DESIGNER BOUTIQUE ALT FOR LIVING THRIVES, PLANS DEBUT OF RETAIL LOCATION
Alt for Living founder Analisse Taft-Gersten offers to-the-trade shoppers a curated selection of custom area rug designs and broadlooms. |
NEW YORK -- With a high-end clientele of prominent interior designers such as Robert Couturier, David Easton, Victoria Hagan and Robert Stilin, the bespoke textiles and carpet boutique Alt for Living has carved a niche for itself with a formula successful enough to roll out to a retail, grab-and-go format being dubbed Alt Box.
The to-the-trade purveyor of skillfully crafted, understated area rugs and broadloom carpets launched in 2008 in the midst of the global financial crisis, and despite the difficulties facing many rug showrooms in the industry, Alt for Living managed to grow its business -- a fact that founder Analisse Taft-Gersten attributes, in part, to its broadloom program.
BROADLOOM BOOM
Broadlooms, shown above, sustained the company through tough times with popular choices being flatweaves and shimmery Tencel designs.
Top sellers in the broadloom category are more flatweave driven, noted Taft-Gersten. "Broadlooms have become more popular because they are now coming in wider widths and have a more custom look to them, which allows people to cut them into area rugs without spending a lot of money and/or with custom lead times."
Taft-Gersten has curated a collection of sophisticated bespoke rugs and cultivated broadloom designs, including exclusives from brands such as the Valt Collection, Kantara, Malene B, Perrine Rousseau, Rosemary Hallgarten, Robin Gray and Vanghent. The assortment takes a modern approach to the floor, however selections are crafted with old-world techniques.
A designer browses the curated assortment of handmade textiles and rugs at the boutique.
"Designers can go to the D&D or come to me and get an edited look," Taft-Gersten tells RugNews.com in an exclusive behind the scenes look at her showroom.
"I have a very specific clientele and Alt for Living is known for its handmade products full of texture with a palette that is monochromatic," says Taft-Gersten, who learned the business while at Soho textiles and flooring showroom A.M. Collection. "I don't do a lot of prints but if I do they have to have a modern quality."
APPOINTMENT-ONLY OUTPOST
Alt for Living offers a range of rugs styles from classic Swedish area rug designs, shown above, to linen throw rugs (a favorite among designers).
Nestled behind a micro-brew coffee house, which is also owned by Taft-Gersten and called ALT A Little Taste, on a bustling street lined with potted plants and flower bouquets in New York's flower district, the atelier has grown its product assortment over the years, adding a selection of decorative accessories such as pillows by brands such as Fayce and Brook Perdigon, wallpaper by Relativity and Krane, furniture by Thomas Hayes and its own fabric collection dubbed Living Vintage, launched in 2010.
The showroom is entered through a door at the rear of the Alt A Little Taste micro-brew coffee house.
Adding a retail component for accessories (by appointment only) such as pillows and throws has allowed the showroom to not only feel more like a home, it has helped generate sales. "Having light retail by appointment has proved itself to be a success," Taft-Gersten said. "Especially given the knowledge that end users have today. They don't need to rely on their designers to buy a single pillow or throw. The designers like it too because they aren't wasting their time on these types of furnishings. It allows them to concentrate more on the big items."
Taft-Gersten is taking that concept one step further with ALT Box, which will open in June, as an appointment-only outpost, offering an expanded range of products including designer books, candles and home accessories, along with Alt's signature A Little Taste cafe.
Taft-Gersten poses with one of her favorite Art Deco-era area rug designs.