Nick Siemaska, Eric Portnoy, and Brent Refsland in their shop, Room 68.
Photo: Laura Barisonzi for Boston Magazine
Design shop Room 68 is Boston’s answer to Matter (heaven, on the edge of Soho). Owned by three bespectacled design hipsters in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts (an outlying area of Boston), the gallery-like shop opened this past fall. I cringe to say I haven’t actually been (it may be Boston, but it’s a 25 minute drive from my Back Bay sofa). The guys have garnered plenty of press (no surprise, as we get hot and bothered by new design outlets), including write-ups in Boston Magazine, Boston Globe, and Apartment Therapy.
I am familiar with a number of the Boston-area designers whose work if for sale, including furniture maker Jacob Kulin, who I’ve had the pleasure of working with, accessories designer/architect Susana DeVoe of Make.Good Studio, who I met last year at the SoWa Open Market, Debra Folz, a New England Home 5 Under 40 winner, who I met at the party, and Nervous System, a design team with degrees from MIT and Harvard.
Textile designer Cary Hewitt is a new find . . . her reversible rugs look delicious. I love the wood vases from Seth Rolland, and Pelrine + Durrell Design’s Lobster Trap Table is an excellent contemporary interpretation of a vernacular monstrosity.Many of the designers are local, but not all. Room 68 recently launched its online shopping site. Below are the above mentioned items, and more, complete with links both to buy and to the designers’ own sites.
S H O P P I N G
Lobster Trap Table by Pelrine + Durrell Design, $1,500 (Boston)
Comfort/Conform Pillows by Make.Good Studio, $150 each (Boston)
Reaction Cups designed by Nervous System, $60
Lotus and Jasmine Wood Vases by Seth Rolland, $115 (Seattle)
Balancing Blocks designed by Fort Standard, $80.
Turned Leg End Table by Pelrine + Durrell Design, $700 (Boston)
Procession Reversible Rug by Cary Hewitt, $750 (Boston)
Concrete Idea by Kaza Designs, $15
X-Stitch Stool by Debra Folz, $1,600 (Boston)
Twist A Twill Blanket by Tina Ratzer, $140 (Copenhagen)
Spool by Jeb Jones, $450 (upstate New York)
Blossoms on Cherry Reversible Rug by Cary Hewitt, $650 (Boston)
Single Leg Coffee Table by Jacob Kulin, $3,500 (Boston)
Beam Bench by Jacob Kulin, $2,000 (Boston)
Room 68 • 68 South Street • Jamaica Plain • Boston
Photo: Apartment Therapy Boston
