Design Is Storytelling
By: Monika Hanková
Photo: Anna Dave
The Premiere Design League
We met Babak and Siamak Hakakian, two of the powerful sibling trio behind Domus Design Collection Group (ddc Group), at their New York showroom in NoMad Design District, Manhattan. Earlier, we had the rare opportunity to also delve into their private design collections in Kings Point, NY. Specializing in contemporary European furniture design, ddc has over three decades become one of the most important players in the industry. The magnificent windows of their dazzling showroom located in an Art Deco building on Madison Avenue can be seen as a bright entrance into their world and the epitome of their vision: to create a contemporary art museum that tells a story and illuminates and enriches one’s living space with the finest design pieces ever made. The brothers’ authentic, genuine passion for design and architecture is truly contagious.
Monika Hanková: Where has this passion for design started and how was the journey to ddc as we know it today – a high-end, leading contemporary furniture company that will soon celebrate 35 years of existence?
Babak Hakakian (BH): It all has started a long time ago. I always had a passion for art and design as a kid. Although it wasn’t well developed because at that time our parents immigrated to this country, so they were very busy just making ends meet, trying to understand the culture, and making sure that we were okay. When I came out of college, I joined my father who had started this business one year before. And slowly, through the years, I was lucky enough to rub shoulders with some of the best designers and architects in the world. Most of them lived also here in New York, and I was able to interact, communicate and collaborate with them. I never had formal training in design.
Siamak Hakakian (SH): Originally, we were only five people: me, my brother, my father, and two employees. Now, we are 65 people, and we have four showrooms: in New York, Miami, LA and Boston. We are the third generation in the business of furniture and design. My two brothers, Babak and Danny, are amazing at relationships, so they are always focusing on sales and business development. I run the company and have to wear a lot of different hats. Having great partners in my brothers and my father is crucial: whenever I have to make an important decision, I always confer with them, and we discuss and brainstorm in order to make the best possible decision.
Emotional Business
You both grew up in Tehran, Iran, where your grandfather had a furniture company. What’s your grandfather’s story?
BH: Our grandfather was a furniture maker, so he had the craft. The eldest of six children, he lost his father at the age of nine and started to work in a carpenter’s shop to make money to feed the family. Then, after a few years of working there, they went bankrupt. He took the leftover wood and started to make furniture at my great-grandmother’s house. Later, he got involved with some of the wealthier people in Tehran and slowly built his business. And, by the age of 40, he had a furniture empire. Our father was more on the business side and took that company into a different direction: he started a showroom in Tehran and was importing into Iran from Italy in the late 60s and 70s.
Babak, you mentioned that your father said that “selling furniture is an emotional business,” and you made this comment that design is, in fact, all about emotion. Can you elaborate on that?
BH: Absolutely. I think design is about emotion and balance. But there is no right or wrong, and that’s why emotions come in: how you feel about a color or a certain scale or proportion. Design is about a story; it is storytelling. It’s a visual communication. And if you can tell a story and create an emotion – be it a disruptive one or any other – it will have a result. If it’s without emotion, there is no heart, there is no passion. When you are not like everyone else, you can create an emotion. When you are mundane, you are just following.
Who Really Was Philip Johnson
Tell me the story of the cooperation with then 93-year-old Philip Johnson, the legendary and controversial New York architect, co-author of the Seagram Building, whom you deployed back in 1999 to design your new showroom.
SH: I’ll tell you how it happened. It was very simple: I went to a library and basically started flipping through design books and wrote down the names of some very predominant architects. And then I just called them. Interestingly enough, they all came and were interested in the project. One of them was Philip Johnson. The reason we decided to work with him and his partner, Alan Ritchie, was that they were very hands on. Philip Johnson said that he was very interested to do this project because he never designed a furniture showroom before.
BH: I learned something very important when I met with Philip Johnson and worked with him to create our showroom on 34th Street. Now, they call this whole area the NoMad Design District, but back then, south of 34th Street down to Madison Square Park was called the “Dirty Thirties.” There were just Persian rug stores and they used the storefronts as sort of warehouses. This area was so cheap, it wasn’t even a retail space. When we came in 1999, none of these Italian manufacturers were here; it was just us.
SH: Personally, Philip Johnson was wonderful because during construction he would actually come to the project just to see what was going on. And every time he came, he would make a very big decision on site. We really wouldn’t understand why he would make that decision. So, we would all be very quiet in the meeting because we needed time to process. But then, one or two days later, we would be like, “Wow, that’s an amazing idea!” And we could always go to his office, and he would meet with us. He was never too busy.
What a great story and a good example how one can learn from the best of the best, the way they work and communicate.
