Some of the following comes from a post we published several years ago. Growing up in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the 60s was like no other place on earth.
Harvard Square
In Harvard Square, there was every kind of fashion statement from hippies to the traditional button-down preppies. Lucy lived there and attended elementary school in Cambridge. At 18, I moved there and lived a few blocks from Harvard Square, where I shopped for groceries as Sage’s Market. The place to shop that we both loved was Design Research.
Design Research or DR was a retail store founded in 1953 by architect Ben Thompson that introduced the concept of a lifestyle store; Thompson’s vision was to provide “a place where people could buy everything they needed for contemporary living”, in particular Scandinavian design and Finnish Marimekko fabrics.
“Design Research carried an eclectic selection of products, from furniture to clothing, from toys to pots and pans, at a wide range of prices. It carried furnishings by such designers as Marcel Breuer, Hans Wegner, Alvar Aalto, and Joe Colombo.”
With its sleek all-glass windows and “modern” furniture, we saw something that sparked our imagination. I remember coveting the Haitian cotton couch and the Greek flokati rug. The kitchenware included contemporary Swedish designs, and beautiful Georg Jensen cutlery.
Marimekko in NYC
Consuming at least one floor at DR, was the fabulous collection of Marimekko fabric and clothing. A “must have” dress of my Cambridge friends, young and old, the fabrics were bold prints in psychedelic colors, empire waists and tent styles. They were expensive, yes, but oh so fashionable. Jacqueline Kennedy was pictured on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1960 in a Marimekko sundress purchased at D/R.
Guess who?
DR disappeared and so did Marimekko but, gratefully, the fabric company has returned to woo new generations of stylish girls. It will always remind us of our youth and so we invite you to go shopping. Try www.Uniqlo.com or www.marimekko.com . There is also a Marimekko Outlet on line.
Ciao Lucy and Claudia