Nancy Fire's Studio NYC Design Created To Appeal To Millennials

After nearly two years of work and preparation, Design Works International creative director Nancy Fire had all the fabric and product samples in hand, and she had the perfect place to stage and photograph them: the 19th century farmhouse she and her husband, Design Works International co-founder Neil Breslau, share in East Quogue.It was the first week of November, and it was sunny and unseasonably warm. The conditions were perfect for the two-day indoor and outdoor photo shoot to showcase the inaugural collection from Studio NYC Design, Ms. Fire’s newly established line of fabric, poufs, pillows and rugs that she and her staff designed to appeal to millennials.

The collection is named Organic Modern.

“It’s really got this organic, boho flare to it,” Ms. Fire said from the East Quogue photo shoot.

She and her husband purchased the 1890 farmhouse 16 years ago and renovated it. She said they felt it would be a great location to photograph the new products, because they love it there and the house means so much to them.

“We have an outdoor area that we’ve nurtured over the past 16 years, and the products look great indoors and outdoors,” she said.

The goal of the shoot with photographer Amanda Bantham was to get 15 shots—such as a picnic, beach scenes and bedding—that could be used on the line’s website, studionycdesign.com, and on social media to promote the collection. The use of social media, particularly Instagram, driven by Design Works International’s social content creator Meredith Matsakis, is one way Studio NYC Design is reaching both retailers and the millennial audience before its anticipated official launch in January 2018.

“The only way to build our brand is through social at this point, in order for us to really land at the retailers we want,” Ms. Fire said.

In addition to her role at Design Works International, which is located in the Garment District and will turn 30 next year, Ms. Fire is also the design director for HGTV Home, and she works with Kelly Ripa on a licensed line of Ms. Ripa’s home products.

Ms. Fire explained that Studio NYC Design was created within Design Works International as a collaborative lifestyle line that is “more consumer friendly and millennial attractive”—well priced, and suited for first apartments.

“So it’s affordable, but it has a lot of taste and pizazz, a lot of texture, embroidery, appliqués,” she said. “It’s definitely more for the consumer who has more of a modern look, or contemporary feel for what’s happening in the world today.”

The Studio NYC Design fabrics are available to independent designers, and anyone can curate them in their own space, Ms. Fire said. And she is working with manufacturer Nourison on pillows, poufs and rugs.

Working with a manufacturer is like a marriage, she said. “So we wanted someone that we could work with that had a great reputation. Nourison has really proved to be that company for us.”

She noted that, having been in the design business for three decades, Design Works International has worked with top retailers, and top manufacturers such as Nourison. “So we understand where product is going. It’s not about quantity, it’s about quality, and it’s also about believing in your brand. And, I think, today ... authenticity.”

There is a “casualization” happening with home products, she observed.

“We want ours to be livable and real,” she said of the Studio NYC Design line. “That’s what we’re trying to do, but also a price that people could buy it, live with it and not feel that ‘Oh, my God, this is precious!’”

She added: “Put your feet up.”