Lengths of Marimekko fabric cascade down the stairwellThe day before Thanksgiving we went out to dinner with some friends, classmates from college we hadn't seen in twenty years. We left home a bit early and went to see an unusual exhibit on the way to our restaurant. In a space most recently occupied by Crate and Barrel, but known to architecture aficionados as the Design Research building, there's an installation of items from the glory days of retailer Design Research, or D/R for short.
This defunct but still influential merchandiser brought Scandinavian design - the good stuff, not the imitations - to American living rooms in the 1960's and '70's.
The retail space is for rent, so the landlord graciously allowed a local group, spear-headed by Jane Thompson, to put on a show, so to speak, of items from the glory days of D/R. No admittance, so all my photos are through the large glass window walls.
D/R introduced Marimekko to North America
Shirts and stripes
Eero Saarinen designed the table and chairs
Another interior with the signature look of neutral sofapaired with pillows in prints of intense color
Looking at the building from Brattle St. 
View from Brattle St.http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Design_Research_Headquart.html
