apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

although the staff is endlessly snobby, it's true- it's a temple full of phenomenal design. really. moss is the tip top. too bad their staff isn't. grrr....


design*sponge

Murray Moss is without question one of the most inventive, original retailers around, anywhere. In fact, his curatorial eye and inventive approach to store-as-museum actually made the design section of the newly reopened MoMA look crappy and cluttered to me. What a weird 360!

i think moss is great fun. there are always ugly overpriced things to snicker at as well as beautiful and innovative things to ooh and aah at. but, even the ugly things are interesting - worth comment and thought. so - all in all - a great spot!

I agree with design*sponge. It is an unfortunate, needlessly snobby staff that I have encountered on the times I have shopped here. It is so bad that on occasion I have sourced an item from another vendor just to avoid spending my money at this shoppe.

ellen

I haven't been in the store in a while, but I have to take issue with the whole "store as museum" concept when it comes to usable objects. If I can't sit in the chair, or freely pick up a utensil or gadget, how am I to tell if its design works for me or not? Why should I take someone else's word for it? That's not to say I don't covet most of the things in there, though.

Moss is one of my favorite stores to walk past and window shop -- I will go a few blocks out of the way to walk past it. The prices are pretty high, so I've never done more than drool at the lovely things...

In this single store, you have all you need to cure yourself of consumerism. Once you walk out of there, you won't have the urge to shop for weeks!

Moss came to fame with Wallpaper and other modernist/minimalist revivalists. Both are kinda done by now, or approaching that saturated point. Will it adapt to a new Laura Ashley revival? They should offer shoulder pads as some kinda of trophy/warning ... jk (kinda).

My favorites are the books, the Chernobyl paperweight, and the porcelain (?) dogwood branch.

As a worshiper of good design, I shop and visit Moss often. I have always had a positive experience with the staff. Someone
(including Murray Moss) always greets me then if need help
I get effecient service.

i agree with mardi's comment above. moss is beautiful, beautiful to look at this is. the fact is--you can get these things elsewhere. there are a couple of other shops that are comparable with selection-conran on 59th is a good one but its a bit of a pain to get to. too far over on the east side.

Moss is great, but it could only happen and be even slightly viable in NYC..... it is so ahead of the curve I'm sure over half of the objects seldom sell. The question becomes, is Moss merely a richman's hobby or a viable business ?

the people in there are just terrible- and they want it that way. Moss and it's staff are like miniatures of the MCM classic chair (as Dwell recently put it).... pointless, pretentious, and uselessly endulgent.

that said, it's beautiful to look at (from the window).... and, I can't spell.

can't spell, can't punctuate. it's okay -kellen.
yeah, moss is a hoot. i work 2 blocks from there, and i'm always amazed at some of the hideous stuff they've got sitting in their window. But, then there's all the glorious, redeeming stuff (Harry Allen fruitbowl, anyone?). Sad to say i won't ever shop there, unless they have a 99% off sale. since everything i want from there is looming in the stratosphere far above my financial ceiling ;)

You mean you don't need a $12,500 crucifix? For the bar?

http://www.mossonline.com/product-exec/product_id/40930/category_id/89

i try not to get caught up in proper punctuation when typing messages. so, i'm not too worried about that, but spelling is an issue...

Apparently not worried about capitalization, either! ;)

I think the designs there are too pretentious for everyday living. It tries too hard to be cool. It's for people who lack style or tastes and need to buy it from a shop.

I disagree with that. The net effect may be pretentious (intentionally, and I've ALWAYS found it to have an underlying educational and tongue in cheek foundation), but I don't think you are supposed to walk in, drop your Amex, and walk out with an entire living room. I think shoppers need to "curate it" for themselves the same way Murray Moss has distilled it all into one place.

And if "It's for people who lack style or tastes (sic) and need to buy it from a shop." ain't almost just as pretentious, I don't know what is.

I agree with Patrick (the other one) in that I disagree about Moss trying too hard to be cool. I think it is one persons personal opinion of what he wants to sell in his shop and that is that. You can choose to buy it or not, and it presents the most current design from all over the world. If you look at what was just shown in Milan, it is already starting to trickle into that store. I would also like to know what is "too pretentious for everyday living" that is sitting in there right now. There is a huge sofa sitting in there that has been in production since the 60's, and has influenced all Danish Modern design since that time. I find it interesting when designers look to the past and create something new out of old ideas, people label it "pretentious". That is until it trickles down and ends up being copied by Crate and Barrel next year, and then is celebrated in Dwell magazine as great design. But then again, I cannot be too upset by someone whos blog reads like a 13 year olds pagent entry..."I am a collector of useless knowledge, but I also love pretty clothes, great shoes, good books, bad action flicks, popular dance music, hot guys, old master paintings, and modernist furniture although not necessarily in that order." Definately dots her "i's" with hearts.

God, I dislike a tremendous proportion of the store's contents, but I think it's a fantastic resource. Murray Moss is a genuinely nice guy, and has idiosyncratic, audacious, catholic taste in design. His curatorial eye for design is unparalleled; we New Yorkers are lucky to have him and his store.

Even if I wince at every other object I see in the display cases.

(I've only met him once - I'm not saying this because I'm part of the Moss camp. Far from it, in fact.)

