Pure Genius. Duh.

Greetings, once again from the sugar sand beaches of the Florida/Alabama coast. 

Every once in a while, I find a treasure.  Duh is just such a place.

The brainchild of Quinn Stinson (Baylor University ‘88) and Jim Rigsby (who has no known ties to DFW, but is just as cute as a button), Duh is haven for the usually design starved greater Pensacola metropolitan area.  Duh has had its finger on the pulse of every design trend to roll out…  I’ve been a Duh fanatic for at least 9 years.

It started in a tiny store front in the historic district in downtown Pensacola (9th Street, just around the corner from McGuire’s Pub, for those of you, like me, who enjoy and adult beverage from time to time…)  Duh expanded to accommodate outdoor decor several years ago.  (In fact, 7 years ago, at Duh, I first saw Asian pottery in large scale…as Neil Sperry has since embraced the multi-hued container, so have I).

The greateness of Duh is simple.  Quinn and Jim pass on “market” and buy from Europe. (It’s so expensive and a hassle to fly…just them do it…) They also have large collections of domestic designers, but selectively chosen.  And, in a quest for quality, have begun private label manufacturing out of Vietnam, for truly unique accessories.  Did I mention that I LOVE this store?

Quinn visited with me yesterday on his ever-evolving home fashion forecast, “I started with clean lines and very Swedish looks.  Now, I wanted to go back to something natural.”  Duh isn’t just going green, it’s been green.

The back showroom is full of Kubu reed furniture ( from Belgium), draped and covered in crisp linens.  With swooping arm rests and high backs, it feels more like a hug, IJS.  Whimsical woods stained in blues and greens evoke the surf.  And, his lighting collection is nothing short of breathtaking.  Huge reclaimed wood arms hold the most delicate candelabras in bold bent metal, from Bobo Intriguing Objects (Atlanta).  Duh broke ground last week on a new 10K sf contemporary loft space showroom to debut in Fall ‘08.  In the meantime, Quinn and Jim will just have to squeeze those Jan Barboglio iron beds (at $7K each, available in DFW at Neiman’s) anywhere they can…they are flying out the door.  Italian terra cotta, painted porcelain, and blue/white collections flank many of the vignettes within the store.

After wandering the showrooms of Duh, yesterday, I think I figured it out.  (Quinn and Jim have adorable little tags with varied questions, What is that new invention that allows you to see through walls?, flip it open, WINDOWS, Duh).  Instead of bringing the outdoors in, or living outdoors in, they envision our living spaces in harmony.  Duh.