https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/kinder-modern-lora-appleton-apartment
A STONEWARE CHAIR-PLANTER by Chris Wolston and a white LIMESTONE sculpture by Barbara Gross PERCHED on a PLEXI PLINTH add an artsy VIBE to Kinder Modern founder Lora Appleton's dining area.
A STONEWARE CHAIR-PLANTER by Chris Wolston and a white LIMESTONE sculpture by Barbara Gross PERCHED on a PLEXI PLINTH add an artsy VIBE to Kinder Modern founder Lora Appleton's dining area.
Photo: Max Burkhalter
"Ugh, are you gonna sell this?" It's a popular refrain at Kinder Modern founder Lora Appleton's house. The AGGRIEVED party? Appleton's nine-year-old son, Willem, who has picked up on one of the few downsides to being the kid of New York's best-known children's furniture dealer: Your stuff, at times, is the INVENTORY.
"We have an Eero Aarnio dog in his room that they don't make anymore," Lora explains of the cartoonish canine-shaped TOY-SLASH-SEAT. "He really likes it, so we've had to get creative with how to use it. Right now it's his desk chair."
Lora and Willem in Willem's room.
Photo: Max Burkhalter
After all, this is a two-bedroom apartment in Tribeca. And while Lora jokingly calls herself a HOARDER ("of nice things"), at the end of the day, many of the things she's "hoarding" will, sooner or later, be sold.

Collections of every variety abound in Willem's room, with floors covered in Kinder Modern's modular, geometric rugs.
Photo: Max Burkhalter

Colorful touches include an ECLIPSE chair designed by Kinder Modern and a SCONCE by Chad Phillips from 99 Cent Plus gallery.
Photo: Max Burkhalter
Lora, also founder of the Female Design Council, got her start as an art director for restaurants and nightclubs, SPEARHEADING branding and graphic design for hospitality clients. But at some point a NAGGING feeling SET IN: "I wanted the design or the art to be about what was meaningful to me." So, having TROLLED flea markets and estate sales since she could walk, Appleton did what felt natural—she started buying design. Seeing as she was pregnant with Willem, she ZEROED IN on a very particular niche: vintage and antique children's furniture.
"Once I started digging in, finding incredible pieces, I was like, this is cool," she remembers, LISTING OFF some of her first big scores: A 1970s red, white, and blue Plexiglas floor lamp, a 1920s FOLK-ARTSY NOAH'S ARC, a futuristic 1970s INJECTION-MOLDED plastic Hadi Jr. desk by Ernst Igl. "I really didn't expect it to take off so quickly."

In the dining area, a George Nelson lamp from Design Within Reach crowns a custom Uhuru walnut SLAB TABLE surrounded by 1960s Swedish chairs covered in Maharam fabric. A painting by Barbara Gross hangs on the back wall.
Photo: Max Burkhalter
In no time she'd joined forces with friend Bachman Brown Clem and the two launched a business—Kinder Modern—at Collective Design's INAUGURAL 2013 fair. At that point, they were focused on designs from the last century and TOSSING AROUND questions about what great design meant when you applied it to young people.
"It's not just about the size of the chair," she explains, a concept she recently ELABORATED ON for an essay in Phaidon's new book, Design for Children. "Kids don’t use furniture the same way we do. If you put a chair in a room they will never just go over and sit on it. They’re gonna crawl over it, under it, they’re going to KNOCK IT OVER."

In the eclectic living room, a Cody Hoyt for Kinder Modern Banner rug pops on the floor. Lora LAID A SLAB OF MARBLE on top of Matthew Stevens Pan stools for Kinder Modern to make a coffee table. Above, a mix of artworks forms a colorful gallery wall.
Photo: Max Burkhalter
She's experienced all of that first-hand, raising her boy who, at nine, serves as something of a measuring stick for her company. In nearly a decade, Kinder has evolved into a gallery and design firm that MOUNTS SHOWS, ORCHESTRATES DESIGNER COLLABORATIONS, designs furniture for children, and devises RESIDENTIAL INTERIORS. All the while, her own homes have served as a lab for living both elegantly and with a kid.

