Las Vegas has arrived. We finally have a Design Within Reach Studio to call our own. Located in Summerlin's Boca Park, the petite, 2,460-square-foot suite is stocked full of the company's most popular items, such as the famous Eames lounge chair and ottoman set, the Noguchi coffee table and Nelson bubble lamps.
Right away, those familiar with the DWR concept will notice a difference between this store and most other locations around the United States. Corporate guidelines dictate that DWR must try to locate studios in unique buildings chosen for their architectural relevance and historical context. In other words, the other stores are in cool, funky, hip locations.
San Diego's store is in the Simon Levi Building near the Gas Lamp District's East Village. Portland's is in a structure that was built in 1910. Los Angeles has a new storefront on Beverly Avenue near the Farmer's Market.
What does Las Vegas' smaller location in a beefed-up, strip-mall center, decorated by a series of European-inspired facades and fountains running on imported water, say about what DWR thinks of our city's architectural relevance and historic context?
To be fair, our city is in its architectural infancy, with no relevant or historically significant revitalized places from which to choose. Henderson's historic Water Street and Downtown's numerous revitalization projects haven't started to bloom as in other cities. (Don't worry, they will.)
Sure, the familiar stock makes the Vegas location seem like a furnishing design greatest-hits album, but the store deserves credit for opening at all. It's a big risk. Many in the high-design crowd see our city as a wasteland.
We'll show them, eventually.
In the meantime, run to DWR Studio. Say hello. Develop your eye for design by participating in some of the upcoming workshops the store will host once it settles. Buy a little something fun every once in a while and contribute to the future fabulousness of Las Vegas.
Design Within Reach Studio, 750 S. Rampart Blvd., Suite 4. 933-0998.
Anne Kellogg is a native Las Vegan with a thing for purchasing stuff. E-mail her at
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