New Mexico Modern
Why some young designers left the big city for little Santa Fe
Steel-and-auto paint Pip end table by Chad Manley Design
Cosmopolitan areas inspired the design aesthetics of three of Northern New Mexico’s hottest young contemporary furniture designers. But creative professionals Chad Manley, and husband-wife team Franziska Neumann and David Wharram, live here rather than in a big city. All, it turns out, have discovered that Santa Fe offers access to the same sophisticated clientele they’d find in a more urban area, plus a quality of life that supports both their creativity and their growing families.
“I consider my work extremely reflective of where we live,” says Manley, who lives in Taos with his wife, Juniper, and their two-year-old son, Otto. “Big space, open skies, monolithic mountains, mesas, and canyons.” Manley, 38, grew up in Pecos—but spent time in Denver, Portland, Washington, D.C., and New York before returning to this area in 2000. His travels, he says, honed his art, which is based in the clay-and-wood aesthetic of New Mexico but heavily influenced by the industrial feel of urban settings, especially Portland and Brooklyn. This is instantly evident in his hand- finished contemporary pieces: sleek forms made of wood, steel, glass, and stone, often in dark shades, although his focus is evolving. He’s covered a white end table, for instance, with pale-hued rings. “My personal aesthetic includes light, white, delicate colors,” he says. “Graffiti bombing, polka dots, and spunky, watery colors are very inherent to me.”
Fellow city-to-country converts Wharram, 39, and Neumann, 36, who together form Deco Domain design company, became “small-space experts” while living in London and New York, explains Neumann, before they settled in Santa Fe about a year ago. Neumann, who lived here in the 1990s, chose to move back with Wharram and their four-year-old son to be near her mother (who also lives in Santa Fe) and for the slower pace of life. But, she says, she quickly discovered that this region’s market attracts people from as far away as Europe, providing a broad client base. Plus, this setting supports the duo’s environmentally conscious approach: they use reclaimed materials and sustainably farmed wood.
And despite the vastness of the landscape and skies (aptly echoed by the tiny, back-lit holes that give the tall headboard of Deco Domain’s Repose bed a starlit look), Neumann and Wharram still find a need for their strategies for small spaces. Although Santa Fe is filled with large homes—and Deco Domain’s designs can reflect that for clients— there are also plenty of casitas that Neumann has her eye on filling with skinny, well-designed bookshelves and multifunctional beds. Maximized by a bed that works as a “room within a room,” she says, a “chill-out zone” provides great space to “meditate, sleep, do yoga, or chat with your best friend.”
Of the local art and interior-design scene, says Neumann, “We were positively surprised. It’s so unusual, and being here has opened up so many doors.” Manley, for his part, finds a rare synchronicity between his home and his quirky, yet stately, furniture. “I think New Mexico has always had that draw to people of the modern aesthetic. It is a minimalist environment we live in.”
FIND IT
Chad Manley Design
C Gallery, 708 Canyon, 505-986-1221
Ursa Gallery, 550 S Guadalupe, 505-983-5444
chadmanleydesign.com
Deco Domain
Sachi Organics, 523 W Cordova, 505-982-3938
The Edge Gallery, 203 Canyon, 505-992-0333
Santa Fe Modern Home, 1512 Pacheco, 505-992-0505
decodomain.com
