ROGER FRUIN
A Detroit designer hits 0
it big with skulls.
1/4
The holder can display any sized tablet,
smartphone or business cards.
1 11 m1.1.11W
,
Lynne Konstantin
Contributing Writer
D
oug Schwartz's life is all about fusing fashion and
function.
After graduating from Michigan State
University, the Novi resident, 41, spent 10 years working
in mortgages and real estate before teaming with busi-
ness partner Annie LeBlanc in 2007 to open the Annex, a
unisex jewelry, accessories and home-decor boutique in
Royal Oak.
Begun as a concept store, the Annex evolved into one
piece of a larger, multi-concept shop: In 2010, Complex
brought to downtown Birmingham a distinctly curated
collection of edgy and eclectic shops-within-a-shop, from
women's clothing and home accessories to wine tastings
and trunk shows. The bi-level, 6,000-square-foot shop
made perfect sense of Schwartz's combined understand-
ings of real estate and retail.
"Annie and I have always traveled together a lot, and
we've always loved the idea of bringing to Michigan some
of the concept-shop ideas we saw in New York, L.A. and
Miami:' Schwartz says.
With the successful birth of Complex, Schwartz and
LeBlanc have worked passionately to perpetuate and
evolve their baby, often scouring gift shows across the
country to find fresh, innovative and interesting designers
and products to feature at their shop.
"When Annie and I go buying, 99 percent of the thou-
sands of vendors we visit are 'paper lift: They are using
tablets to display their products or accessories on a screen,
and the screen is just lying flat on a table, and potential
buyers have to pick it up to examine it:' Schwartz says.
"There is nothing in the art-meets-function space to fill
this void in our arena of people buying and selling:'
So Schwartz created one.
Always a fan of skulls, "which never go out of style:' he
says, Schwartz created a skull-shaped design that is both
"hip and functional:' The 400oz (named for the standard
weight for gold) Skull Tablet Holder was intended to high-
light the sleek design of a tablet or smartphone, rather
than cover it up with a bulky case or black jacket. Using
a hand-poured resin, the same chrome-finishing process
used on high-end cars, the made-in-Michigan metallic
skulls are available in silver or gold, or can be dyed Ferrari
Red, Emerald Green, Blue Chrome, Black Chrome or
Pearl.
The skulls can hold a tablet of any size — iPad, Mini,
smartphone — and a stack of business cards upright so that
20
February 6 • 2014
JN
Hand-poured resin coats the holders in a metallic
finish, which can be custom-dyed.
Designer and shop owner Doug Schwartz shows off his
400oz Skull Tablet Holder.
it can be constantly on view, an ideal situation for buyers
and sellers like Schwartz and LeBlanc.
"Our biggest niche is event gifting, whether corporate or
private label: Schwartz says. "Everyone is always looking
for cool ways to brand a company. I can private label these
with any company's name or logo, to be given as 10 gifts or
1,000 gifts. Brands are gifting a product that is going to be
on people's nightstands, or their kitchen table or desk, con-
stantly. People will be looking at it all day long:'
That was the thinking of a friend of Schwartz's in
Miami, who knew the marketing director at the W Hotel
South Beach — which happened to be the primary host
for December's Art Basel Miami Beach, an annual mecca
for modern and contemporary art collectors and galleries
that attracted 75,000 visitors in 2013.
The W Hotel was looking for one product to be given
as a gift to every guest at their hotel during Art Basel —
something that would make an impression and speak of
both the event and the hotel. And they chose Schwartz's
Skull Tablet Holder. They chose a custom colorway, pack-
aged it in a birch crate and placed it in the rooms of 200
VIP guests plus 500 "regular" guests.
Curious about feedback, Schwartz asked the W what
their guests thought of the gift, because, he says, "Either
you're a skull person or you're not. But when the tablet is
in it, you really can't tell what it is, just that it looks cool:'
Schwartz was told that everyone loved them, men and
women, and that people were asking for them 10 at a time.
"It was really just amazing; says Schwartz. From there,
Urban Outfitters came calling, "which is also amazing
— it's nearly impossible to get into a big box retailer like
that, and they came to me:'
Still reeling from the sudden skyrocketing his name-
brand has taken, Schwartz already has two second-
generation tablet holders in the works for debut this year:
a baby brain and an evil eye.
Schwartz has also been approached by more national
brands. "It could get really crazy, really soon:' he says,
"which is so cool. We couldn't be more excited:'
❑
400oz Skull Tablet Holders ($98 for silver and gold; $138 for
custom colors) are available at area Urban Outfitters stores
(urbanoutfitters.com), Complex in Birmingham (248-792-2495;
complexmi.com) and 400oz.com.