Showrooms

AF NY                                                                  Avant Gallery

22 W 21st St # 5                                               3850 N. Miami Avenue

‎New York, NY 10010                                    Miami, FL 33127

(212) 675-2107‎                                                (305) 573-8873

(212) 243-5400‎
afnewyork.com                                                   avantgallery.com

 Zolotas Peabody
515 Lowell St
Peabody, MA 01960-1382
(978) 535-4035
‎www.zolotaskb.com

Rapsel has also launched an exclusive relationship with two showrooms to premiere their new venture, “The Collection” (www.thecollection-afny.com):

RAPSEL ANNOUNCES NEW SHOWROOM OPENINGS
WITH “THE COLLECTION BY AF” IN TORONTO AND BOSTON AREA
JUNE 2009

* * *
NEW YORK – JUNE 2009 – RAPSEL, the innovative luxury sanitary company based in Milan, is pleased to announce two new showroom openings in Toronto, Canada and the Boston Area in collaboration with ‘The Collection by AFNY’ which is being launched in partnership with AF New York. AF New York is a premier sanitary and plumbing company representing the world’s leading contemporary designs for the bath. A dedicated site for this new collective showroom venture will feature seven cutting-edge sanitary design brands, and may be found at http://www.thecollection-afny.com.

“We anticipate great architectural and design community response in both Toronto and Boston to The Collection by AFNY given the immediate attention that the Rapsel brand garners around the world, as well as the consumer popularity of accompanying products designed by Dornbracht and Duravit,” said Bennett Friedman, Principal of AF New York.

The Toronto showroom will be located at Horse Feathers Home, 1400 Castlefield Avenue, Ontario, Canada and the Peabody showroom will be located at Zolotas Peabody, 515 Lowell Street, Peabody, Massachusetts. The Collection by AFNY will include 50 curated product offerings of Rapsel’s iconic architectural and design basin and bath portfolio, to be merchandised along with rotating exhibits of original artwork and complementary sanitary ware from best-selling global brands that include Brix, Cosmic, Dornbracht, Duravit, Frost and Fusital. Renderings of the new showroom concept with curated products are available for press preview.

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Click for originial article

Toronto is launch pad for latest in design

May 30, 2009

Luxury items geared to architects and designers who have a desire to celebrate beauty, quality

Toronto Star
Donna Laporte

REAL ESTATE REPORTER

Toronto is soon to be host to “the best of the best” in interior design products when a top-notch collection takes up residence.

Rapsel is one of seven brands considered the “Rolls-Royce” of their category, says Bennett Friedman, principal and design director for The Collection — AF-NY opening in early June at HorseFeathers Home on Castlefield Ave.

Milan-based Rapsel has been known for its innovation in design/bath for 35 years, Friedman says, and its catalogue reads like a Who’s Who of architects in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Philippe Starck made his name with Rapsel, designing a wash basin for France’s presidential palace, and launched his trajectory.

Rapsel is way ahead of the market, Friedman says, with its use of innovative materials, whether in stainless steel or resin, and new technology in terms of composition.

For example, the Lavasca Mini, a sculptured tub in black matte resin, was designed by Matteo Thun in 2006 and was recently acquired by the Philadelphia Museum of Art for its permanent design collection.

Occupying 3,500 square feet of HorseFeathers’ 55,000-square-foot showroom, Rapsel will anchor the collection, which is geared at a private clientele – specifically, architects and designers. “It’s not consumer-driven,” Friedman says.

But anyone interested in the art of good design will appreciate the iconic pieces represented, he adds.

“It’s aimed at people who have a high regard for design,” he says. “These are people who tend to like food, wine, travel, art.”

Art is also part of the exhibit, with art books created by internationally renowned photographers.

Despite the economic downturn, Friedman says he feels confident about the project, which has been planned for about a year.

“The economy gave us all a moment to think about bringing something new and innovative,” he says, but explains that while the entry level markets are suffering, “this luxury market is a little more secure.”

Although the concept will be rolled out in key U.S. urban centres, Toronto is the launch pad.

“We picked Toronto because we think Toronto is appreciative of good design,” Friedman says.

Toronto – and Canada – “has a great audience of people who can appreciate good art and design and can embrace the concepts we are putting through.”

Even if people become less mobile, they will want to enhance the value of their homes and their experience in them, he says.

He asks his clients: “If you were alive 100 years from now … would you still find this piece beautiful? If the answer is yes, ‘buy it.'”

Environmental concerns are a part of the argument, he says – keeping cheap furniture from ending up in landfills – but more to the point is an appreciation for design, a desire to celebrate beauty and quality.

It’s “investment furniture.”

Other brands to be showcased are: Cosmic, from Barcelona, which does beautiful furniture, with resin tops and wash basins; Dornbracht, from Germany, one of the most recognized brands of faucets in the world; Duravit, also German, for its “bathroom furniture” and the sculptural quality of is fixtures; Frost Design from Denmark, known for its clean, simple, stylish Scandinavian designs of coat hooks, hat stands and railing systems; Fusital, from Italy, whose artistic door handles have been designed by some of the greatest architects in the world, such as our own Frank Gehry; and Brix, also from Italy, an innovative tile company.

For more information, go to horsefeathershome.com.

Toronto Star