Philly Style • November/December 2002
Home & Design More Than the Bare Minima

While designing spaces in Philadelphia, where she had just moved from Los Angeles, Eugenie Perret found herself constantly going to New York to look for furniture. Finally, in 1999, she and her stepsister Juliette Brody started their own shop. Minima, on two floors in Philly's Old City, has quickly become one of the area's preeminent sources for all things modern. When Minima (118 North 3rd St.) first opened its doors three years ago, many visitors questioned why anyone would open an all-white gallery of stunning contemporary furniture in Philadelphia. Little did co-owners and step-sisters Eugenie Perret and Juliette Brody imagine that their shared dream of starting a cutting-edge contemporary furniture showroom would spawn such interest. Minima's third anniversary celebration features the inauguration of a second Old City location (47-49 North 2nd St.) and two high-profile international design shows. One of the design shows was the "Modem Living" contemporary art exhibition (September 27-October 6), presented in collaboration with NYC's independent art organization Mixed Greens. The other is Minima's ongoing show of the best contemporary furniture available, with a kick-off party co-hosted by Surface magazine and Bombay Sapphire.

Though nationally known as a leading supplier of upscale, cutting-edge furniture, (Minima's recent work includes supplying furniture for the new "W" Hotel on Times Square, The Hilton in Atlantic City, The Limited in SoHo, Victoria's Secret and The Kimmel Center.) Minima is barely recognized within the Philadelphia region. This is about to dramatically change with the opening of its second, two-story, 5,000-square-foot gallery. The opening of the new space has enabled Minima to increase the size of its collection and stock hard-to-find pieces that almost no other gallery outside of NYC carries. "I opened this gallery because I wanted to do something for Philadelphia," says Istanbul native Perret, a former NYC and L.A.-based architect who trained at NYC's Parson's School of Design. "From the beginning, we envisioned Minima as a center for contemporary culture. My sister and I always talked about fashion and design, and after she heard my idea for Minima, she came to Philadelphia. She was here for only one week, and she saw the potential and immediately moved here from D.C." This adventurous spirit is the fire behind Minima's success.

Minima's local presence has eliminated the trek to New York that many Philadelphians endured to purchase upscale contemporary furniture. It has made names such as Cappellini, Kartell, Vitra, Living Divani, Frighetto and Paola Lenti common buzzwords among Philadelphia's upscale shoppers and the design community. With the opening of its second showroom, Minima is building upon this tradition by introducing Philadelphians to the hottest new products created by leading designers and manufacturers such as Karim Rashid, Marcel Wanders, Maharam, Monkey Boys, Artifort, Eames and Mooii, among many others. A friend of many international and local designers, artists and architects, Perret is currently developing plans to bring many of these individuals to Minima for lectures and presentations. To further establish itself as an exhibition space and increase its presence, Minima is aligning itself with several important Philadelphia-area arts and cultural organizations, including the now non-profit InLiquid.com. Minima recently hosted their silent auction for the Village of Arts and Humanities. Minima is also aligning itself with the Fringe Festival and The Design Center at Philadelphia University. Minima unofficially opened the 2nd St. gallery with the 2002 Fringe's "In:View" exhibition of work by nine artists from New York and Philadelphia.

For The Design Center's current, internationally reviewed exhibition, "What is Design Today?" (designed by the famed NYC-based husband and wife team of Constantine and Laurene Boym and continuing until March 2), Minima hosted the book signing of the exhibition catalog, written by co-curator and design historian George Marcus. (The book signing was initiated by co-curator and The Design Center's Director Hilary Jay, former design writer for The Philadelphia Inquirer.) Perret envisions such events becoming commonplace in the near future. . "I want to bring Karim. Rashid here to sign his book, Karim Rashid: I Want to Change the World, and to show his new fashion line. I want to curate exhibitions and commission artists to do installations in the new space, We want to make Minima a contemporary cultural center for the entire community."