This New Textile Showroom Is a Dark Academia Wonderland
There’s always much to celebrate with new beginnings, but with that, inevitably, comes the closing of an older, often beloved chapter. For textile brand Zak+Fox, that reality meant leaving behind its original New York City showroom for a larger location just a bit farther downtown.
“I was so heartbroken to leave our last place,” founder Zak Profera tells ELLE DECOR. “But, functionally, we were bursting out of it.” The new showroom—a sprawling 6,000-square-foot penthouse unit on Park Avenue South—signals a fresh start not just in terms of real estate, but also in terms of the brand’s products.
Zak+Fox’s previous home was situated in a prewar building in Chelsea, so maintaining a sense of history and storytelling in the new iteration was paramount. A difficult task, though, as the previous tenants were about as far removed from a romantic, old New York idyll as possible. “This was a tech startup before, so it was all empty office space,” says Profera. “There was yellow bamboo flooring. So we redesigned everything.”
Up came the offending flooring and up went new walls to make the space feel less corporate and more stylish. Zak+Fox’s range of fabric options are housed in custom oak display cases, some with glass doors and velvet-lined drawers, a subtle nod to Deyrolle, a store in Paris whose wonder-filled cabinets contain fossils, taxidermy, and more.
The effect, overall, is part moody New York City apartment, part dark academia hideaway. “It feels a bit like a noir film set,” adds Profera. “The view is amazing, so we get spectacular light, and with the blinds you get this private-detective-agency effect.” Vintage lighting and furniture sourced from Paris’s famous flea markets add another layer to the old-meets-new aesthetic.
Zak+Fox’s new showroom comes at a busy time for the brand, as it unveils its first-ever line of rugs, as well as its largest textile collection, Harvest, to date. Both are spotlighted here, with rugs hanging on the walls and positioned beneath lounge chairs. The space also plays host to one of the brand’s most integral team members: Kuma, a playful Shiba Inu. Prior to Kuma, there was Shinji, the first “fox” of Zak+Fox; a new Harvest pattern was designed in the late pooch’s honor.
Kuma, meanwhile, can often be found lounging in Profera’s new office—where a felt portrait of Shinji, ever watchful, hangs.
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