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A Thoughtful Mix Design Within Reach opens its second Michigan studio, celebrating local craft and community TEXT BY CHRISTINE HOPE HILDEBRAND
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or decades, design enthusiasts have made pilgrimages to places like Miami’s Design District, Milan’s Brera neighborhood, and New York’s SoHo, where worldclass showrooms create destinations as much as shopping experiences. Closer to home, downtown Birmingham is beginning to cultivate a design identity of its own. With design-forward retailers including RH Detroit, CB2, West Elm, Serena & Lily, Ethan Allen, Arkitektura, Visual Comfort,
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the Kohler Store & Showroom, the nearby Michigan Design Center in Troy, and more, the area continues to establish itself as metro Detroit’s premier destination for modern interiors. The newest addition, which opened in May, is Design Within Reach’s Birmingham Studio, a 7,757-square-foot showroom that celebrates Michigan’s remarkable design legacy as much as it showcases contemporary furnishings. Housed inside the historic Wabeek Building, designed by legendary Detroit architect
Albert Kahn in 1928, the showroom preserves the building’s architectural character while introducing a distinctly modern retail experience. Rather than erasing the building’s history, the design team chose to celebrate it. “I think our location and store design make for a distinct shopping experience,” says Debbie Propst, president of global retail at MillerKnoll, Design Within Reach’s parent company. “We preserved original elements and structural features of the building such as columns, beautiful limestone, and exterior piers, and integrated them into new interiors to create a dialogue between past and present.” The connection runs even deeper. Kahn also designed Cranbrook House, which serves as another thread linking Birmingham’s newest showroom and one of America’s most influential centers of design education. Located less than 3 miles from the Cranbrook Academy of Art, the store embraces that legacy through its carefully curated assortment of iconic furniture by Cranbrook-connected designers — including the Eames Lounge and Ottoman, Eames Molded Plastic Chairs, Saarinen Tables and Tulip Chairs, Saarinen Executive Chairs, and Harry Bertoia’s Diamond Chair. It’s an especially fitting location, considering many of the designs that helped define modern American interiors were conceived, refined, or influenced just minutes away. “In our stores and across our campaigns, you’ll always see iconic and contemporary designs thoughtfully mixed and layered together — a full expression of modern design from the leading brands and makers from around the world,”
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF DESIGN WITHIN REACH
“We sought to create a flow that mirrors real home environments for personalized long-term living spaces, not simply a warehouse showroom,” says Debbie Propst, president of global retail at MillerKnoll, Design Within Reach’s parent company.