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Designs on a hip clientele

A new home furnishing store targets the young and sophisticated .

By ELIZABETH BETTENDORF
Published November 3, 2006

It wasn't long ago that you had to go to New York to see a home design showroom this hip - not to mention locally owned.

This weekend marks the opening of the Voscher Home Collection at 610 S Armenia Ave., an elegant 1,500-square-foot home decor store tucked into a quiet neighborhood of condos and small businesses in the heart of South Tampa's Soho district.

Its founder, Scott Scherschel, is best known for a design firm, Interior Spaces Inc., that he runs with his partner, Chip Vogel. The firm specializes in small spaces, particularly kitchens. Their work has attracted the attention of HGTV, Southern Living and Better Homes and Gardens, and their commercial designs can be seen in the national restaurant chain Ruby Tuesday.

Their showroom, like Scherschel's designs, recalls a mix of movie-star glamour and high-tech sensibility, blending refurbished modern furnishings from the mid-20th century with artistic videos streaming on a flat-screen TV. (See it at www.voscher.com.)

Scherschel paired with the St. Petersburg designers Sally Zimmermann and Frank Chapman, who own the design firm Alice June Graphics, to create the store's funky graphics that appear on fabrics, shower curtains, fabrics and napkins.

Their collaboration can be seen most notably in the large-scale (and small) artwork that catches the eye at the door.

"We wanted to offer something to people who live in loft spaces and have gigantic walls and needed artwork," Scherschel said. "Many people don't want to invest the $15,000 to $20,000 to buy an original piece, so we decided to produce something less expensive."

The digitally created photographic images include everything from archival turn-of-the-century swimmers to an abstract photographic pairing of elbows. Prices average around $350. The artwork will be sold in limited editions, Scherschel notes, and after 50 prints are sold will be pulled from the catalog.

"I always say to Scott that it (the Voscher look) is a combination of all of us, but it's his eye - the way he puts things together - that differentiates him from what other people are doing," Zimmermann said. "He's very discerning and great at editing."

Editing, Scherschel says, is what it's all about. He calls it "curating."

He's already talking to a local potter about creating a line of dishes; and he's mulling a line of pet accessories that would include beds, clothing and other urban must-haves for the pampered Fido or feline.

"One of the things we saw was that there seemed to be a strong market for accessories to compliment this mid-century style," Scherschel explained.

Furniture and lighting are vintage, refurbished and reupholstered, although Scherschel hopes to eventually interest a furniture designer in producing a line just for Voscher.

He branched out from his Interior Spaces business after he and Vogel scaled back their restaurant design work in recent years. He even studied landscape design in New York while searching for another business venture.

His friendship and business relationship with Zimmermann and Chapman goes back five or six years to projects they collaborated on for Ruby Tuesday.

The Voscher showroom was originally part of the Interior Spaces offices, which is located in an adjoining office. Most days, a pack of five Norwich terriers - Bailey, Buckley, Billy, Bobby and Brooklyn - greet visitors. Two belong to Scherschel and Vogel and the rest belong to friends. Scherschel introduces them as "the kids."

A quick peek around the office reveals a cache of high-design vintage: everything from 1960s lamps ($180 for one with disc-shaped shade) to a newly upholstered pale pink 1950s slipper chair ($850). A two-section microsuede sofa - probably from the 1970s - is priced at $1,700. A beautifully designed 1930s fan that doubles as a modern table is priced at $1,195.

"According to its history, it was designed by the guys who made Boeing Aircraft," says Scherschel of the fan that he found in Texas.

It's Scherschel's attention to detail that gives the store its elan, including the Lucite tic-tac-toe set on the cocktail table and the pair of chunky red 1970s women's shoes that look as though someone just slipped off and tossed on the shag rug.

The floors are exposed concrete; the beams black. A display shelf features a selection of cocktail shakers, ice buckets and accessories from the 1930s.

He says he hopes the store will appeal to a young, sophisticated clientele who own lofts or condos and are looking for "cool stuff" to put in them.

"You can go find stuff cheaper," he says," but whatever you buy here, you're not going to find anywhere else."

Zimmerman, who has worked in store display for Macy's and Burdines, says she thinks that "the times are ripe" for a store like Voscher because of the national consolidation of department store ownership and fewer choices for the consumer.

"People are hungry for what's unique and different," she said.

If you go

'Cool stuff' spot

[Last modified November 2, 2006, 08:34:08]