As Tribeca becomes a robust design district (think Tribeca originals like R&Company and Stella, and newcomers like Egg Collective and Orior) (may I add I miss Butter and Eggs?), one of the latest additions brings with him a three-gen design legacy. The grandson of (Sir) Terence Conran, the English designer, restaurateur and retailer whose eponymous shop under the 59th Street Bridge was for years a destination, has opened the first US showroom for his new venture with his father: Maker&Son.

The space – at 55 White — has a unique spin, however: it is also his apartment, which he shares with his girlfriend, Camilla Bach, and the two have it all tricked out with Maker&Son product. (You can visit only by appointment, for obvious reasons. Schedule it here.)

Felix Conran is 25 and comes with his own personal pedigree: he studied product design at Central Saint Martins design college in London, where his father and uncle went, but like them, he never graduated (though he made it the furthest of the three) and instead started making stuff. He’s already started a lighting store, a furniture store, a fashion line, and with a group of classmates, took over a former printing studio and turned it into a hot event space.

His father, Alex Willcock (Felix is the son of Terrence’s daughter, and was given her surname at birth), was trained as a cabinet maker and first ran CountryRoad, which you women of a certain age will fondly remember, and then was buying director at the Conran Shop. The pair launched this latest venture in February 2018, and so far their line just includes sofas and chairs – but seriously luxurious ones. All are made in the country that they are sold in, and from woods that are harvested there (Tasmanian oak in Australia, Beech in the UK, Ash here). The pillows are feather (and byproducts of the meat market, which is a sustainable product); the fabrics are linen and cotton from Italy. Everything is meant to be a piece you own for a very long time.

“Furniture has become like the fashion industry, not made to last at all,” said Felix. “It used to be a tradition, a luxury, a difficult thing to produce that took expertise. Now everything is plastics and foam. It’s a downward, dark spiral.”

So back to the couches: definitely nap-certified. (See the Instagram below.) Right now there are three lines: the sofas, the sectionals and the bed with plans for a vegan range coming in the new year. Plus they are also onto a fun idea: creating original oil paintings from their own photographs. This blurs the lines of art and design, which seems to me kind of the point. Is the craft in the execution or the idea? Note also Felix’s chandeliers. He made them himself from strips of veneer he bought on the cheap, byproducts of the wood “wallpaper” he installed outside the bedroom.

Since they are trying to create their own business model by going direct to consumer and avoiding retail, the White Street showroom will be the main presence in the States for now, but they are also launching a mobile showroom (a tricked-out van that looks like a living room on the inside) that will be travelling upstate and to the Hamptons. In the future they want to expand to the West Coast.
“We’re trying something different, to put out the highest quality product available at a price that’s as fair as it can be.” Worth stopping by for a nap.

Maker&Son
55 White St. by appointment only (and offering tea, coffee and sometimes cake!)
917-280-0200

 

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Who knows where the term loveseat came from, but somehow it has made its way in as the name of this gloriously cosy chair. We took it outside this week into the late autumn sun and Marnie jumped in wearing her lovely new cord suit. She was going to wear her white one but she spilt her breakfast on it on the way over to Kemps xx This photo is one of a series we’ve been taking for a very exciting project we’ve just finished…the first issue of our magazine! It’s called SONG and is packed with lovely photos and stories and some delicious recipes as well. We’ve found some lovely recycled paper to print it on as well. If you’d like us to send you a copy, please message us at song@makerandson.com with your address. We’ll send you one as soon as it’s back from the printer…xxx . . #makerandson #maker&son #natural #family #love #inspirational #blessed .

A post shared by Maker&Son (@makerandson) on Nov 17, 2018 at 12:52am PST