In January, the design icon known as Florence Knoll Bassett, "Shu" to her friends, and a leader in modern American design – passed away at 101 years young. We wanted to pay homage to her in the only way we knew – tell her story, share her work, and reflect on all she's contributed to design as we know it.

Early Life

Florence was an orphan who through her foster family found herself attending a boarding school in Michigan designed by Eliel Saarinen. Through her interest in architecture, she ended up being taken under the Saarinen family wing (yes, that Saarinen family).

After Kingswood, Florence worked alongside Harry Bertoia

Our dreams and ideas have been pushing boundaries for a while now, so we've been carefully setting the ball in motion for things that are bigger, better, and more authentically us. Just like any good idea needs room to breathe, so does good design. And boy, do we have a lot to share.

Drum roll, please ... we're opening a new showroom!

Though we'll be saying goodbye to 1313 Washington St, we're not moving out of the South End – just around the corner to a new home double the size at 38 Wareham St. We needed a fresh space to bring you even more design, but we couldn't bear to leave the neighborhood we know and love. The South End is a community of friends and peers that inspire us, support us, and remain threaded in the fabric of who

This is a continuation of the Lekker Profile Series where we're getting personal with each member of the team. We hope you enjoy getting to know us.

Lauren Kelly

Empathy and understanding are buzz words everyone is constantly trying to find "more" of - peeling them away from the egos of themselves and others. Though these things can always be bettered or challenged, there is something special about those who could have taught a masterclass since birth. And it's no secret that around here, peak thoughtfulness is defined by Lauren. From understanding the intricacies of fast-fashion to lead times to Korean horror – the woman of many talents who runs our website is good at everything she does because she is a natural observer. Lauren was nine when she asked her mom for Christmas if they could each pick a research topic to give a presentation about – her genuine interest in being critical

This week we wanted to cover a project by our friends at LDa Architecture and Interiors that's full of light and air to contrast from daylight savings ruining our perception of harmony. This project, in particular, is philosophically based on the principles of Vastu Shastra, a traditional Hindu system of architecture.

Architecture & Interior Design: LDa Architecture & Interiors

Builder: Denali Construction

Photography: Greg Premru Photography

This is a continuation of the Lekker profile series where we're getting personal with each member of the team. We hope you enjoy getting to know us.

Laura Pierce

There is a quiet force about Laura. She's soft-spoken and intentional, always taking in her surroundings before showing her hand. Laura is our buyer, the curator of our vendor relationships, and has one of the most technical jobs in our cloud of creatives.

As a kid, Laura had a proclivity for technical precision – toying with the childhood idea of being a vet, perfecting the craft of horseback riding, and thinking she would pursue dentistry in college. But she eventually learned that she wanted a technical job within a creative industry, and finding that was a whole different game.

Laura started out with the idea that textiles would be her niche.

The Hot Mesh Chair – the Blu Dot icon that weathers any storm. Powder-coated steel. Indoor or Outdoor. She does it all since 2012 and people can't get enough. We want to take you through the design history of the Hot Mesh Chair and how it came to be. Hot Mesh takes its inspiration from the classic café chair designed in 1859, the Thonet Chair. The designer of the chair, Michael Thonet, is famously known for his bentwood furniture. Bentwood furniture is a bending technique done by wetting wood (either by soaking or by steaming). After the wood dries, it hardens into those bent shapes. It's most often used in the production of rocking chairs, cafe chairs, and other light furniture! That lightness is something universally coveted in furniture – especially when it achieves the balance of being durable and transportable

A young Italian had a dream to make well-designed furniture and do so ethically and sustainably. It came true at just 32 years old for Lucian Ercolani when he founded Ercol in 1920, building the first factory in High Wycombe, England. His story is one of the greats – a young boy who came from nothing and went on to establish one of Britain's flagship furniture companies.

Lucian Ercolani

Lucian grew up in the little country town of Sant'Angelo in Vado, near Urbino in Italy. But after the Ercolani family emigrated, London became home in the 1890s. It was there

It all started as a rebellious thought: to live in the space between architecture and interiors. A design duo took their classical design training and began exercising a new frame of thinking in order to defy norms within upholstery and art. This is none other than Space Copenhagen.

Signe Bindslev Henriksen and Peter Bundgaard Rützou were just students at The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architecture when they met and were tracked to become direct competitors in the world of Copenhagen design. But instead, they did something different. This pair not only had mutual interests and talents but also frustrations around the same subject matter. Their design education prepared them for theory, for aesthetic excellence, but not for the humdrum practicality of designing for everyday life.

You finally find the rug you love – it's the perfect weave, it's comfortable and durable, and you're ready to roll that thing out like it's meant for the feet of Oscar winners. But then you get it home and the worst happens: the sizing is off. Even though you made sure to measure your room upwards of 28 times. Not to fear, we've all been in this sticky situation, so much so, we've created a guide with the help of Armadillo &Co to help you select the perfect rug the very first time.

The Dining Room

Beyond style or function, we're constantly looking for transparency and honesty when it comes to manufacturing, materials, and sustainability practices. There is a lot that goes undisclosed when it comes to ethical practices and sometimes hours at the computer can lead you right back to your first question – can I trust that this brand acts with thoughtfulness towards the environment? We want to make the process a little easier and share a brand that is committed to sustainability: our friends at Gus* Modern.

Gus* is based in Toronto, and as we know, Canadians are our North American neighbors that seem to just do everything better. Maybe it's all in our heads, maybe it's Justin Trudeau fulfilling our leadership dreams? No question this has translated to their practices within the furniture world. Okay, enough from us, here's what