BH: Yeah. You say the best of the best. Some people thought Philip Johnson wasn’t such a great architect. My point is that it doesn’t even matter if he was a great architect or not. Design is subjective. You could like red and another person doesn’t like red. It’s not right or wrong, it’s not mathematics. Design is not like that, right? Someone doesn’t like Johnson’s work and certain people love his work, but you can’t question his communication skills. There’s a lot of talented people out there, but some of them can’t communicate their ideas. A great example is Zaha Hadid, whom I also had the pleasure of working with. And she ended up becoming an amazing architect, but at the beginning she wasn’t able to produce one project because maybe she couldn’t communicate her wild ideas in the right way.
Anything Can Be Made of Glass
Let’s talk about glass. Glass is often employed in green buildings since it is much friendlier to the environment. What does glass as an innovative, green, and versatile furniture material mean for you?
SH: Glass is an incredible material. It’s structural. It doesn’t move. It’s solid and strong. In our showroom, we built an all-glass staircase. We make glass dining rooms, glass benches, glass wall units, glass kitchens, glass bathrooms… You can make anything out of glass. You can do the glass in all different colors and all different thicknesses.
BH: I’m fond of the glass with the metal mesh on the inside. Glass can be cold but the metal mesh gives it depth, warmth and beauty. It also becomes interactive because when you walk by the glass with the metal mesh on the inside, it sort of moves with you the way the light is refracting. We collaborate with Carlo Santambrogio, who is our glass expert. We work with SkLO, Arcade Murano, Baccarat, and all the different glass manufacturers. I also have a real deep passion for Bohemian glass and blown glass in general.
Mentioning Bohemian glass, ddc is a long-term partner of Lasvit, a company that continues in the thousand-year tradition of glassmaking craftmanship in the North Bohemian region. How do you see Lasvit in the broader context of contemporary glassmaking? What’s your relationship to it?
SH: We have been curating and looking at products for the last 30 years, so our eyes are very keen on when we see a product and if we think it’s going be good for the market or not. When I saw the Lasvit collections, I immediately noticed that it’s a very broad spectrum of products and that it can be used in many different types of projects. They are very flexible in production and they can produce many different things, whereas other lighting or furniture companies have limitations and we can’t allow designers to design what they want. But when you have a Lasvit light, it’s a breath of fresh air because designers are not hearing “no” or “let me find out.” With Lasvit, it’s “we can make it work.”
BH: Lasvit is indeed unique in the way that they can produce anything. They have no limits and that’s what I love about Lasvit. They will experiment and try to do anything that is humanly possible, anything a designer draws on paper. That’s a unique talent to have because you have to be very exploratory and not afraid of trying different things. Not many companies, especially in glass, are that innovative to really explore so many different ideas with glass. It has a lot to do with the people behind the design. Lasvit is very collaborative, very creative. We have had a very good interaction with them both on a commercial and design side for about ten years. I discovered them in Milan. They had a very elaborate chandelier that I remember seeing. That’s when the relationship started.
The fact that they are so willing to explore new ideas, make custom items and use glass in many different ways is where, I think, their strength is. It’s an intelligent exploration. It’s not just like let’s do whatever. It’s not random. They are very specific about it. It’s curated, but still, it’s exploratory. I think Bohemian glass is amazing. We have actually more Bohemian glass in our showroom than Murano glass.
SH: When you walk into our showroom, the first thing you see is a Lasvit chandelier. We put it there because we have to wow people as soon as they walk in. The chandelier gives off a great glow and energy, and it’s just a beautiful piece. For me, lighting is the most important thing in any architectural space. Not the furniture, not the colors, not the materials. Lighting is critical. People always think that if you have more lighting, your space is going to be better designed. But that’s not the case. The case is to have just the right amount of lighting to create a mood. As people come in, the light gives them energy and the image of the light shows them beauty. No piece of furniture can do that.
Good Design Is Always Balanced
Siamak, you have been recently included in the Wallpaper*’s list “USA 400 - Highlighting the people defining America’s creative landscape.” What does this award mean for you both personally and professionally?
SH: When the Wallpaper* gave us this honor, I was flattered. It shows that my life’s work for the past 30 years is something that they respect. And I greatly appreciate that. I think these types of awards are not what they do for people’s business. It’s what it does for the design industry as a whole.
The topic of this issue of Spacial Magazine is “nourishment.” How would you define it and what would you recommend to readers as the best way to nourish yourself?
BH: Balance. If you can create a mindful, balanced life, you’ll always be nourished. And being selfless also, just be giving. You have to balance mind and body. People ask me, “What’s design?” You can describe design in so many different ways and I always say design is about balance. It’s not what you like or what you don’t like, if it’s red or blue, angular, or organic. That’s subjective. But good design is always balanced. For me that balance is inertia.
SH: Time. If you want to make a design of a space you first have to analyze what you want to do in that space, and second, how you are going to make that come alive. It’s not always about what you put in there. People’s designs, their emotions as well as their careers evolve, and when they have more income, they could pick certain brands and products. If they loved a Lasvit light, they could get that Lasvit light. So, if you love it, take the time and take the energy. The core philosophy of ddc is showing our clients what we as curators feel is beautiful, modern furniture, and how we can enrich their spaces and make them feel amazing in those spaces.
