely stunning and showcases the furnishings beautifully. Crisp, bright and incredibly spacious, the architecture is clean and modern with the right number of original details to keep the space soulful and consistent with Tribeca's industrial surroundings. We had a fantastic evening sipping Perseco and noshing on delectable morsels from Grandaisy Bakery while looking around the new space and learning about the history of Paolo Lenti and Oluce. We'd like to thank John Erik once again for hosting this month's Design Exchange and we look forward to spending a lot more time at this striking showroom, a must-visit destination for any design enthusiast.