Lots of retailers sell modern furniture, but few have deeper connections to the design world than Klaus by Nienkamper. The Klaus Nienkamper who runs the store has been immersed in design all his life: his father, also named Klaus Nienkamper, founded the Nienkamper furniture company, one of North America's most respected manufacturers of modern furniture for corporate and residential environments.
The identity of the Klaus by Nienkamper store is perennially modern, not frozen in time. "We're not a store that rehashes classic designs from designers that have long since passed," says Klaus Nienkamper II known more informally as "K2". "There's no need to do that when so many talented designers are doing exciting new things," he adds. "In fact, one of the challenges today is that so much design is being produced. People are wondering what will last, and what will look dated in five minutes and I think that's where we have something to offer. We're a source for the new classics."
Klaus by Nienkamper is Toronto's exclusive retailer for residential furniture and accessories by several European and UK manufacturers in the vanguard of modern design, including Artifort, e15, Moooi, and Tom Dixon. And of course it's also where you'll find the latest furniture by Daniel Libeskind and other prominent designers and architects of who have designed products for Nienkamper in recent years.
The store itself has a remarkable history. The elder Klaus Nienkamper was a German immigrant barely into his twenties when he became a furniture manufacturer and importer in Toronto, in the 1960s. In 1968, looking for a downtown showroom, he purchased a dilapidated former grocery at 300 King Street East, a building constructed in 1845. By the 1970s, the Nienkamper showroom was where Toronto's leading architects, designers and modern furniture collectors met and mingled at parties with international design superstars such as Arthur Erickson and Mario Bellini. That legendary showroom is now the Klaus by Nienkamper store.
With a unique perspective informed by more than 40 years of modern design history, Klaus by Nienkamper can help design lovers find their own beautiful future.
