Moooi Opens Its First U.S. Showroom in New York

When Moooi co-founders Marcel Wanders and Casper Vissers decided it was time to open the first stateside showroom for their Dutch design company, they enlisted Winka Dubbeldam, principal of the New York–based firm Archi-Tectonics, to realize the project. They wanted something big, bold, and befitting of the brand’s eclectic style. Together, they scouted a series of sites in Manhattan before selecting a location in the city’s NoMad neighborhood. “The landlord had completely gutted it,” Dubbeldam says of the warehouselike space, with “gigantically tall” ceilings and a raised mezzanine area (which was missing a staircase to access it). “We opened up more walls and found all this wonderful original brick, windows, and a skylight that weren’t being used,” she says. “There was a whole archaeological element to the process.” Filling the oversized expanse with pieces from Moooi’s lifestyle-inspired collection—“all the elements that you can put in a living room,” she says—combined with pecular vintage pieces created a surreal proportion shift. “We took the existing space and paired everything interesting we found with something extreme.”