NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Elegant design district showroom marries art and craftsmanship

BY LESLIE J. THOMPSON

The World Wide Web was vast, undiscovered territory 20 years ago, when Jim Hines bought the domain name guggenhome .com. “At the time, I was thinking I love modern furniture and modern art, and I would love to create a gallery where you could experience and appreciate both, in an environment that allows you to see how they can interact with each other,” says Hines of the vision behind the moniker.

This spring his dream finally became a reality when Hines left behind a 23-year career in the mortgage industry to launch Guggenhome, a new retail space in the Dallas Design District.

The one-time automotive garage on Riverfront Boulevard has been reimagined as a 3200-square-foot showroom filled with vignettes that combine beautifully handcrafted modern furnishings with contemporary art pieces. Each of the 10 inviting scenes has a unique name and stylistic leaning. The Estude Collection evokes feelings of tranquility, matching a low-profile pale gray sofa and coordinating armchair with a hexagon-patterned oak sideboard and intricately curved oak tallboy. In contrast, the vibrant Nazare Collection features a chartreuse couch, azure leather side chair and tangerine ceramic table lamp. Across the showroom floor, the Obidos Collection combines modern and vintage styles, pairing a mid-century-inspired armchair upholstered in an orange geometric print with a sectional sofa dressed in a light linen fabric. Vivid abstract paintings on the wall above stand in bold contrast to the organic textures of a walnut lounge chair with woven leather straps and three wooden coffee table cubes that complete the scene.

Hines and his partner, Martin Wingerter, curate the pieces from East Coast studios and European makers. “We wanted something that was handcrafted, something that was unusual,” says Hines. When the couple got married in Portugal, they discovered furniture maker WEWOOD and knew they had struck gold. “Every one of their pieces is hand joined with beautiful wood crafting. I fell in love with them immediately,” he says. Guggenhome now carries the largest WEWOOD display in the United States and is working with the manufacturer to create new pieces exclusively for the American market.

To supplement the line, Hines and Wingerter traveled to the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York, where they met the young couple behind the industrial design studio Wüd. The modern furniture line combines wood and metal with precision crafting that makes each piece both luxurious and durable. Guggenhome also features contemporary and mid-century-style seating from Younger Furniture and sculpted wood tables from Bones Studio that are at once organic and structural. Throughout the retail space the furnishings are elegantly illuminated by fixtures from SkLO, a California-based studio that uses handblown glass from the Czech Republic in all of its lighting collections, and the Portuguese company DelightFULL.

The expansive showroom also features fine art from a dozen world-class painters and sculptors. The roster includes local artists Tamara White, Julie Dailey and Glenn Comtois, as well as San Francisco-based artist Rick Griggs, and Andrezj Majorowski. Guggenhome is open Tuesday through Friday from 10am to 6pm and on Saturday from 10am to 4pm for retail customers interested in exploring the marriage of high-quality furniture with art. The showroom also offers a special discount for designers. Although some customers will purchase all of the furniture in a given collection, others start with a couple of pieces and save up for the remaining items, notes Hines. He adds, “They realize the pieces are unique and are as much of an investment for your home as the artwork on the wall or the handblown light fixture hanging from your ceiling.”

From Hines’ dream to a reality, Guggenhome now provides stunning works of art and fine furniture to make designing any home a dream come true for you as well.

Leslie J. Thompson is a Dallas-based freelance writer with a passion for interior design.

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