SPRING 2016
FEATURE
Libbey Proves It Is Clearly the Category Leader Celebration of 200 years since the founding of Libbey Glass is a mere two years away. And, for this trailblazer of American industry, it’s all about celebration. Building on its nearing milestone, the company is driven by a “Celebrate This” theme, and it’s reflected in the innovative glassware and dining designs that the brand perennially brings to the table – products that are ideal for celebrating any occasion and all of life’s moments, big and small. Part of the Forty One Madison community since 1981, this past April Libbey moved into a new, 8,500-square-foot showroom on the 7th floor, where the full scope of products for its Retail, Foodservice and B2B divisions is now on display. “It’s very important for Libbey to be at the center of the marketplace,” said William Foley, Chairman and CEO of Libbey, Inc. “Our new, Master’s Reserve
expanded showroom at Forty One Madison demonstrates our
continued investment to revitalize the Libbey brand and connect with our customers. We believe that having all channels of our business represented here is a benefit; it’s effective and efficient. Customers are inspired when they see the breadth of our capabilities.” Robert Zollweg is another reason for Libbey to celebrate. The company’s Global Creative Director, he recently marked his 45th year with the company and has contributed significantly to its voluminous portfolio of dynamic products (not to mention authored several books on the company’s behalf that guide consumers on home entertaining). He also designed the new showroom. “It’s our innovation center and it defines our future,” said Zollweg. “Our ‘Celebrate This’ theme comes to life here through compelling graphics, a vibrant color palette and interesting vignettes.” When the doors opened on the spacious quarters, new products for 2016 took their place among brand staples. Several additions joined “Libbey Signature,” a recent shining-star collection of stylish luxury stems and elegant glassware that mirrors what an upscale bar would use to serve its concoctions. “Pueblo” was a head-turning introduction, the oven-to-table stoneware beauties underscoring the diversity of the Libbey line. “Chemistry Bar,” the inventive collection of beaker, flask and cylinder shapes that speaks to the heightened regard for the science
Pueblo On the cover: A mixologist crafts a cocktail served in Master’s Reserve. 2 WWW.41MADISON.COM
Chemistry Bar
About the time we hit our 40s, the idea of a facelift springs to mind. So it’s no surprise that as Forty One Madison turns the corner on its 42nd year, Rudin Management is giving the building a well-deserved interior makeover. Beginning this June, the lobby and Level A buyer’s lounge are undergoing renovation, with the world-renowned architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) commissioned for the project. Once the dust is settled (estimated in time for October 2017 Tabletop Market), the modernization will look something like this:
Avanti Gusto tea service of drink mixology, continued to attract those on the lookout for the latest, whether for retail or foodservice. Additional to such crossover designs, a fresh crop of merchandise
Reception area
exclusively for foodservice took its place in the space. “Master’s Reserve” is aimed at those behind the bar who are raising the bar on serving craft beverages and demand the caliber of glass to match. Noteworthy also is that Libbey is the exclusive U.S. and Canada distributor of Schönwald dinnerware, bringing popular patterns like “Avanti Gusto” and “Generation” to hospitality operations where Lobby view
artful presentation of food and beverage is as important as their signature cuisine. The Libbey showroom
Elevator corridor view
is open by appointment only.
Stratus cooler Buyer’s lounge
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LOBBY
CHANGES AFOOT
ICONIC DESIGNS
TA BL E’ S TOPS
IC ONIC DE SIGNS OF T HE DECADE S FIESTA dinnerware is an American success story that underscores the resilience of its manufacturer: The Homer Laughlin China Company. Founded in 1871 along the clay-rich banks of the Ohio River, the company quickly distinguished itself as one of the country’s most prolific potteries. The retail muscle of F.W. Woolworth helped contribute to explosive sales, as did clever partnerships like the one with American Cereal Company of Chicago (now Quaker Oats), which for more than half a century packaged each box of its oatmeal with a Homer Laughlin cereal bowl. By the 1950s, faced with increased competition from overseas manufacturers, it wisely shifted focus from consumer to commercial “vitrified china” for the hospitality industry, and the brand remains a leader in that niche market to this day. The renown that Homer Laughlin enjoys owes to the creation 80
tive retailers)…and with a tidal wave of interest from collectors (Andy
years ago of FIESTA by its design director Frederick Hurten Rhead.
