By janet smith
Publish Date: 24-Feb-2005
What happens when a generation obsessed with the aesthetic appeal of iPods, Barcelona chairs, and vintage Air Jordans decides it’s time to start breeding? Forget about Disney figurines, teddy-bear crib sheets, and eyelet-trimmed lamps: increasingly, offspring-minded urbanites are outfitting baby rooms with the same keen eye they apply to the rest of their homes.
Local boutiques catering to the tastes of Wallpaper*-fixated parents are now popping up in neighbourhoods known for funky clothes shops and hipster-friendly cappuccino bars. Baby versions of the grownup’s “lifestyle store”, these shops specialize in carefully chosen collectibles that cover everything from décor to duds.
The newest of the bunch, Dandelion Kids (1206 Commercial Drive), sits beside the packed Havana patio. Standing in the studiolike space, which has
lanterns hanging in the window, Stefanie Missler ponders the buying habits of today’s new mothers and fathers.
“It’s such a design culture now; it’s pervaded our society to a whole new level. We define ourselves by finding the perfect sneaker or whatever,” she explains. “It’s a different generation of parents, and children are an extension of their parents’ tastes—up to a certain age. By now my son’s five and he knows he wants Spider-man shoes.”
In the past, nurseries were generically pretty. Now parents are accessorizing them with the kind of high-design Euro pieces, retro toys, and one-of-a-kind handmade items that Missler carries in her store. “There are the throwbacks to the really traditional wooden toys that last for more than a generation—the kind you’d want to have in your trousseau,” says the mother of two, who has an art-history background.
Her partner in the business is Maria Livingstone, who also works as a costume designer for film and television.
A few of Dandelion Kids’ imported offerings bring to mind the shapes and colours of Italian homeware lines like Alessi: from Vice Versa, which hails from the same country, come stylized neoprene and soft-silicone accessories, including suction-cup hooks emblazoned with stylized baby heads ($10 to $16).
Alongside such boldly modern designs sit pieces with a nostalgic appeal. Fans of the classic children’s storybook will love the Petit Prince blackboards ($34.95). France-based Vilac’s hand-painted wooden bookends and pull toys have old-fashioned springs attaching the bobble heads to wiener dogs, ladybugs, and frogs (about $44.95). And for the real pintsize culture vulture, splurge on one of the label’s artists’ collections: the red wooden pull-toy shark designed by mid-century sculpture star Alexander Calder ($200) is likely to stay displayed on a high shelf.
Missler and Livingstone didn’t have to search overseas for all their unique finds; some of their edgier handmade items are from here in town. Check out Project Danger’s rock ’n’ roll sock monkeys, which sport everything from fur-lined minis to skull-motif sweaters ($68). (“We’ve sold them almost completely to adults so far,” Missler says with a laugh.) The same local label has faux-fur–lined baby pillows with velvet hearts and tattoolike designs ($30). Elsewhere, no two of Erin Boniferro’s Pocket Bears are the same: adorably lopsided and made of neutral shades of cushy fleece, they’re based on drawings by children as young as four ($25).
Up the Drive and around the corner at 1706 East 1st Avenue, another of the city’s newer additions, Chickpea Children’s Boutique, is tapping into young parents’ penchant for all things retro, whether it’s reproduction tin toys by Schylling or carefully chosen classic hardcover books.
“When people walk in here, they say there’s a warmth to it; it brings so much back for them. It reminds them of their grandmother’s place or something,” says owner Sarah Hoivik.
A hit for nurseries are her own Chickpea label’s vintage-look print linens, bearing funky ’40s-style cowboys, airplanes, and robots for boys and paper dolls, poodles, and polka dots for girls.
They come in throw pillows ($39) and blankets of all sizes, some with cushy chenille or velour ($49 to $139). Or decorate a wall with the same fabric sewn over cork into memo boards ($65). Scatter old-school alphabet cards by New York’s Eeboo ($45) over the wall or display pastel-painted ABC blocks by Victoria’s T.?J. Whitneys Traditional Toys on a shelf ($59) to complete the room. Hoivik stresses the décor of today’s nursery is “vintage but still modern, with a clean look”. Think crisp white walls as a backdrop to a patchwork crib blanket and pillows.
Whether it’s in-the-know blasts from the past or ultramodern accessories, the question remains: does surrounding your bundle of joy with all this hip design mean junior is destined for the Parsons Institute or the pages of Architectural Digest? Only time will tell…
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