Brand Statement.

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Tandem House is a small design company that was born from necessity to fill a gap in the interior design industry. We saw that a majority of people who live in the south have a traditionally built home or have generational antiques that have been passed down. Even still, a generous portion of that vast market still want their homes to feel fresh, modern and current. Our clients often find themselves daydreaming about a different home while flipping through magazines and living vicariously through celebrities and reality stars when they see modern styles shown on TV. The love then turns into frustration in the quest to meld their conventional southern homes into something more glamorous and current. (After all, those aren’t two concepts that are so easily combined.) Having already started our first design business, Charlotte Upcycle, we quickly understood who this customer was and subsequently, Tandem House was Born.

 

Tandem House is not merely a business name. It is a brand that is immersed in the concept that great design always combines good tastes and influences from at least two vantage points. That multifaceted spectrum includes joining several points in time, multiple places around the globe and yes, even mixing southern traditional heritage with contemporary design. To simplify the concept, when you think about it, everything in design works in Tandem. Your sofa must work in Tandem with your rug to achieve the perfect outcome. Your living room design should work in Tandem with your dining room to provide aesthetic cohesion. Once you start to make the connections, they almost seem endless. For us, however, Tandem runs much deeper.

 

We also believe in the in the simple value that in order to achieve the most impactful design, we must work in Tandem with each client. It is a core principle that each person’s space should reflect their personality and individual style - much in the same sense that their attire would. Homes are an intimate and personal space and should be an extension of one’s self. During the exploratory process, we get to know our clients. Are they vivacious; are they demure? Are they quirky; are they serious? Whether it’s creating lines, choosing prints and textiles, or even selecting the perfect accessory, we always come back to a very basic question: Is this representative of the client? Therein lies the magic that makes each space unique. We value that experience and believe that working in Tandem with each person individually delivers a unique result and experience.

 

Working in Tandem with the home is also quintessential. We call ourselves the “House Whisperers.” It is important to talk to the home and to understand its architecture and its quirks. Letting those homes speak to us often gives us parameters and boundaries. In a traditional southern home, for example, we may realize that we can use transitional or contemporary elements but they must simultaneously be representative of a classic form or a nod to the traditional architecture.  Ultimately, we believe that a great design must be relative to its surroundings.

 

Tandem also has one additional meaning. A very personal and special meaning. My partner and I co-own Tandem House together. In our early developmental stages of forming this new business, we quickly realized that Charlotte Upcycle was no longer a great fit to the brand that we were going to be establishing. We toiled over the new name for months upon end. Casually one night, while having dinner with friends, one of them mentioned that they wanted to rent a Tandem Bicycle. Instantly the light bulb went off. Tandem. That was it.

 

Webster’s dictionary defines Tandem as working “in a partnership or in conjunction.” That is not only reflective of the brand statement that we have designed, but perfectly speaks to the unique relationship of co-owning this business. We work in Tandem with one another daily. We act as sounding boards to ensure that before a design is delivered, it goes through a rigorous in house Tandem test as well. On any particular design, one may have a vision and the other the means to find the single perfect piece to bridge our Tandem design. The roles change home by home, room by room, but with our design principles intact, it always seems to work.

 

So, there you have it. The brief story of Tandem; a brand built around a concept. A brand built around clients.

A brand built around strict design ideology. A brand built for the future in the south. A brand built around passion.

A brand built around a dream.

 

Sincerely,

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Tandem House