That
breathtaking new structure you’ve gazed at along Kapiolani Boulevard,
stretching from Pensacola to Piikoi and turning heads all along the
way, is the Honolulu Design Center. And for those who appreciate
contemporary beauty and fine living, what’s inside couldn’t have
arrived soon enough.
Featuring
designer home and office furnishings, the center’s six showrooms, three
levels and 80,000 square feet are shopping paradise, an oasis of
elegance for the urbane and fashionable. From everyday to high-end to
once-in-a-lifetime items, the showroom carries more than $10 million
worth of retail stock, available for immediate delivery.
Where
to start? At Rodeo Drive, obviously! This first-floor gallery holds the
Honolulu Design Center’s ultra-exclusive lines of designer furniture,
including Fendi Casa, Natuzzi, Molteni & C and de Sede. Adjacent is
the Cliq Lighting display, which features contemporary Italian lighting
from Flos, Foscarini, Oggetti, Artemide and Tech Lighting.
|
HONOLULU DESIGN CENTER
1250 Kapiolani Blvd.
Open: Mon. – Sat., 10 a.m. - 9 p.m., and Sun, 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Tel: 956-1250
Web site: www.honoluludesigncenter.com |
“Our
new galleries are very exciting. Many of these designer lines have
never been available before in Hawaii and are exclusive to the Honolulu
Design Center,” says owner Thomas Sorensen. He founded Scan/Design
Furniture in 1979 and INspiration Furniture in 1997, but always dreamed
of showcasing many diverse product lines under one umbrella.
“Before
the Honolulu Design Center,” adds president Peter Skaaning, “anyone who
wanted these types of items had to go to San Francisco, Los Angeles.
Now, we actually have a better selection than the West Coast. Last
week, a customer from the Mainland said he’d never seen anything like
it, anywhere.”
Discern
great pride in their new superstore? You bet. It’s a dream come true,
and a long time coming. Sorensen and Skaaning are also excited to
communicate a fun and colorful lifestyle image to their Hawaii
neighbors, rather than just sell furniture. This vision, an avant garde
approach to retail, permeates the entire Honolulu Design Center.
 |
|
The Honolulu Design Center’s stunning first-floor galleries.
|
Take
Bo Concept, for example, which caters especially to people who are
tired of picking out furnishings bit by bit. This Danish line of
modular home furniture and accessories introduces customers to a new
concept in furniture buying: the whole lifestyle image.
In
other words, customers can buy a complete living room set, rather than
choosing individual pieces of furniture to fill the room. Everything in
the set reflects a sole, harmonized look and, more importantly, creates
a rhetorical statement about you as a person.
Next,
glide up the escalator to the mezzanine, where customers can browse the
original INspiration furniture lines. The ride to the third level
introduces the Studio Works of Jesper and Scanbirk office interiors and
the rustic twist of Casa Hoku contemporary home furnishings. You simply
can’t turn a corner without something whimsical catching your eye.
 |
|
The INspiration showroom on the mezzanine level.
|
“I
think fun and colorful lifestyle living is what we’re all about,” says
Skaaning. “Our furniture is sleek, affordable, colorful and fast. We
have a lot of fun with it and we’re not afraid of bold colors. We’re
not regular stuff that you can buy anywhere. A sofa may be a sofa, but
when you change to our sofa, it tells a different story, your
lifestyle.”
“Plus,
all of our merchandise is so flexible; it can be modified to fit any
size apartment without seeming cluttered,” Sorensen adds. “Mixing is
very popular to get an eclectic look. You can get a Fendi sofa and a
Tonelli table, and they look just great together.”
The
man should know. Since 1979, he’s successfully captured the furniture
tastes of Hawaii residents. His latest project, this crème de la crème
of furniture showrooms, took seven years to build but opens its doors
in perfect sync with the completion of more than 1,000 new condominiums
in the nearby Kakaako district. Talk about good timing.
[ MORE THAN A SHOWROOM ]
More
than a showroom, the Honolulu Design Center also comprises the Crema
coffee bar, the upscale Stage couture cuisine restaurant headed by
famed chef Jon T. Matsubara, the automated self-serve A*muse wine bar,
and the chameleonlike Cupola Performance Center.
“We’re
creating a community house, where people explore and dream and love to
come,” says Sorensen. “Not necessarily attracting an upscale crowd
only. Rather, for sophisticated people, more mature people, who
appreciate wine tastings and public events.”
Everything
from fashion shows to mini-operas, dinner theater, art exhibits,
graphic design, association meetings and community and nonprofit events
makes the Honolulu Design Center a gathering and entertainment
destination like no other in Hawaii. Jazz Night with Rich Crandall,
Midweek Music Mixer films and Cuisine & Screen Sundays will kick
off in April. “Just the fact that you can make a dinner reservation at
a Fendi or a Molteni & C table,” Sorensen says, “is a brand-new
concept that’s probably never been done before.”
