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"Six years ago, Analisse Taft launched ALT for Living, a Manhattan retail showroom highlighting exceptional textiles by some of today's top weavers. Situated on the fourth floor of the SoHo Building, the shop quickly established itself as a go-to source for design insiders. Still Taft, a Los Angeles transplant and former decorator, dreamed of moving to a larger, street-level location. Not long ago she found just the place: a 2,300-square-foot storefront on West 28th Street in the heart of the Flower District. The challenge was how to present her offerings there in a fresh and engaging way.\n\nHer epiphany came last summer. While sitting in the en suite caf\u00E9 of a Paris boutique, she realized that the same concept (part shopping, part dining) could work for her own business. Taft's husband, hospitality impresario James Gersten, agreed, and so began A Little Taste, the charming coffee bar that occupies the front of ALT for Living's new showroom (unveiled this winter). Outfitted with a wood-framed vitrine, partitions made from salvaged windows, and wrought-iron shelves, the caf\u00E9 serves as a warm welcome to the space.\n\nPinterestFacebook\n\n\"I wanted an old-world industrial feel,\" Taft says of the shop, which she designed with the help of furniture dealer John Mazur and AD100 architect John Ike. The walls and pressed-tin ceiling panels were stripped of their finishes, revealing years of patina and layers of paint. Open-faced cabinets saved from the original shop display hundreds of fabric and carpet samples, among them exquisite creations by Rosemary Hallgarten, Vanghent, and Perrine Rousseau, as well as Taft's own. They are joined by silk-screen panels and an array of contemporary furnishings. It's a tightly edited mix that continues to attract a distinguished following: Designers Nate Berkus, Robert Couturier, and David Easton have all been through to enjoy a caffeine fix and peruse the goods.\n\nThis spring Taft plans to expand her enterprise to include flower arrangements and wine tastings. Asked the secret to her seemingly boundless energy, she replies, \"Perhaps it's the four cups of coffee I drink every day!\" At 148 W. 28th St., New York, NY; altforliving.com\n\n**\n\nPinterestFacebook"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/alt-for-living-annalise-taft-manhattan-showroom>