Warhol among them) who helped raise the value of vintage pieces…
A second-generation Stoke-on-Trent potter, he joined Homer Laughlin
plus the influence of a consumer audience nostalgic for the vibrant
in 1927 and held the post until his death in 1942. He was able to
tablesettings of their childhood…
witness the whirlwind success of the collection – more
Homer Laughlin reintroduced
than 10 million pieces produced in the first
FIESTA in 1986. The new
three years following its introduction – but
iteration benefitted from a
he probably never imagined his design
switch to the more durable
would attain near-cult status.
restaurant-quality china body
Shape and color define FIESTA.
Homer Laughlin uses for its mainstay
The curvaceous, plump Art Deco
products, along with an innovative
style is accentuated by a
lead-free glaze. The color offering
formation of concentric circles.
also was refined, and while a
The original color palette was
new color is introduced annually,
an assortment of riotous solids
production is edited to 15 popular
evocative of a Mexican fiesta:
shades.
red, yellow, cobalt blue, green
A pinnacle achievement: In 2011
and ivory, with turquoise added in 1937. Fashion trends eventually
the United States Postal Service
had an impact and the color lineup
issued a postage stamp featuring the
changed accordingly, covering the
Disk Pitcher. It was among 11 other iconic
spectrum from pale pastels to deep earth
products honored in a Pioneers of American
tones. But color changes couldn’t stave off a decline in sales. Homer Laughlin retired FIESTA in 1972.
Industrial Design series. What possibly could follow this ultimate stamp of approval? FIESTA is nearing 700 million pieces
If ever there was a comeback in dinnerware history, this is it. At the
sold in the past 80 years. It’s record-breaking coups like these that
urging of Bloomingdale’s (indisputably one of tabletop’s most authorita-
warrant our salute.
4 WWW.41MADISON.COM
DOER’S PROFILE
In founding Crate and Barrel in 1962 with his newlywed wife Carole,
and accessories. So, the first Crate and Barrel opened in a former
Gordon Segal made retail history. It brought a whole new vibe and
elevator factory in Chicago’s Old Town. On a shoestring budget,
vitality to the merchandising of tabletop and home goods, raising
they hid worn plaster walls with raw crating lumber, hammered in
the category’s image from basic household commodity to über cool
nails and hung items for display. Dyed burlap covered shelves. And,
lifestyle designs while creating a
the pine shipping crates in which
new retail experience paradigm.
merchandise arrived became de facto display units – inspiring, as
It was a gutsy stab at a business
well, the store’s name.
the couple knew nothing about. The epiphany to open their own
Segal carefully shepherded the
store occurred soon after their
growth of Crate and Barrel to
Caribbean honeymoon. Why
what’s now more than 120 stores
couldn’t they find in hometown
in five countries. He credits the
Chicago stores, where they’d
chain’s success to knowing its
registered for their dinnerware
customers and sharing firsthand
and gifts, the kinds of chic
knowledge about the provenance
and affordable European and
of products plus the designers,
Scandinavian designs they
craftsmen and factories behind
discovered while perusing
them. He infused the brand with
island shops?
authenticity decades before
The 23-year-olds decided
it was a trending marketing
there were enough like-minded
prerequisite. Segal retired in
young householders who
2008 (though he did return as
actively entertained at home
an advisor to the interim CEO in
and craved reasonably priced,
2014), but he will forever reign as
simple yet stylish tablesettings
a valued industry game-changer.
What china pattern/brand do you use in your home? Impression from Dibbern.
What’s the last book you read? A Passion for Leadership by Robert M. Gates and To Hell and Back: Europe 1914-1949 by Ian Kershaw.
What crystal pattern/brand do you use in your home? Sarpaneva stemware from iittala. If you could host a dinner party for six famous guests—living or dead—who would you invite? Winston Churchill, Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Oscar Wilde and Pablo Picasso.
What’s the last gift you purchased for someone and the occasion? A Georg Jensen watch for my grandson’s 21st birthday. What’s your favorite getaway destination and why? Our country house and farm in southern Wisconsin’s Kettle Moraine area. It is a totally different world an hour-and-a-half from home.
What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Teaching history – I would have loved being a history professor. What one thing about you might surprise others to know? My love of working in our woods at my country house. Cutting and milling trees, building bridges, etc. FORTY ONE MADISON 5
PROFILE
Gordon Segal
SEMINAR
ANTIQUES ROADSHOW
Expert Nick DAWES AWES Seminar Audience
Dawes weighed in on the value of a limited edition color FIESTA bowl.
