Shopping Trip: Room 68 In Provincetown

This weekend we went out to the Cape, where we ate, drank, and slept rather a lot. On a trip to Provincetown (the boys wanted new Swiss Army knives) I stopped into one of my favorite home decor shops in Provincetown, Room 68. (Actually, it is my very favorite Provincetown boutique).

Brent Refsland is the creator of home design shop Room 68, which first opened in Jamaica Plain, Boston, before relocating to 377 Commercial Street in Provincetown on Cape Cod in 2014. Over the last couple of years he has begun curating fresh, contemporary artwork in addition to cutting edge home furnishings.

Here’s a tour of what is in store at Room 68 this month:

Copper Chair By Bend Goods Bent Wood Shelf

I love this copper geo chair from Bend Goods, which would have been perfect in that model apartment I decorated last year at Troy Boston. The curved floating shelf is gorgeous.

Bass Bowl And Resin Salad Servers

This organic brass bowl is an unexpected piece for greens and makes a great contrast to the resin salad servers by San Francisco-based designer Tina Frey.

Bubble Chandelier By Pelle At Room 68

Finish Options For Bubble Chandelier By Pelle

The PELLE Bubble Chandelier made of a cluster of blown glass globes is stunning and comes in a variety of finishes.

Sarcastic Greeting Cards At Room 68

Sarcastic greeting cards for when you don’t really mean it, but have to say something.

Geo Dipped Cutting Boards By Bower

Cutting boards in geometric shapes and bright, dipped colors by Bower. Use the blank side to cut and the colored side to look at.

Helsinki Speaker by Vifa Table By Tina Frey

Helsinki wireless speaker by Fifa produces a crisp, loud sound. Yes, he cranked it up. The pretty blue table is by Tina Frey.

Graphic Provincetown Poster At Room 68

In case you forget where you are. This graphic Provincetown print by Liz Roache comes in various colors and makes a great housewarming gift.

Nylon Pouch By Alaina Marie

These nylon mesh pouches by Alaina Marie are super cute. They are inspired by a lobsterman’s bait bag, created with the same marine grade materials, but in way better colors, obv.

Resin Bowl & Resin Salad Servers By Tina Frey

Resin salad servers and serving bowls by Tina Frey are hand sculpted in San Francisco. The large bowls are great for serving pasta or leafy greens.

Solar Puff Light By Alice Soo Chun

Professor of Design and Material Culture at Parsons in NYC, Alice Min Soo Chun invented this new Solar Puff light that is useful for camping, the patio, or just whatever in the dark. They fold flat and expand into cute little cubes.

Sandpaper Artwork By Brent Refsland

Room 68 owner Brent Refsland, who has traditionally worked in photography, takes on a new material with these cut sandpaper renditions of sandcastles. They look great in a grouping of three or four.

Laser Cut Jewelry By Nervous System

Cambridge-based company Nervous System gets all shiny with this statement laser cut coral necklace. The spiral cuff up in the corner is cool too.

Copper Flasks Made In Brooklyn By Surname Goods

Because everyone needs a flask, especially in summer. (Summerhouse shares, traffic, family, etc.)  These well-worn copper beauties by Surname Goods are made in Brooklyn, natch.

Stoneware By Michele Quan

Wheel thrown stoneware by Michele Quan is beautiful. She makes ancient style bells too.

Porcelain Teapot With Copper Accents

These matte porcelain coffee pots are perfection, thanks to the minimalist silhouette and spare copper details.

Success Failure Text Art By Cody Justus

A typography diptych by artist by Boston-based artist Cody Justus.

Kawa Porcelain Vases By Souda

Kawa vases and vessels designed by Souda are slip-cast in reusable leather molds. The blue color-plate etching on the left is the work of Boston-based artist James Mustin III, who earned his MFA at MassArt.

Copper Mirror By Bower At Room 68

Copper and smoky mirror behind the desk at Room 68.

 

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ARTmonday: Geometric Abstract Paintings By Boston Artist John Guthrie at Room68

MassArt graduate John Guthrie, who previously studied aerospace engineering, has a fantastic show mounted at Room68 in Provincetown, a contemporary design shop cum gallery on Commercial Street. I stopped in last week and was wowed. I never made it to owner Brent Refsland’s original space in Jamaica Plain, though I feature pieces from the shop in my roundups for the Boston Globe all the time.

Refsland has a great eye and appreciation for contemporary design that doesn’t sacrifice useability. His shop could just as easily be at the ICA or MoMA (without the incessant branding), with furniture, accessories, and jewelry by designers who include Tina Fey, Black+Blum, and De La Espada, as well as  local stars Debra Folz and Nervous System. He plans to stay put in Ptown for a while, after having transformed a tired women’s clothing retail store into an airy gallery space with white walls, track lighting, and pale wood floors last year.

An exhibition of Boston-based painter John Guthrie’s geometric abstract paintings is currently hanging. (According to Guthrie’s resume, in 2009 I wrote something in the Globe that included an image of his work—I’m guessing it was a decor story about a home with one of his paintings—but I can’t find it in my archives.) Guthrie’s work is crisp and delicious. The precise geometric forms in clear colors and perfectly shaded partner tones pop off the earthy tree trunk backgrounds, a sublime blend of mathematics and the natural world.

The geometric abstract paintings on tree trunk slices are available for sale at Room68; the canvases are also available online; prints on Etsy.

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Photography by Marni Elyse Katz for StyleCarrot
Portrait of Guthrie in the gallery by Brent Refsland for Room68.

Site Spotlight: Room 68

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