Avenue Road's Toronto showroom.

You were born and raised in in Munich. In what ways did your upbringing affect your thinking about design and culture?

My father is an architect. In the seventies, he was pursuing a career as a painter, but then he decided, when I was born, to go back to architecture. He had an architectural office for several decades and recently sold it.

My father’s family is full of art collectors, so I always grew up with art. Even as a child, I was used to having gallerists visiting our home, coming for lunches and dinners. My grandparents on my father’s side had a lot of midcentury modern furniture. Their house was built in the late fifties. Growing up in this environment was fascinating.

The midcentury aesthetic was essentially in your DNA.

Yes, and my mother comes from a family of carpenters. As a kid, I would always play in the sawmill. I grew up with the smell of wood. When I go to see manufacturers today—especially wood workshops—it’s reminiscent of my countless weekends at the sawmill.

Prior to launching Avenue Road, you were working in marketing at BMW. How did you go from cars to couches?

I started at BMW during my university years. I went on to work in several positions there. I began with corporate communications and innovations marketing. We worked on things like video streaming, which back then was revolutionary.

Prior to becoming a design brand, Avenue Road was a gallery of sorts. Tell me about this evolution.

It started as a space more than gallery. Ten years ago, we launched our first exhibit. It was comprised of vignettes arranged within a few hundred square feet, including offices and everything else. Tucked away in one of the side streets of the Leslieville neighborhood, it was a charming space, but we outgrew it very quickly. Initially, we were only a handful of people on staff. Today we’re more than fifty.

What compelled you to start Avenue Road?

I come from a family of art collectors. Aesthetics and artistic expression were always part of my environment, and had a very strong influence on me. As I grew up, I developed a fascination with industrial design—how it shapes our environment. Design is an expression of who we are as human beings. I wanted so much to be a part of that. Avenue Road was a way of participating in a tangible way, as a kind of curator, building big picture setups. The entrepreneur role just felt right for me.

George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg, of the firm Yabu Pushelberg, helped you launch. What was their relationship to the company?

I had met Glenn and George before I moved to Toronto. We’d had a longtime friendship, and it was on a trip to New York that the two of them encouraged me to create Avenue Road. I wanted to have something of my own, something that would give me a way to express my creative side and also my upbringing.

So they were almost like cheerleaders?

Yeah. I learned a lot from them. They were my mentors and business partners for several years. They stayed sort of in the background and let me develop the business. Today, they’re still designing pieces for Avenue Road and giving me advice.

The sitting room of Stephan Weishaupt's show house in Miami.

From the start, what was your vision for the company?

In the beginning, it was an experiment. I had the luxury of having George and Glenn by my side. They guided me to try things out and see how they would be received. Once we understood how the market worked, we found our place.

Beyond that, it’s not just about creating things that are pretty or nice to look at. I want to evoke emotion with our products, to challenge my audience by showing them things that are completely unexpected. That’s really the objective.

How do you go about evoking emotion with products?

I tried putting things on a pedestal, but that felt too much like a museum. I didn’t feel it was true to my nature. Now, nothing is curtained off. You can touch it, feel it, sit in it. And hear the stories behind it. Most people really want to hear what’s behind an object, how it came about. Everything we produce has a back story.

When did Avenue Road transition into a furniture brand?

After the first three years, we took a big leap when we moved into the larger building we’re still in today. I opened the showroom in 2007, and 2008 was the recession. It was pretty much the worst time to open up a showroom.

I didn’t quite know what Avenue Road would morph into—whether it would be a gallery of unique finds, or something more high-end and specialized, like Ralph Pucci or R & Company. At some point I decided I didn’t want it to be too much of a gallery.

How do you choose the designers you work with?

I was never interested in the big, established designers. I wasn’t really looking for the super-young, avant-garde, up-and-coming either. I was trying to put a group of designers together that would complement each other and had a certain style that I felt was appealing to my core market: North America.

Over the years, we’ve built and developed a network of designers and manufacturers who all know each other. It’s like a big design family.

What does it really take to be a part of this family?

We all share a similar vision. The designers I work with are all very open-minded. We’re all very driven to bring new things to the market. At the end of the day, what matters is the chemistry that we have and the mutual respect to do great things together.

What do you think makes these relationships with designers so enduring?

Friendship. And we share similar ideas. I come in and present what I think the market needs and the designer works with me to try and find the best product to fit into the portfolio.

Avenue Road's New York showroom.

What do you think makes Avenue Road so different from other brands?

That we’re trying to present a curated and edited display of things you don’t really see very often. Overall, we’re trying to create a location-specific experience. Visiting each store, with the products and the team, is important.

As you’ve grown the company, what has been your approach as a manager?

Well, I always saw myself as the curator of the whole thing. If I don’t like a design, I will say no. I see certain developments and explore them. We try to make sure everybody is on the same train and not going off in different directions.

I give designers feedback. When I see a business opportunity, I sometimes propose things I feel are missing and would like to develop with them. I’m not the kind of person who says there’s a certain trend we have to follow. It’s not all about this material or that material—every designer has different materials they like to work with. We have someone like Christophe Delcourt, who doesn’t like to work with glass, but he’s strong with woods and veneers. There are others who are very good with glass or stone. Understanding what they’re capable of and what their interests are fits into the bigger picture.

I try not to launch too many new things. Fewer and better is really the goal for me. That’s why I keep the family of designers very tight.

What are Avenue Road’s core values?

