Showroom

Avenue Road

By appointment

A 5,000 square foot loft in NoMad arranged as a residence rather than a showroom, with a custom kitchen by Bruno Moinard for Obumex at its centre.

Avenue Road is a furniture dealer on the fifth floor at 145 West 28th Street, above the flower district, and it is seen by appointment Monday to Friday rather than walked into. Avenue Road puts the New York showroom at 5,000 square feet, laid out as room settings rather than as a product grid.

What it carries is contemporary European furniture across seating, tables, storage, lighting, beds, outdoor, rugs, textiles and accessories, alongside the group's own houses. Weishaupt Design Group, Man of Parts and 5oz are sister companies rather than represented lines, which means the dealer and the maker are the same business on part of the floor and a designer is dealing with the source rather than an agent.

Avenue Road holds inventory in North America as well as selling to order, so a piece that is in stock ships in weeks where the same piece made to order runs to months. On a job with a move in date that distinction decides the specification as much as the design does.

An upper floor by appointment showroom is a deliberate trip. The gain is that the room is quiet and the settings are intact, which is the right condition for bringing a client who needs to see a scheme rather than a catalogue.

Ask what is stocked before falling for what is not. The same sofa in the stocked programme and in a custom finish are different projects, and the moment to find out is while the client is still choosing rather than after the drawing is approved and the lead time lands.