A pair of Jonathan Nesci mirrors add a jolt of color to the entryway.
Photo: Max Burkhalter
"Ugh, are you gonna sell this?" It's a popular refrain at Kinder Modern founder Lora Appleton's house. The AGGRIEVED party? Appleton's nine-year-old son, Willem, who has picked up on one of the few downsides to being the kid of New York's best-known children's furniture dealer: Your stuff, at times, is the INVENTORY.
"We have an Eero Aarnio dog in his room that they don't make anymore," Lora explains of the cartoonish canine-shaped TOY-SLASH-SEAT. "He really likes it, so we've had to get creative with how to use it. Right now it's his desk chair."
Lora and Willem in Willem's room.
Photo: Max Burkhalter
After all, this is a two-bedroom apartment in Tribeca. And while Lora jokingly calls herself a HOARDER ("of nice things"), at the end of the day, many of the things she's "hoarding" will, sooner or later, be sold.

Collections of every variety abound in Willem's room, with floors covered in Kinder Modern's modular, geometric rugs.
Photo: Max Burkhalter

Colorful touches include an ECLIPSE chair designed by Kinder Modern and a SCONCE by Chad Phillips from 99 Cent Plus gallery.
Photo: Max Burkhalter
Lora, also founder of the Female Design Council, got her start as an art director for restaurants and nightclubs, SPEARHEADING branding and graphic design for hospitality clients. But at some point a NAGGING feeling SET IN: "I wanted the design or the art to be about what was meaningful to me." So, having TROLLED flea markets and estate sales since she could walk, Appleton did what felt natural—she started buying design. Seeing as she was pregnant with Willem, she ZEROED IN on a very particular niche: vintage and antique children's furniture.
"Once I started digging in, finding incredible pieces, I was like, this is cool," she remembers, LISTING OFF some of her first big scores: A 1970s red, white, and blue Plexiglas floor lamp, a 1920s FOLK-ARTSY NOAH'S ARC, a futuristic 1970s INJECTION-MOLDED plastic Hadi Jr. desk by Ernst Igl. "I really didn't expect it to take off so quickly."

In the dining area, a George Nelson lamp from Design Within Reach crowns a custom Uhuru walnut SLAB TABLE surrounded by 1960s Swedish chairs covered in Maharam fabric. A painting by Barbara Gross hangs on the back wall.
Photo: Max Burkhalter
In no time she'd joined forces with friend Bachman Brown Clem and the two launched a business—Kinder Modern—at Collective Design's INAUGURAL 2013 fair. At that point, they were focused on designs from the last century and TOSSING AROUND questions about what great design meant when you applied it to young people.
"It's not just about the size of the chair," she explains, a concept she recently ELABORATED ON for an essay in Phaidon's new book, Design for Children. "Kids don’t use furniture the same way we do. If you put a chair in a room they will never just go over and sit on it. They’re gonna crawl over it, under it, they’re going to KNOCK IT OVER."

In the eclectic living room, a Cody Hoyt for Kinder Modern Banner rug pops on the floor. Lora LAID A SLAB OF MARBLE on top of Matthew Stevens Pan stools for Kinder Modern to make a coffee table. Above, a mix of artworks forms a colorful gallery wall.
Photo: Max Burkhalter
She's experienced all of that first-hand, raising her boy who, at nine, serves as something of a measuring stick for her company. In nearly a decade, Kinder has evolved into a gallery and design firm that MOUNTS SHOWS, ORCHESTRATES DESIGNER COLLABORATIONS, designs furniture for children, and devises RESIDENTIAL INTERIORS. All the while, her own homes have served as a lab for living both elegantly and with a kid.

A pair of Jonathan Nesci mirrors add a jolt of color to the entryway.
Photo: Max Burkhalter
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