Setting the Stage
October 13, 2009
by Michaelle Bradford
- Setting the Stage at TransFORM Custom Cabinetry!
A New York company revamps warehouse space into a vibrant showroom
This solid wood library combines old and new to create a transitional look. Photo courtesy of transFORM. Do not copy.
Lights, Camera, Action…
The scene opens with a view down a slight hallway — dark wood floors fill the distance. On the right, the hallway is flanked by pearly white walls, which are adorned with paintings from local artists. These walls are capped with a long row of windows filtering in natural light. On the left is a reception area with a mudroom display just beyond it. Various vignettes peek out from designed angles offering what appears to be a well-crafted showroom setting.
The set designers for this stage are Stuart Reisch and Andreas Messis, co-founders of transFORM, which is located in New Rochelle, NY. According to them, this new showroom at their headquarters was designed with the concept of a house in mind. “…when you come in here, you’re actually coming [into] someone’s home. The way it was designed, you can go from vignette to vignette — a living room, a study, a master bedroom,” Reisch explains.
“These are furniture-type pieces,” he adds. “We started out with closets, but we kept expanding. Our clients kept asking us to do more and more.”
Reisch credits his background as a builder and Messis’ background as a set designer with giving them an understanding of how homes are put together. Messis designed the entire showroom, and it was stylized with the help of full-time design strategist, Kara O’Neill. They then created the environment for the showroom based on the “personalities” of each room. “Who lives here?” Messis asks. After that question was answered, they then used that vision to make each space come to life.
Creating an environment
There are 18 vignettes in the new showroom, and to highlight each one Messis took pains to make sure that the design was just right.
“I was a set designer on Broadway. So when we designed the showroom, we did it to look like a gallery. The walls are white with a dark ceiling,” he says. “The color disappears. Like in the theater, when something is dark you don’t pay attention to it. The only thing you pay attention to is the set. In the theater you have the ‘black box’ and everything is dark and the set is right in the center and the curtains are black.” To bring the same affect to the showroom, Messis decided to paint the ceiling a dark grey. The walls are white to simulate an art gallery.
“You have two opposing things that work well together. A gallery is generally stark, so Andreas designed it so that the center of the showroom focuses on the product, but the perimeter gives you the feeling that you are in an art gallery,” Reisch says. The featured artwork will be changed quarterly.
“It’s not a sterile environment. When people walk in here, it resonates,” he adds. “They say ‘Oh wow, it’s beautiful.’ and they look at our product and they see everything in context.”
All of the vignettes are on a 45-degree angle from the permanent walls. The original drop ceiling was removed to expose the beams of the warehouse, and track lighting, designed by Messis, is used for each scene. Messis says it draws attention to the products.
Stylish settings
The living room vignette features an entertainment center, coffee table and an end table manufactured from bamboo with a water-based finish. It is a new green product for transFORM. “It’s something people are getting into now,” Messis says. “People who really want the green product will pay for it.” The bamboo products also help the company brand itself as environmentally friendly.
However, beyond the green aspect, the bamboo products also illustrate that the company’s design and manufacturing capabilities go far beyond the standard melamine products.
To the left of the living room is a library, which was designed with a businessperson in mind. Someone “who lives in Westchester and maybe they run a company,” Messis says. “We couldn’t really design the library in too traditional a style and put in Old World stuff, because the guy is in between. In Westchester you have traditional homes, but it’s how you combine the old and the new to create a transitional look. This is not the ultra-traditional moulding but it’s more of an arts-and-crafts style.”
From the library/study, the vignettes turn more transitional, with a wallbed display. This room continues the furniture look, with the wallbed concealed.
“You don’t get the sense that the wallbed is behind the doors,” Messis says. “Our wallbeds are designed to completely give everything a seamless inset.”
To the left of the wallbed display is the master bedroom walk-in closet. The system features traditional melamine with thermofoil raised panels. The finish is the traditional off-white of New England, Messis adds.
One difference between this display and the first three vignettes is that the living room, library and wallbed are manufactured from solid wood.
“You see all of the wood in the front and you come here (the walk-in closet system) and you expect it to be wood,” Messis says. When customers realize that the system is not made of wood but melamine, it becomes an attractive option because it is less expensive than solid wood, he explains.
The next display is a kid’s room, specifically, a painted bedroom designed for 7- to 11-year-old girls. The pink and green painted maple cabinets, shelves and drawers are designed to simulate playfulness and openness, says Reisch. Having clients react to the environment is one of the key objectives of the showroom, he adds.
“Kids hop on the bed and start playing around. So, by having props (like stuffed animals and toys), the kids pick [them] up and start playing with [them].”
Besides the airy feel of the room, which Messis says is achieved because of the lack of backing in the system, there are no exposed holes. “It is all locked. There are only holes on demand where we actually need them to lock the system,” he says. “That’s why it has a furniture look.”
In the kitchen and utility rooms
Right next to the kid’s room is a walk-in pantry. This room continues the New England look and features high-end decorative doors. Outside of the pantry is a wall unit with a solid surface countertop and inset doors and drawers.
The back of the showroom features a small reach-in closet, plus several utility room displays, including a craft center, a laundry room and garage. Both the laundry room and garage feature transFORM’s epoxy floor coatings.
The small touches added to each of these areas is enough to catch the eye of prospective clients.
“When the customers walk in, they are amazed,” Reisch says. They notice the details, often commenting, ‘I love how you put the gift wrapping center on the side.’” Other display details include real appliances used in the laundry room display. “You can’t go cheap,” adds Messis. “If you want the real thing, you have to spend.”
Another feature that makes this showroom unique is the use of sliding doors from the Sliding Door Co. Not only do these doors show customers an option on how to close off a room, they also allow designers to talk with clients privately.
Defining Success
What determines the success of a showroom? According to Reisch, one of the keys is to make sure that it is stylized the way people actually live.
“We had a customer who walked in and picked up a bowl and said ‘Wow, can I buy this bowl as well?’ [The stylings] resonate with the customer,” he explains. “And that’s the whole concept behind this showroom. They come in and are in a natural environment that they can feel.”