I often talk to my team about creating memorable experiences. We want to create an environment that really resonates with people in the furniture industry, which typically does things the same, old-school way. My benchmark is not in the furniture business. I look for benchmarks outside of the industry.

What are some of those benchmarks?

Certain companies in fashion, automotive, and hospitality. They simply do a better job in terms of how they analyze the sales process and the client. A lot of it has to do with the back end. The furniture industry should have better processes—from selling, to shipping, to monitoring quality. The model has been the same for a really long time. In the coming years, there will be big changes, and we need to prepare for those.

Of everything you’ve launched to date, what have been some of the standout pieces?

One of them is the Perry Street Boomerang sofa that Glenn and George [of Yabu Pushelberg] designed for their apartment on Perry Street in New York. It’s commercially very interesting because you can do it in all shapes and sizes. We’ve made it for airport lounges, hotel lobbies, you name it. It’s a very conversational piece. I think it’s a soon-to-be-timeless design and is still something I’m very proud of.

Inside Avenue Road's 8A concept space in Manhattan.

Two years ago you took the majority share in Avenue Road. Why?

At some point, I decided to further invest in it. For me, it was a commitment to say, “I want to grow this business.” I had the confidence—the belief—to grow to a bigger scale.

Why do you think the business should grow further than it already has?

It’s a necessity. In order to be a viable and sustainable business, we need to grow.

Only through growth can we cover North America and cater to all of our individual customers here. While we have clients in Europe and Asia, our current work is geared toward a North American client.

Growth brings greater responsibility.

Yes! I think that it has to work on both sides; otherwise it’s going to fail. The designers have expectations for me, just as much as I do for them. I would like to see that the business goes well for them and that we’re able to expand our market. It takes time, but I think at this point there’s an opportunity for us to grow further into the market.

Do you feel like consumers are starting to understand the difference between what Avenue Road produces versus others in the market?

The internet is obviously the biggest game changer. Our industry has been way behind in the internet evolution, not just in how companies present themselves on the web but also on mobile devices. If companies like Hermès and Louis Vuitton can sell ten thousand bags online, why can’t we sell a sofa or a lamp the same way?

With increased exposure on the web, we also have to deliver faster. When you show a product in Milan and then deliver a year later, it’s no longer time-appropriate. Ten years ago, when companies would present prototypes at Salone del Mobile, that was different. Now, you have everyone running around the fair, taking pictures, uploading instantaneously. Once you present things, you have to deliver them.

Tell me about this new New York showroom. What does this space in particular represent for you?

The idea was really to engage with our customers in a meaningful way. Our typical customers travel a lot and lead hectic lives. Here, they can take their time, and we can provide an environment where they feel relaxed and comfortable. Our thinking is, if they take the time to come to see us, then we must provide an environment that exceeds expectations. It’s a very crucial moment when the customer walks in here.

What does the tenth anniversary of Avenue Road mean to you?

It’s been quite a ride. We made it through the recession. We went through ups and downs. Looking back, one of the biggest things for me is definitely the people. We couldn’t have done this without our relationships. To get the right mix together takes a lot of time and effort, and once you get to that point, you can do a lot. At first, I approached the company with a very wide point of view, and over ten years, I’ve distilled it down to what our business is all about. For me, it’s about learning, traveling, gaining deeper insight into different practices, building upon those personal experiences—and looking toward the next ten.

Christophe Delcourt explains his process.

Bruno Moinard’s intimate showroom in Paris.

Thomas Osten of Obumex leads the group through the process of custom kitchen design.

Inside Tribu’s showroom.

Marileke Van Rossum hosts Avenue Road’s troupe for a farewell luncheon. Scene from the travelers’ day in Amsterdam.

TWI TABLE This signature brushed-oak table is produced in various finishes, including a high-gloss lacquer. It is a prime example of Delcourt’s style. As he says, “I live in my time. Of course I’m modernist.”

KIN SOFA Delcourt’s KIN is a modular sofa that can be configured and custom upholstered in several variations. There are two separable elements and two armrests, enhancing adaptability to the space.

YBU TABLE This clean-lined beechwood dining table inside Weishaupt’s Miami show house was crafted and smoothed by hand before being treated in a high-gloss lacquer.

GIN LANE BAR This mobile bar cart is an assemblage of clear tempered glass and Carrara marble set on a thin frame of smoked brass.

PERRY STREET BOOMERANG SOFA The Perry Street Boomerang sofa was originally designed specifically for Yabu and Pushelberg’s apartment on Perry Street in New York’s West Village. It was made to for a certain 90-degree corner in their living room that required a particularly reduced seat depth, back height, and pitch to create an ideal space for socializing in an urban setting.

PARK PLACE STOOL Named after an ambitious little street in Manhattan’s financial district—where Yabu Pushelberg would eventually design interiors for Robert A. M. Stern’s 30 Park Place tower—this sophisticated stool is fashioned from laser-cut steel and is polished in rose-colored copper or black nickel.

BLEECKER STREET TABLE This low-set, modern table is crafted from solid oak and is anchored by a base of French limestone. The double-cross marble inset was inspired by the Bleecker Street intersection in Manhattan.

BELL TABLE This unconventional piece uses lightweight, fragile glass as the base for a metal top that seems to float above it.

MAINKAI LAMP Mainkai is the name of a long street bordering the Main river in Frankfurt, and its five orbs of frosted glass are a nod to the reflection of light on the water. The LEDs inside each orb are dimmable and operated from a sleek button at the very top of the piece, comfortably reached in a standing position.