Lessons to learn from Design Within Reach
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This was a message sent out to my list that got really good feedback, so I reposted it here for everyone to read.
Yesterday was a cold, sort of wet day — not good for an active toddler! We strolled around downtown and went in different stores to pass the time. One of these stores was Design Within Reach.
I had only seen the catalog, so I was interested in looking around and sitting in all the chairs. I couldn’t believe the price tags! $1000 for what looked like a silver lawn chair… $180 for what appears to be a simple children’s coat rack (I actually own this.) $3000 for simple glass tables and simple couches.
But I had to admit, there was *something* about every piece there that set it apart from its IKEA and Target knock-off cousins. Everything seemed so thoughtfully designed, and all the couches and chairs were actually comfortable. I was surprised, having only shopped at IKEA and Target for furniture, at how sturdy the pieces seemed. This was not disposable furniture, but stuff that you could give your children for their first apartment so that they would have at least one classic work of design.
The store had no music playing, which I really like. Everything was quiet, spacious, and inviting. The price tags were not paper, as I had originally thought, but magnetic holders with printed magnet labels stuck on them. How smart!
The one sales person greeted me politely, but left me to meander around. He did not say a word about my son trying out all the chairs (I did make him take his shoes off.) When he saw me looking at a particular couch, he engaged me in intelligent discussion about design. He told me that he has several of the pieces in his own house, including the couch I was trying out.
My son started getting bored, so we had to go. On our way out, I noticed this quote printed on the glass wall:
“The details are details. They make the product. The connections, the connections, the connections. It will in the end be these details that give the product its life.”
Charles EamesFor those of you who read my paper, “The Difference Between Something Good and Something Great,” this should serve as a real-life example of how excellence makes vastly more money than simply good. Design Within Reach produces the equivalent of First Class tickets. Yes, they are basically the same as the cheaper IKEA products, but DWR totally outclass IKEA in its attention to detail in all the areas that count… not just the products, but the entire customer experience.
I, for one, will be thinking about how to apply this to my life, and certainly my business.
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Katherine Durkes
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