Journalist Ruth Katz and the bowl she brought for Dawes to appraise.
Dawes with a decorative cigarette holder from the ’50s.
Nick Dawes, one of the most popular appraisers
the table where ticket holders (about 6,000 per
your customer. After all, design and quality
on TV’s Antiques Roadshow, served up fun
show as it travels city-to-city) bring their porcelain
drive the value and that’s what will nail the sale.
anecdotes from his 20 years of appearances
or glass objects. Typically, he appraises about
on the show since it first aired in the U.S., as
1,000 items per show, spending less than a
well as some wise tips for those in the tabletop
minute with each guest. But he’s unerring in
business. A former antiques dealer and
knowing a true treasure when he sees it, finding
Sotheby’s auctioneer whose 9-to-5 job is
all of the appropriate markings and imprimaturs,
• Auctions – live as well as online – can
Vice President of Special Collections for Her-
and putting it all into historical context.
serve as a barometer for the marketability
itage Auctions in New York, Dawes was guest speaker at the annual breakfast seminar during The New York Tabletop Market. He was a huge
more interested in the history and provenance
hit with the audience – especially when he
of a piece rather than its monetary value – and
regaled them with a tale of steering a gentleman
that story is what should inform a retailer’s
who’d nearly sold an old perfume bottle to
playbook, he said. His tips, although familiar
an antiques dealer offering $200, to auction it
wisdom, bear repeating:
Lalique, netting a $216,000 bid!
be used and enjoyed every day – don’t doom them to collect dust in cupboards and closets.
of merchandise. In fact, most people who come to a show are
instead. The piece turned out to be a signed
• Even the most precious possessions should
Dawes concluded his presentation with on-thespot appraisals for pieces that guests had brought from home – everything from an etched sterling silver ceremonial wine cup spirited out of Poland during the Holocaust to a limited edition raspberry-colored FIESTA bowl. Though most
• Start the story when you’re selling tableware were of high sentimental value, there were no big – know the history of the manufacturer,
ticket items among the lot. Still, it was the story
For Roadshow, Dawes specializes in tabletop
the details behind the design, the designer
behind each that gave it its worth, and made
and décor items and, he said, he presides over
and how an item is made, and share that with
the session special for everyone who attended.
6 WWW.41MADISON.COM
NEW YORK TABLETOP SHOW ® I SEPTEMBER 27 – 30, 2016 I APRIL 4 – 7, 2017
DESIGNER DAY
MAD4Each Other Interior designers increasingly are Forty One Madison fans. In search of the accessories and finishing touches for their client projects, they value the incredible range of prestige brands that are under one roof here, plus the chance to meet and discuss the potential for custom work directly with the manufacturers who are present during the Tabletop Show. No wonder
A crowd packed A Voce for the Interior Designer Day event.
Interior Designer Day attendance has quadrupled since its inaugural in April, 2010 – an initiative supported by more than 80 brands that allow Direct Designer Access. It helps, too, to have great media partners like Traditional Home magazine and Editor-At-Large which use their muscle to drive interest among this market segment. Their recent activations: Traditional Home hosted a breakfast and panel discussion on the value and impact that tabletop and accessories can bring to a designer’s business.
Interior designer/panelists Robert Passal, Katie Leede and Michael Devine.
Senior style editor Krissa Rossbund moderated.
Designer Kim Scodro on the hunt for inspiration at the Richard Ginori showroom following the panel discussion.
Kelsey Peterson and Jonathan Tait from Scully & Scully.
Chrissy Karas and Beth Brunner from Jeremiah Brent Design with Rebecca Eisenberg from Provocateur Media.
Editor-at-Large trained its camera on interior designer Alex Papachristidis for a video that resides on its website. A compelling production, the short provides a peek at how he sets a “fantastical table” in his own home, sourcing some of the finest from Forty One Madison showrooms and combining them with heirlooms and collectibles from his global jaunts.
Alex Papachristidis and Mottahedeh’s Paul Wojcik work in the showroom on selections from Robert Haviland & C. Parlon.
NY NOW
I
A stop at the William Yeoward Crystal The Sieger Designs collection at the Fürstenberg showroom was imperative. showroom is another “go-to.”
AUGUST 20 – 24, 2016
I
FEBRUARY 4 – 8, 2017
The maestro and his exquisitely orchestrated table!
FORTY ONE MADISON 7