Who Gets to Own the Beige Home Aesthetic?
You should pick up this month's issue of Veranda btw
Hello Readers,
Long time no see ;) As the year wraps up, I’m reading Marina Diamandis’ Eat The World poetry collection. Her music had a profound impact on me in high school and college; to still identify with her art like this when we’re both 15 years older and wiser is special. I’ve also made progress with my new apartment. I got a Tulip shade for my closet that I adore and cut out some pages of coffee table books for my bathroom art. The latter might be controversial, but seeing my favorite prints everyday instead of when I have time to thumb through the books is great. I think you could do this with magazine pages as well, with the right framing. It always comes back to framing….
News:
Kravet Sells Majority Stake to Private Investment Firm
Business of Home broke the story earlier this month. “Kravet, the venerable fifth-generation family-owned house of brands, has sold a majority stake to private investment firm Dunes Point Capital. As part of the deal, the Kravet family will retain a “significant” ownership position and continue to lead the Woodbury, New York–based fabric and furnishings company. Financial terms were not disclosed.” As far as home industry brands in their portfolio go, Dunes Point Capital has a good track record- they acquired Sonneman Lighting in 2018 and Stanton Carpet in 2020. It is also worth noting that, unlike the majority of design brands that have gone the private equity/investment route this year due to bankruptcy, Kravet is in a healthy financial spot. In 2024 they reported $259 million in revenue. Based on Cary Kravet’s public statements that touch on Dunes Point Capital’s AI savvy and support of company growth it seems that this sale is largely for setting up future expansion and market domination. Personally, I’m interested to see how it plays out in the next five to ten years.
Charleston Preservationists are Harnessing the Past for a Richer Future
I am thrilled to say that one of my favorite design stories this month was from a print magazine. Veranda editor and chief Steele Thomas Marcous did a deep dive on how Charleston preservationists are “harnessing the city’s vernacular to reinterpret the past for a richer future”. From sustainable tourism models to students at the ACBA interpreting preservation through a mix of training in historic techniques and modern technology, it is clear that everyone involved has a deep reverence for the significance of functional art in a past, present, and future context. It’s such a cool read and while you can technically access the full story here, I highly recommend picking up a physical copy of Veranda’s holiday issue. It’s glossy, festive, and vivacious- basically everything you want to look at this time of year.
Driehaus Museum Opens Expanded Campus & Lecture Hall
Speaking of ongoing conversations in art, architecture, and design, the Driehaus Museum in Chicago’s River North neighborhood has re-opened the six-story Murphy Auditorium (originally built by Benjamin Marshall and Charles E. Fox for the American College of Surgeons) to serve expanded programmatic activities. It is located right next to the museum’s restored Gilded Age mansion, a must-see for anyone interested in art history or home design.
Carlson is behind the wildly popular (no pun intended) tech accessory brand Wildflower Cases that she co-founded with her mom, dad, and sister (influencer Devon Lee Carlson) in 2013. Her cookware line Lynnee launched over the summer and it’s doing exactly what I envisioned when I pitched a Gabriette X Our Place collab. I’m glad someone is doing it! Gen Z is increasingly pursuing offline hobbies and a strong aesthetic narrative does wonders for reaching them. I also love it because there is something so immensely gratifying about reclaiming traditionally feminine hobbies for young womens’ own self sufficiency and pleasure. POV Your Frontal Cortex Fully Develops has won the Cannes Lion in my heart.
MillerKnoll Announces the Elimination of PFSAS from North American Brand Portfolio of Products
They are the first office manufacturer to do so.
I Stumbled Upon This Influencer Lawsuit Via TikTok & It Melted My Mind
Love it or hate it, the Beige Home Aesthetic is omnipresent in 2024 design, especially when it comes to decor; although the trend dominates over other lifestyle categories like fashion and self-care as well. Oversaturated as it may seem, countless influencers make huge earnings hawking similar products in a rainbow of neutrals. It is particularly popular for a subset of Amazon influencers. But in this cutthroat world of profiting off of shoppers’ overconsumption and impulse buys link-by-link, can these one-woman marketing operations actually copyright their work? Or have e-commerce “vibes” (AKA easy looks that sell) become their own genre? Shout out to the reporter Mia Sato for making a compelling short form video that got me to read her full article and share it with almost everyone I know.
Have a fabulous holiday season everyone, I’ll see you next year!
Ciao XX