With over 100 showrooms featuring events and open houses during PDC Fall Market it’s hard to pick the better from the best! GDG gets in-depth looks at two showrooms that embrace their L.A. stories and are participating in PDC Fall Market.
Jobst Blachy, C.E.O for Quintus, a luxury homegood brand featuring everything from tables and seating to lighting, finishes and mirrors. Quintus was founded in L.A. about 18 years ago, and acquired by Blachy in 2014 – They are also celebrating their 2nd anniversary at PDC this week!
Quintus has created a solidified footprint in the L.A. design industry over the years, especially last year when it opened its new upholstery workroom. Here some of the best upholsters in the world work, and are provided a living wage, health insurance and benefits.
“For many of them, this is the first time in their lives that they have had health insurance. We’re very proud of this. One of our employees hadn’t had a paid day of vacation in over 30 years of working in our industry!” Jobst said.
Not surprisingly, Quintus’ Market event is all about teamwork. At 1:00 PM they will be hosting a program in their showroom, Suite B519, called Walking The Talk: Building Truly Collaborative and Creative Teams, where Jennifer Thibault, an expert on onboarding and team culture, will share actionable ideas that designers can take back and implement in their offices immediately.
“We’re also going to discuss the great value that millennials can bring to your team, and how to address some of the challenges and stereotypes surrounding millennials,” Jobst added.
During Market, Quintus will be introducing 10 new pieces designed by Jobst’s business partner, AD100 and Interior Design Hall of Famer, Roger Thomas. After a very prolific design period this past spring and summer, Thomas sent over 50 new designs that Jobst says, “were just too good not to add to our collection.” Quintus is also introducing 14 new finishes on Oak and Walnut.
Quintus seems to know what L.A. designers and national designers want – truly special design. But, Go Design Go wanted to know in light of Market – Why L.A. is a truly special place for artists?
“Aside from the weather?” Jobst joked, “I moved here just 5 years ago from the East Coast. I have been blown away by not only the level of creativity in L.A., but also by the enormous wealth of talent. Southern California truly is the furniture capital of the world. From fabrication, to finishing, to bronze casting and even Chinoiserie; you can find it all here, and at the finest levels of quality in the world.”
Michael Murphy, the CEO of CinemaTech, also finds a design home in L.A. within the blossoming tech industry. CinemaTech was started in 1998 when Murphy’s original partner was installing his own theater, but back then home theaters were rare and quality for seating was low.
“So, we created a collections of designs that I brought to our German partners and as they say the rest is history,” Murphy said, “To date CinemaTech has produced nearly 20,000 home theater seats for our clients around the world.”
From there, seating success became the first step in CinemaTech’s evolution, which now offers complete theater interiors with a patented Acoustic Room System (ARS), product and bespoke design capability. They manufacture and install nearly 100 true custom, truly individual theaters across the country annually. Often these custom theaters use beautiful fabrics from a superior provider in the PDC.
At 2:00 PM at PDC Fall Market, CinemaTech Home Theater, Suite M26, hosts a CEU presentation for designers addressing home theater fundamentals, including the essential need of acoustical treatments and typical dimensions and sizing along with current theater trends.
Go Design Go also inquired about L.A.’s film scene’s effect on home cinema. Apparently gone are the days of Old Hollywood heavy red velvet.
“The greater L.A. market from Rancho Santa Fe to Santa Barbara is very discerning, Southern California theater enthusiasts have a much greater understanding of the role of acoustics in their theater,” Murphy said. Back ‘in the day’ clients were told what to purchase, today clients are educated and involved.”
CinemaTech’s clients are no strangers to L.A. big screens themselves – serving a variety of clients from Heads of State, Oscar & Emmy winners and Super Bowl MVPs.
These two Oh So Cali centers of design innovation are excited and ready to share their L.A. Stories.