NettoCollection Blog

Introducing Cabine

NettoCollection is proud to introduce our first two-piece furniture set. We call it Cabine, in honor of the French modernism of the 1930’s that inspired these pieces--as well as the compact spaces that this two-piece collection suits perfectly.

Beautifully finished in white lacquer and natural oak, Cabine consists of an all-around open crib with storage underneath, and a combination dresser/changer with our trademark Netto flat flip top. The retail prices are $1,790 for the crib and $1,890 for the dresser.

The simplicity of form that Netto is known for continues with these pieces, as it is our mission to make baby furniture that need never be thrown away, outgrown or replaced due to aesthetic fatigue. And,as always, Netto furniture boasts the highest build quality because we make every piece for keeps.

We debuted these pieces in early September at the ABC show in Las Vegas. You can now see Cabine in our newly released 2007/08 catalog, at our showroom in New York, online and, as of October, in select stores.

Make Way For Magic

You don't need me to tell you about Make Way For Ducklings. It's a classic among classics. And you will love it narrated sweetly on this DVD ($13). But what makes this video especially great is that it also features versions of several other Robert McCloskey stories, including the intelligent and beautiful "Time of Wonder." It's about the changing of the seasons in Maine, and it is unusually abstract and artistic for a children's book — which probably explains its relative obscurity.

It teaches a child how to listen, look at nature and get in touch with a whole set of nineteenth-century perception skills that have been swept away in a typhoon of tripe spearheaded by the Doodlebops and Oobi. Be warned, there may come a time when your children are too old for something so simple, but until the age of three or four (when their lovely and serene natural states are corrupted), they may well adopt this as their favorite bedtime video. Get the books, too.        

By David
Originally published on Babble.com

NettoCollection Europe Premieres

Usually Europe is five years ahead of the States in design concepts, but this time it was the other way around. We have just introduced our complete line of baby furniture, designed in the US and manufactured in Poland, at the prestigious Kind + Jugend show in Cologne, Germany.

We were thrilled to see real interest from companies based in Scandinavia, Germany,  and England has resulted in agreements to distribute NettoCollection furniture in the countries whose aesthetic inspired our designs. We will continue in Europe the mission we pioneered four years ago at home: to make stylish baby furniture--of the highest quality--than need never be outgrown.

The iPhone of car seats

If you've ever wondered how they make orthopedic shoes cool, look at Hush Puppies. If you've ever wondered how they make a child's car seat cool, look at the one produced by Orbit. It's a whole system that comes complete with a stroller (the seat comes out of the submarine airlock-style base and plugs in to the equally stylish wheel carriage), which IS a great idea, but it's the seat I love. There are many cool strollers out there, but this is the iPhone of car seats.

I've met the people who make it and they are very nice Northern California-style low-key tech geniuses, young parents who were fed up with the options and the commitment of this particular and necessary item (you thought baby furniture was bad?) to the lowest possible taste level. For me, this product is iconic.

By David
Originally published on Babble.com

Viva Las Vegas

We have just returned from Las Vegas where we premiered Cabine, our new two-piece collection of white lacquer and natural oak. Debuting a new collection is always interesting and a little nerve-wracking, no matter how much you like the design there's always that little fear that people won't see it in the same way as you do. But Cabine did wonderfully well at the show, garnering a lot of interest and compliments. While there we showed examples of the new production of CUB, our lower-priced line of cribs, changers and shelves (check it out at CUBKids). People said they loved the color and the sturdy construction. This is our third year showing at ABC and the show keeps getting better and better --it was a real pleasure to be there again this year.

Scooter Sculpture

Even if this Svan Scooter isn't ridden all the time, it can serve as a child's first sculpture. I love when minimalism can be FUN. It's not that often, you know.

By David
Originally published on Babble.com