I think one of the joys of living in NYC is being able to walk into a store like Moss. So much in there is extraordinary, extremely current and international and much there cannot be seen anywhere else. Yes, there are pricetags to match, but so what. Looking is fun and stimulating. It's cutting edge and I always see things in there that I covet but cannot afford. That's life. As far as the staff goes, I do think that at first their demeanor is pretentious and snobby, however, I've found that every time I go in there and engage in a conversation with one of the guys (primarily men work there, it seems) they snap out of their snobbishness and are quite helpful. I was recently in there looking for a special gift for someone, took up a lot of one salesperson's time, and ended up not buying something -- but he couldn't have been more informative and encouraging. Sometimes, not always, it takes talking to sales staff to break the ice.

Having worked in the design industry for over eight years, and at Moss for more than three, I have to say that Moss is one of the best design stores in the world. I have no idea why most everyone in this comment thread thinks the staff, or what the store represents, is pretentious. In my experience, the staff is always willing and excited to share their knowledge to an interested audience. As in any social context, if you walk into Moss with your guard up and your opinion already formed, how can you expect anyone to interact with you?

As for the product selection and the price point, shouldn't we all be thankful that we live in a society that affords us the opportunity to view and (when possible) purchase objects that have been produced with the same care and attention to detail for which centuries-old manufacturies are known? While the majority of hard goods production in this world has been handed over to machines, many of the products Moss carries are still fabricated, or at least finished, by hand. The Meissen Kaendler Edition Crucifix, which was previously mentioned, is painstakingly produced in the exact same way as its first edition, centuries ago.

I welcome any opportunity to share my knowledge of and passion for design with all of you. Do stop in sometime and say hello.

Brian

I can't imagine what the store looks like visually but I just went onto the website Whoa!

O.K. so I went into kitchenware and saw the cutest plastic cutlery. I fell in love with all the colors - that is till I saw the price!

Guess I'll keep imagining :(

have any of you been to MATTER in brooklyn?
it's moss for folks with slightly more ascetic tastes.
(mattermatters.com)

Proof that a heirarchy exists in the US, in both social class, knowledge, and taste. On the whole, though, I find the staff pretty down to earth. The real customers will be people who are rich or who deal with them, so their behavior must follow suit. Exquisite objects radiate poise.

Working in high end retail myself, I know there is a way to conduct yourself in that kind of environment. To some, "hello, how are you?" comes off as snobby and or pushy. It is normally followed by "fine, thanks..", "just looking", or the worse case scenario, customers do not even make eye contact, they are already on the defense and feel that is the way they need to act.

Rock on Brian!

Design*sponge's comments are always the same about the moss staff....something terrible must have happen to you in the glassware section?? In the shelving department??....buck up...its only design and people that sell it...We're actually not that bad..

Everyone has his or her own definition of "Style" and "Taste". Moss just happened to fall in the "not my thing" category. And, it is just my opinion. I have accompanied many clients (who do drop their amex and buy the whole livingroom at one shot) in there and has never had any issues with the staff.

I have been to MATTER in Brooklyn and I do prefer that over Moss any day.

One more and I will shut up. The design world (not to mention the retail world) owes a lot of props to Murray Moss. 10 years ago you wouldn't be able to find a bit of what that store carries in the US. He has brought design to the masses, and people are now again caring about design. Otherwise there would not be this many people commenting about the store and what good design is and is not. "Design" stores like Matter wouldn't exist had it not been for Moss, not to mention all these design store websites that the web is full of today. look at unicahome...I GUARANTEE their buyers are not scouring the world to find the latest and greatest new thing.....they goto mossonline.com and source their products. There are a ton of designers with products to sell, and there is no way 2 people are going to come up with the exact same items.

I must give some real props to this wonderful place, instead of just analyzing. Moss changed me. Walking through one day I saw a reproduction of a Thonet chaise (schlafsofa) on the pedestal near the stairs in the back, and was mesmerized.

http://dorotheum.internationalauctioneers.com/catalogues/LotDetail.asp?lang=deu&LotID=29&AucID=6902.

The picture doesn't do it justice. The one I saw was in a dark stain with light caning, and was very beautiful. I stared at it for quite some time, and felt it voicing its era's optimism, as if it were actually speaking. It taught me a lot about objects and furniture in particular, to say nothing of society. Besides, truly well wrought objects are just amazing to look at, like supermodels or explosions. I might have seen it eventually online, but I was glad I saw it first at Moss, in all its 3-D glory, glossy and perfect on a white, futuristic platform.

I also learned from this store that the way an object is produced is still important. I find many of the objects in Moss to be little feats of engineering or craft. The $400 dollar skulls of our time are some our civilization's best artifacts. How does Mr. Moss find them?

1971MI is right. AT wouldn't be here if it weren't for Moss.

So, thanks Moss!

I love PEAS!

I actually did purchase something at Moss. The people I dealt with went from couldn't be bothered to helpful. I treat the place as a "look-see" and with the exception of some pieces I couldn't find elsewhere, shop elsewhere.

What REALLY made me a Moss convert was when they started selling t-shirts that say "Do Not Touch", the ubiquitous sign from their display cases. Too funny. Totally not pretentious.

Track down Mayer Rus' column about Murray Moss. It is a fitting and hilarious (as always) tribute to the Larry Flynt of design porn.

Hey Brian, which cute salesboy are you?!?! Even the STAFF is well-designed!!!

I have issues with T-shirts with funny slogans. At best, it's funny once. As are cute sales boys with attitude. Moss's taste at least is not questionable. As for Mayer Rus, he's always interesting, both in print and in person.

Miss the point, much? The point was not "I love funny t-shirts" but that Moss has a sense of humor about itself.

And those cute sales boys have never shown *me* any attitude.

(even when I spent only $65, which *is* possible there...)