Before Meg and her husband Jorgen Sorensen opened a little Scandinavian furniture shop in East Grand Rapids’ Gaslight Village back in 1972, they were schoolteachers together in Arizona.
Their Son Thor, now also a partner in the business, was their first-born; Svend and Tyra followed. The couple decided they needed to find a new place to raise their family. But where to go and what to do?
Both loved design and creating beautiful things. They loved the sensible, useful, and beautiful design of furniture from Jorgen’s native Denmark. They had a relative in Grand Rapids, so Meg said, “We decided we’d open a Scandinativan furniture store.”
She ordered catalogs from suppliers such as Eilersen, Kjersgaard, and Stressless, brands that are still going strong. Jorgen sought out advice from the Phoenix, Arizona Scandinavian store. They offered him a job to learn the business. But he declined, and they just “plunged right in,” Meg said. “Jorgen is just very clever.”
The Danish embassy had told them Grand Rapids looked good for this kind of venture. “We really didn’t know if it would work in Grand Rapids,” Meg recalls,” but we decided to go for it.” Eyes wide open, ready to learn.
More traditional styles of furniture were characteristic of the American furniture market then, with decoration, adornments, and frills unlike the sleek look of Danish pieces— a design aesthetic that grew from a strong history of craftsmanship. Function comes first in Danish design. Architects and designers often had a craft background. Prototypes were created by hand to troubleshoot and improve design; “knowing the thing with your hands” was as important as creating it, Meg noted. “The first thing I say to customers is ‘put your hands on the furniture. You can trust your hands.’”
The first day at their new store in Gaslight Village, a woman walked by and popped her head in the door. “It looks beautiful!” she said. Later, Sylvia Krissoff, an artist and art critic for the Grand Rapids Press walked by and made the first purchase in Design Quest’s history — a pink and red shawl that Meg herself had woven. 52 years later, local sourcing is still an important feature of Design Quest, with furniture, art, and gift items available in the store.
Flexible furniture is a newer trend at Design Quest. One can find desks that go up and down, coffee tables that raise up to become a desk, and dining tables with integrated leaves for easy expansion. Many of today’s chairs are motorized. Teak and rosewood have given way to cherry and walnut. And new materials like porcelain are used in furniture making, too.
Home goods are still popular– a varied collection of housewares that, according to their website, “you won’t see on Main Street USA.” Well-designed and beautiful toys are also very popular items.
The current store, located at 4181 28th Street SE, is 52,000 square feet and their line of contemporary goods travel to them from all over the world. The Sorensens are grateful for Grand Rapids’ receptivity to their family’s journey. In her always gracious way, Meg wonders, in fact, if their improbable adventure could have worked out anywhere else: “People here have a sense of decency. Of style. They could see we were honest, and they believed in us. They gave us a chance.”
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