Dedon’s new DDB showroom is a summer Friday hangout space we can get behind. In late February, Dedon opened its new doors at the D&D building, spilling happy colors and light into the 7th floor and out onto 3rd Avenue. GDG met with Dedon’s co-founder and head designer Sonja van der Hagen in a fresh corner of the 5500 square feet showroom. Then we took a stroll through Dedon’s sunny vignettes and tested out their new ‘Aiir’ chairs on the other end of the showroom. Just hours beyond our conversation, the showroom would be inhabited with design lovers gathered for their grand opening party, no power tools in sight.
(Above) NW corner of the showroom where GDG and van der Hagan meet
It’s as if the space was made for Dedon. Wrapped in large paned windows, Dedon, a company so focused on creating the connection between the indoors and outdoors with the use of organic materials and colors, effortlessly packaged its showroom to feel like a Mediterranean oasis and not a retail space.
“New York is very important to us. It’s a very important market. More than 50% of the world’s population is going to live in very large cities in the future, so it’s a very important example for us. People who live in cities have a higher need and requirement to connect to nature. That makes it necessary to create outdoor spaces in all sizes,” said Sonja van der Hagen, who spends a lot of energy designing Dedon product but also lends her time to opening and decorating showrooms to be ready for the public.
(Above) West side of the Dedon showroom. Windows facing 3rd avenue.
Van der Hagan recognizes the trend for bringing the outdoors inside, whether it be with plants or having outdoor furniture that can live indoors. “Of course, we don’t want to copy nature, but we still want to have references that give us the feeling that nature is not far away.”
[Figure 1] Terracotta colored wall in the SE corner of the showroom. Image taken by GDG.
“Color wise we put a lot of attention to reflecting the existing light in a nice and warm way. So you’ll find a lot of beige tones and natural off-white [tones] combined with colors like terracotta. You can see here on the wall [Figure 1] applied with a special technique to have more of a natural look.”
(Above) Dedon’s most iconic piece- The Hanging Lounger- feat. in the showroom’s entryway
For van der Hagen, flexibility in showroom seating, showroom workspaces, and products was important for her and her team.
“The desks that are distributed within the showroom are placed that way so people can have their own working environment, can have peace, to work to talk on the phone, to do what they need to do. The working areas are not overloading the showroom, they are quite discrete, but in reality, they are full functioning workspaces with a lot of storage,” says van der Hagen.
High-function is the brand’s leading priority, reflected in product, but also in the movement throughout the showroom. The Dedon team decided to add a wall in the middle of the showroom to create a natural circuit for people to follow. “We didn’t want you to enter the showroom and see everything at once because then it’s difficult to focus on any single exhibition that we created,” van der Hagen said.
(Above) To the right of Dedon’s entrance
Before entering the inviting and calm space, one is greeted by a window display showcasing the new ‘Aiir’ chairs. The approach to the window display was very different than the approach for the rest of the showroom.
(Above) Dedon’s window display showcasing the ‘Aiir’ Chairs
“With the window, we took the liberty to treat it more like an installation. That’s the difference to the showroom. The target for the showroom was to have a comfortable space. We wanted it to be a welcoming, warm space where you feel like spending time. The window is an exception. We said ‘lets go for an installation that’s fun, which can change more often, where we can be more dramatic in the design of the wall and floor’. The idea behind the window concept was to show the transparency and lightness of the ‘Aiir’ Collection and this why is why there’s a large band flying through the window and through the aiir chairs,” van der Hagen said.
Van Der Hagen is especially excited about new outdoor upholstery in the ‘Brea’ Collection, composed of various seating selections and combinations, as well as tables. See the new comfy collection here and visit the new showroom at the D&D Building, suite 720 to see it for yourself.
*All images were taken by photographer Federica Carlet unless otherwise noted.