StyleMaven chatted with Eboniste founder and rigourous modernist Scott Frankum

Eboniste is an independent US-based design and manufacturing group which runs a retail website and collaborates with artisans worldwide to create products that are unique to it. Jetsetting between two cities paradoxically worlds apart, Scott Frankum spends his time between Phoenix and Shanghai, the company's global vision fuses modern technology, old world artisan craftsmanship and a modernist sensiblity. StyleMaven took note and developed a fondness for Eboniste's collection of unique home furnishings because of their eclectic sense of modern charm. Check out Scott's sharp eye for design and stylish shopping hot spots!

The company name, Eboniste, has a vintage French meaning of master cabinetmaking, and is associated with the flourishing of modern design. www.eboniste.com

Why did you start your company and collection?

The short answer is the homes of creative people and professional design projects have many elements in common.  There are great stores in every large city that understand this but none were trying to serve this customer online. We named the company Eboniste, because of the word’s associations with craft, materials and the international flourishing of modernism.

That said, there are some really innovative companies in the space; Design Within Reach, for one.  But design seems to be at one of those generational sea changes.  If you look…you notice it everywhere.  Personally, I like a little rigor in my modernism.   But modernism in pure form it looks a little tired and puffy.

We sell our own designs together with the work of other companies we admire across a growing range of home goods.

What is your inspiration for the latest collection?
The collection and brand point-of-view are still developing but we looked at small, influential artisan ateliers (vs. mass production designers) in the movements that bracket Bauhaus and Mid-century Modernism.  We found a deep vein of rebellious, conceptual work with a cool, romantic vibe that seems just right to us.  We call it romantic modernism and these less-well-know design masters are the touchstones for our brand and product development. 

Our First Collection
We thought it would be interesting to create modern shapes out of traditional crafts so we studied the artisanal materials and skills available to us.  The goal was to make product that is familiar, fresh and graphic—yet hand crafted.  We believe the result is a truly original collection of furnishings that work across a range of interiors.

When and why did you start your company and collection?
The company began in mid-2004 and we launched the commerce site in May 2005. Our owners share strong interests in design, technology and global business.  And, personally, it is important to each of us that we live creative lives.

Tea Table We love the whimsical Asian inspired shape with a hint of Regency flair. Perfect bedside or as a pair of night stands. Comes in lacquered finishes including Citrus Yellow, Clay Orange and Spring Green. Price: $350 W: 20.0", D: 20.0", H: 18.0" at Eboniste	The Drum Table A new twist on the traditional Chinese drum table, an interesting shape finished with a seven-step lacquer process. The perfect side table for small spaces. Price: $225 W: 17.0", D: 17.0", H: 20.0" at Eboniste

Design Philosophy:
Eboniste mixes global design trends and the creative expression of house designers­­ with the unique capabilities of its partners, to make home products available across a growing range of disciplines. We are dedicated production facilities ensure that Eboniste products are made in limited quantities to maintain rarity and uniqueness.

Processes and Materials:
The company executes in authentic artisanal materials and processes wherever possible.

On your path to starting, were there any major challenges in the beginning?
Beginnings are a beautiful part of any journey.  We all met in grad school where we had access to research databases, specialist professors and international students —which gave us the opportunity dream big.  The challenge was to invent a business that kept design out front while delivering superior value.

We have normal challenges of long hours and a dynamic business environment.  Conversely, we’re living in this magical time when technology makes connectivity through Instant Messaging, Skype, Email and venues like StyleMaven possible.  Now if we could just figure out how to get a good night’s sleep.

Where did you grow up? Did this influence your design vision?
I’m a middle class / working class kid from Florida who grew up in a ranch house with avocado green appliances.  Later, we moved on to a really pretty lake so my Mom thought it would be nice to match the blue lake color in wall-to-wall multi-hued blue shag carpet with blue walls.

So, of course, now anything that matches gives me the willies.

Did you have an early interest in design?
Sure.  But I’m a late bloomer. It wasn’t too long ago that kids from small towns couldn’t indulge design interests on the Internet. My lens to the world was through books and magazines like National Geographic and Southern Living. One Christmas we got a gift subscription to Architectural Digest and I was over-the-moon.

I wanted to be an architect or graphic artist or writer.  Instead I played football and don’t think I even set foot inside a museum until I was in college.  The change for me came on a whim.  I volunteered at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and then got invited on to a young professionals board there.  I found I was falling in love with this magical world if imagery.  I’m not formally trained but I still give a pretty good docent-style museum tour.  And, now, of course, my job relates to architecture, graphics and copy.

