THE LEPERE CONNECTION

KARMA AND DESTINY

I believe in karma and I believe in destiny. An email I might have erased as just another solicitation ended up being the introduction to CODAworx, a company devoted to promoting and connecting the worlds of art and design. Headquartered in Madison, there seemed to be a bit of destiny creating our initial meeting. The email from CODAworx was an invitation to a focus group made up of interior designers. I had no idea of who CODAworx was. I thought they were some local PR firm trying to figure out if there was a market for them in the interior design arena in Madison. Turned out on the day of the focus group I called in to confirm the meeting and found out I was the only who hadn't canceled. They decided to take me out to lunch and from that lunch I learned about what a fascinating and worldly company they were and they found out that New York caliber designers aren't afraid to live in the Midwest.

At our second meeting I introduced them to an old friend who had just purchased ARTnews and they invited me join CODAworx and attend their annual awards kick-off that was going to be happening in New York at a showroom in the New York Design Center where it just so happens we are stationed as a part of the Access to Design stable of interior designers. This was both destiny and karma. They benefited with Art News becoming a sponsor of their upcoming video awards event

and we were introduced to a new showroom, LEPERE, at 200 Lex.

As the New York Design Center is always extending its marketing hand to its showrooms and promoted designers they came up with a February event titled, Be Mine Design. For the event they paired up each of their thirty designers with one of their showrooms. Designers were to pick a favorite piece of furniture from their chosen showroom and then that pairing would be promoted in publication's advertising and editorial.

We, of course, ended up paired with LEPERE. The LEPERE showroom is relatively new to the 200 Lex collection of furniture and fabric galleries. The showroom recently moved from a loft in Chelsea to their new location on the seventh floor at 200 Lex.

LEPERE hosted the CODAworx art and design awards presentation along with Cindy Allen and Interior Design Magazine during the What's New What's Next event.

Dominic Lepere is the guiding influence at Lepere. He has curated a collection of predominantly European designers with an impressive international reputation.

The collection includes work by Piet Boon, the Dutch architect and designer

and the Italian based Pallucco  designer collective creators of the iconic Fortuny floor lamp along with many other international designers.

For the Be Mine Design event we chose Spanish designer, Joan Lao and his Original Joan Lao collection. A part of the collection is called Changes.

Joan describes the Changes collection as a modular program that allows you to build anything that your imagination might inspire. It is a collection built of mitered elements that combine to offer classic forms with a modern flair in an architectonic and compact character.

We loved the finishes and the unending possibilities in this bench-made line.

You can check out the Be Mine Design event at: http://www.nydc.com/news/be-mine-design/

To top this off the seventh floor at NYDC sponsored another event last night called Seventh Heaven. All of the showrooms on the seventh floor participated opening their doors handing out flutes of champagne and hors d'oeuvres along with a viewing of the Be Mine collections.

Call it destiny or karma but being able to connect with the LEPERE Showroom and Dominic has been a gift. You never know where an offer for lunch may lead. Here's the link to the Lepere Showroom: http://lepereinc.com

THE GALLERY

Mid-Century Cocktail Party at the Spencer Residence, 1950
Julius Shulman, photographer
Represented by Yancey Richardson Gallery