| Trade Name: | D/R |
| Founded: | in Cambridge, Massachusetts |
| Founder: | Ben Thompson |
| Fate: | Bankruptcy; Brand rights acquired jointly by Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn |
Design Research (abbreviated and trademarked as D/R) was a retail store founded in 1953 by Ben Thompson in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and which introduced the concept of lifestyle store. In the 1970s under subsequent ownership, it became a chain of a dozen stores across the United States, and went bankrupt in 1979. Thompson's goal was to provide "a place where people could buy everything they needed for contemporary living",[1] notably modern European furnishings and in particular Scandinavian design.
D/R has continued to have an outsized reputation: in 2000, a survey of influential design stores named D/R as number one, though it had then been closed for 22 years.[2] The store influenced later retailers like Crate & Barrel,[3] Design Within Reach, Pottery Barn, Workbench, and Conran's.[4]
Design Research carried an eclectic selection of products, from furniture to clothing, from toys to pots and pans, at a wide range of prices, introducing the idea of a lifestyle store.[5] It carried furnishings by such designers as Marcel Breuer, Hans Wegner, Alvar Aalto, and Joe Colombo.[6]
Design Research was the exclusive US representative for the Finnish clothing and textiles of Marimekko from 1959 to 1976.[7] Jacqueline Kennedy was pictured on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1960 in a Marimekko sundress purchased at D/R.[8]
The original Design Research store was in a 19th-century wood frame mansard house at 57 Brattle Street, in Harvard Square, Cambridge.[4] D/R later added stores in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts; Lexington Avenue (1961) and East 57th Street (1964) in New York City; and Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco (1965).
In 1969, Thompson moved the original Cambridge store to a revolutionary new 24000square feet building designed by his firm, Benjamin Thompson and Associates, at 48 Brattle Street in Harvard Square, on a block that came to be known as "Architects' Corner".[9] The 5-story building consists of flat concrete slabs supported by interior columns, and enclosed by frameless tempered glass walls.[10] The use of butted glass with no frame or mullions was unprecedented, and "allowed D/R to be a building almost 'without architecture'".[11]
It immediately received favorable reviews: "points the way to a method of glass building that could create a warmer city, adding color and light and optimism to the life of the streets".[12] The building won many awards over the years:[13]
The first D/R stores were all located in urban areas, but under new management starting in 1969, D/R opened stores in suburban shopping malls, which Thompson disapproved of: South Shore Plaza in Braintree, Massachusetts (1972); South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, California (1972); and The Mall at Chestnut Hill in Newton, Massachusetts (1974). The company also opened urban stores at the Embarcadero Center in San Francisco (1973), and in downtown Philadelphia in Rittenhouse Square (1975).[15]
After D/R closed in 1979, the Brattle Street building housed a Crate & Barrel store (1979-January 2009[16]).
From October 2009 to April 2010, the vacant Brattle Street store hosted a temporary installation of D/R goods, visible from the street.[17]
Since August 2010, the building has housed an Anthropologie store.[18]
Design Research was started by the architect Ben Thompson in 1953. Spencer Field, a furniture designer, joined the firm as a 50-50 business partner in the early 1950s.[19] By 1966, it was clear that the company was underfinanced for Thompson's expansion plans, and he started looking for outside investors. The company was reorganized as a new corporate entity in 1967 and was recapitalized, with Field's interest being bought out in February 1968 by Peter J. Sprague, an entrepreneur and chairman of National Semiconductor, who became chairman.
In 1969, Sprague forced Thompson out as director of the company, but Thompson remained a stockholder. Under a succession of presidents, D/R opened more new stores, but Thompson felt that they had lost their distinctive style and approach. By 1976, the business was deteriorating, and in 1979 it declared bankruptcy. Rights to the names "Design Research" and "D/R" were bought jointly by Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn.[20]