Favorite places, people, and things formative to your current creative vision?
I really appreciate designers who are in the popular pantheon, but the designers I admire, often are friends.  Maybe the admiration comes in part because we talk about how challenging it is to create a good product or a successful residential / commercial project.  But my admiration also comes from how difficult it is to keep an original voice in the midst of market constraints.

In San Francisco my friends Gary Hutton, Kelly Lasser and Gary Mc Natton all have expert knowledge of art and design history, which they use to create very refined interiors, products and graphics.  Gary Hutton has a furniture line available through Therien. Kelly Lasser was recently tapped to create a new collection for McGuire. And, Gary McNatton just finished a very sexy new restaurant called Press, in St. Helena, California.

Favorite Things:
My favorite things tend to have some sort of conceptual base and an interesting decorative surface.

What cities, neighborhoods inspire you?
I’m lucky to have chosen to live in some astonishing places: Venice, Geneva, San Francisco, Phoenix and Shanghai—all places that are a long way from my little hometown of Winter Park, Florida.

Venice is just saturated in beauty and it is easy to see how the water infused light spurred a whole school of painting. 

Geneva looms big in my imagination even though it has fewer than 200,000 population.  The United Nations buildings there are akin to Rockefeller Center plunked down in the middle of a park.  So, Geneva has this big town elegance and small town scale.

Phoenix has a dramatic, sere beauty and some architectural gems like Taliesin West and Arcosanti.  It is growing like crazy, has a thirst for good design and seems like one of the places where the American Dream is still really alive.

San Francisco has great food together with an intense natural beauty and all these magical, creative people––which means you have a lot of reasons to leave your apartment.

Shanghai is an ongoing party in celebration of all things shiny, new and modern.  There is a feminine way of dressing there that is unique to Shanghai but as recognizable as Parisian style. 

A Longer Explanation - A couple years ago an Academic named Richard Florida published research into communities that fostered high value jobs in a book called The Rise of the Creative Class.  One of his conclusions is that these cities have the Three-T’s in common: Technology, Talent and Tolerance.  It also doesn’t hurt if the city has spectacular scenery, dynamic weather, great food and great shopping.  Explains why I lived in the Bay Area for twenty years, eh? That said, in my heart I’m from some small European city where the priorities are friends, food, family, sex, beauty…and…oh yeah…work.

Favorite Shops

LOS ANGELES:
Blackmun Cruz - They have incredible, weird and fabulous things.  I was there a few months ago and they had a custom Frank Gehry cardboard conference table originally made for the Chiat / Day Headquarters.  I was there a few days ago and they had a series of large scale of Edward Muybridge photo reprints they were in the process of authenticating. Few other stores are able to offer such strange, beautiful merchandise. I’m jealous.

PARIS:
Colette - A gallery-as-store for extravagant t-shirts, music, books and the new, new thing.

Deyrolle - I love places like this because they seem completely immune from the economic pressures of US retail stores.  The street level windows of this 170-year-old establishment
exhibit a taxidermied safari together with Deyrolle’s iconic teaching posters on flora and fauna. The location is a couple blocks away (on the same street) from Christian Liagre’s store….another must-see for design hounds.

Guerlain -  More mad science.  The windows have delicate flacons of colored liquid that seem full of that mix beauty and desire that is Paris.  If the door is open the scent of Shalimar wafts out.

One of the Best Day’s of My Life
I have this thing I do as a way of categorizing my life.  When I’ve had some really incredible experience I stop and say to myself, “This is one of the best days of my life”.  Let me share one of those days.

Most of the old-line French couture houses are located within 10 blocks of each other near Rue Faubourg-St. Honore and Avenue Montaigne. They are, literally, residential houses.  Even Chanel lived over the store for a while.

You can stand across the street from the Hermes store and spy in to the 2nd floor windows to see the “petit-mains” of French legend chatting away while stitching saddles and Kelly bags.

I walked by the Yves Saint Laurent Maison and caught a view up the enfilade steps, past thesignature leaf-green silk curtains set off by a weirdly beautiful counterpoint of white poinsettias.  There, at the top of the stairs was a gorgeous woman in a dark suit sitting at a Louis desk.  How’s THAT for an image.

It is like this at all of the legendary houses.  These worldwide brands have a homey, artisanal side that is not apparent at their mall stores.