I’ll Take My Coffee on the Terrace, Jeeves…

So maybe you’ve never gazed at the gleaming white walls, the expansive oak-planked floor, or the Eames-laden living room of your cottage on the Cape/cabin in the Catskills/Manhattan penthouse and exclaimed, “you know what this place could really make efficient use of? A good cart.” But that wouldn’t mean the space in question was not, in fact, bereft of said versatile conveyance.

Cart Blanc. Design by West Chin and Roseann Repetti of FTF Design Studio.

Because in all likelihood you could use a stylish accessory to tote around the Grey Goose Martinis, or the selection of Single Malts, or the Brie, Gruyere, Kalamatas, and Water Crackers that would rightly accompany such libations. This is where the architecture/design team of West Chin and Roseann Repetti come in. Chosen by New York Magazine as among “The City’s 100 Best Architects and Decorators,” and lauded for an aesthetic of “minimal clean lines, beauty and versatility,” Chin and Repetti own and operate FTF Design Studio of Manhattan, and boy do they have the cart for you. Wisely, the duo began this concept with a re-thinking of the terminology. So the pedestrian “cart” becomes “Cart Blanc“–a resilient and versatile piece of gleaming white Corian, its spotless surface stretching before you like the proverbial unblemished canvas.

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Cart Blanc’s design is rather simple–it resembles an elongated U tipped over on one side–but therein lies its genius. Because I think we’ll all agree that a cart will impress through implied absence alone; that is, it’s probably best for it to blend in unobtrusively. And Cart Blanc does that indeed. Its slim lines and elegant functionality confirm the sentiments of New York Magazine: “favorites of the fashion crowd, up-and-comers Chin and Repetti can carve dramatic sculptural spaces out of the most plain vanilla…” While the context here is an assessment of FTF’s interior design, the sentiment applies to Chin and Repetti’s furniture and accessories as well. In the case of Cart Blanc, that “plain vanilla” is a perfect backdrop to your chosen repast.

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