Over the last three decades, American menswear designer, author, Boston native and Red Sox fan Joseph Abboud has stayed focused on one thing - designing an impeccably detailed, perfectly tailored men’s suit, always modern, always edgy and always made in America.
So it is no surprise that when Joseph Abboud wanted to redesign the interior of his townhouse in the 1887 Waterworks Building on Beacon Street in Chestnut Hill, he demanded the same level of skill, craftsmanship and obsessive attention to detail.
Sound like anyone you know?
Coming in where another design company left off, who were unable to meet the level of detail required for the project, the Makkas team worked directly with Mr. Abboud (as we’ve always addressed him) on the colors, texture and weights required for the space. It was a great opportunity to showcase Abboud’s own style sense taking in the classic architecture and design of the space. The results of this iconic makeover were featured in a piece by Traditional Home magazine in September 2013. No one could have known when we started this project in Chestnut Hill that it would kick off a long-lasting relationship built on trust and an undying desire for excellent design.
Following the Chestnut Hill project, the team was asked to help design Mr. Abboud’s French Country style home in Bedford, NY. A project that further solidified the partnership. Throughout the years, requests continued for variety of design elements to be used within the Joseph Abboud Madison Ave flagship store. Soon it became completely in the norm to get the “Hey, when is the next time you’ll be down in NYC?” call from this busy world renowned fashion designer. And we’re not complaining!
Widely popular in Asia with his athletic, mountain chic line, Mr. Abboud leaves not a stitch to chance with it comes to his design concepts- right down to buttons. Over the years we’ve visit Mr. Abboud in NYC to help design elements using his fabrics and much loved buttons. In the beginning of our partnership, Mr. Abboud would come to us with a bag of buttons, sorting through the one that would work best for the piece in mind. These days we are left to our own discretion when it comes to choosing the right buttons. Buttons that played a big role on our most recent design project: 43 custom pillows!
Buttons add depth and sophistication to pillows sold at the flagship store
As with all of our designer collaborations, we work hard to bring to life the designer’s vision and creative spirit providing the highest level of support throughout the process. There are a ton of factors involved in building a strong trusting relationship in this uber competitive industry where trends are constantly changing. Here’s the top three factors (in our humble opinion) that really count:
#1: Know your designer so well that you’ve become a mind reader (essentially). No sarcasm here. This is the honest truth. We spend a lot of time with our designers so much so that we are given a lot of space and creative liberties. We can make decisions with confidence on behalf of our designers because we’ve taken the time to understand their creative process, approach to design, and the positive (and possible negative) triggers. This is that trust we spoke about earlier with Mr. Abboud and those buttons. He is just one of many, many partners who’s trust we’ve gained and maintained throughout our 40 years in business simply by really listening and understanding the brand.
#2: Never miss a designer’s call.This comes down purely to good customer service. Many times, when a designer calls, it’s something urgent and often requires an all-hands-on-deck response. And for the times it’s not as urgent, we still want to be there. We know that there’s nothing more frustrating than to have your busy day of checklist checking be interrupted with a voicemail. With that philosophy in mind, we do our best to be there when you need us the most. We know how important each project is to our designers and their distinguished clientele.
#3: Strive for quality x 1,000. The cornerstone of the Makkas Drapery philosophy: “Excellent craftsmanship, detail-oriented execution, and timely delivery of high quality, one-of-a-kind products that exceed expectations” is with us every minute of every day on every project. We know how much it matters. And we know that it can’t solely be defined by and is so much bigger than the word “quality” - in fact, it’s a 1,000 times bigger. We’re sticklers for length, seekers of innovation and obsessed with each stitch.
It’s these factors, and so many more we can’t get to in this blog, that have allowed us to work hand and hand with the top interior designers in the country and inevitably allowed us to extend into the fashion space with Joseph Abboud. It’s part of Maria’s and Phil’s plan 4o years ago: build a drapery workroom that is dedicated to helping its clients achieve balance and continuity in their interior designs through the use of exceptional custom textile creations.
A close-up of our Madison Ave pillow design
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