FAR-OUT FURNITURE

Some people call it furniture. Some call it art. Some call it the best innovation since sliced bread. Some call it just plain weird. “It” is Memphis: innovative furniture that sells like art and looks pretty weird to most people. And Memphis is coming to Dallas.

The world-famous furniture is designed by an international group of artists, architects and designers who are given the freedom to create furniture that is devoid of industrial constraints. For example, a bookshelf designed by the founder of Memphis, Ettore Sottsass Jr., doesn’t have the typical vertical shelves; instead, they are placed at various angles. A loveseat is shaped so that two people sitting on it are at comfortable angles for face-to-face conversation; a dresser is made with see-through drawers so that if you’re looking for that certain yellow sweater, you’ll immediately know where to find it. Practicality, in a word, is the key to Memphis.

Grace Designs, a Texas corporation that imports the Memphis collection, was operating strictly out of Houston until owners Thomas Lear Grace, Lorry Parks and John W. Caldwell rented a space in the Oak Lawn Design Center. The temporary show was so well-received that the owners decided to relocate their permanent showroom here. Parks says that the attraction of the furniture market coupled with Dallasites’ “willingness to accept the furniture” made the move logical.