When they first opened shop 10 years ago, skeptics assumed Apartment Zero would soon shudder. The store and accompanying design service offered only the cutting edge in modern furniture and design at a time when more traditional shops dominated DC. Now, owners Christopher Ralston and Douglas Burton are at the heart of a thriving modern design community in the region. Who's Who spoke with Douglas Burton on offering modern design in a city filled with monuments.
You operate a contemporary design store in a city known for a more traditional style. What made you decide to open up shop here?
Well, we've been open almost 10 years now. My business partner is from Chicago and I'm from Houston. We both moved to D.C. because we had noticed from visiting here was that there were no contemporary design stores and no real contemporary design scene in the city. Washington is known as a very traditional city. It's known as a very conservative city so we thought, "Well, you know what, this needs to be explored."
Ten years later, has a "scene" developed?
At the very beginning people were very, very skeptical of us, very hesitant. They said, "oh! These guys will never make it. Everyone's in colonial homes, no one's interested in contemporary designs." But after about two years of being in business, we noticed another design store opening. Then a year later another design store opened. And now 10 years later, pretty much every national contemporary furniture company has showrooms in town. I think it's second only to New York City in number of design-type outlets that are available to the public here.
So, clearly, there are contemporary design lovers hidden among all of the colonial homes. Who is your clientele? Do you get many government people in there?
You know we do. Or we get a lot of lobbyists, I should say. We get a lot of lobbyists and a lot of lawyers that shop with us and a couple of judges, because we are around the corner from the court building. But it's not just government people. We get a mix of all different age groups. It's people not only just living in DC but surprisingly people from Maryland, Virginia, Baltimore. I'd say our customers are little bit more affluent than they were when we first opened.
What makes you stand out in the now-crowded market?
One thing that we've changed as we've grown is that we go for the higher end now, so our customers are little bit more affluent than they were when we first opened. With so many stores here, it really doesn't make any sense to try to compete with the big-box stores that are trying to sell at more accessible prices. So what we are trying to do is be a little bit more unique. Our pieces end up being a little bit more pricey because a lot of our designer pieces are coming from Europe.
What's something exciting that's happening in the design world?
Well, there are a lot of things happening in the design world. What I am noticing is that customers in general are very, very smart now and are very savvy. They are reading pretty much all the design magazines, as they are all being carried by the grocery stores – Surface, Dwell. They know what is happening in the world of design and they are expecting us to be on the leading edge of what is happening as well. I've also noticed trends in different countries. We love Dutch designs. We carry a lot of Dutch pieces. We also carry a lot of Scandinavian designs or pieces that you would find in Sweden, Finland and Denmark, in addition to the typical Italian things that you'll see in most design stores.
What are your clients asking for?
I would say the trend used to be super-minimalism – things that had no decoration on them whatsoever. But I am noticing that people now are much more interested in living eclectically. People will mix in something traditional with something contemporary.
What's out there in the design world right now that you dislike?
One thing I do notice – I don't know if this is a bad trend or not – is a lot of knock-offs in the market. If there is a famous piece that has been designed by Philippe Starck or someone like that, there is inevitably going to be somebody that knocks it off. So you have kind of this bad euro-trash knock-off design – overly glossy sofas in the shape of women's high heels, leopard prints and glossy cabinets. They're trying to look contemporary but not quite hitting the mark.
Like they were aiming for Europe, but they ended up in Reno in the 70s?
Exactly. The Nevada-ization of design! There are a couple of stores in Washington which kind of have that 80's disco baroque/contemporary thing going on. We just try really hard to stay away from that. We just stay with the original designs by the original people. If you really love a piece, you should just take your time and get it when you can afford it.
The economy – what do you think is going to happen with the DC design scene?
Well, honestly, I really believe the city is too saturated right now with design locations. It's just got too much. As far as the economy goes, yes, it affects everybody. I would be lying if I said it didn't affect us. I think that the stores and the showrooms and the design firms that will make it are the ones that are most diversified.
What we've really done well is diversify. We've got commercial interior design services, residential interior design services, we've got the showroom floor. We work with interior designers and architects, we have wedding registry and we do our design events, which we have a passion for.
You're a transplant to DC. Tell me something you love about the city?
I love that there are four very distinct seasons here, because I grew up in Texas, where there is only summer. So I love the fact that spring is beautiful, fall is beautiful and you always have something to look forward to because there always something changing every 3 months.
How about something you dislike about DC and that you would love to see changed?
I don't like the fact that people don't say hello to you when you are in an elevator or when you're walking down the street. I find people here are kind of on edge a lot. They could all learn to be a little nicer.
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