A cathedral of art and design

EVAN WILLIAMS/ FLORIDA WEEKLY Top: The International Design Center in Estero has 45 tenants.Below: the first floor has retail shops open to the public while the second and third floors sell only to design proffesionals. The goliath-sized front doors, opened by a suited attendant, welcome you to Southwest Florida's cathedral for the interior design industry.

Casual shoppers are welcome at the International Design Center, which has plenty of retail shopping that includes some of the world's most well-known — and priciest — furniture and designgoods companies, along with relatively more affordable ones. The breathtaking three-story atrium alone, with floors of polished black granite, limestone and marble, is worth taking a look at. There are also regular Saturday Seminars open to the public and galas for nonprofit organizations and corporations.

The IDC is one of 19 major design centers in the United States, such as Design Center of the Americas in Miami, based on a similar concept: a mall in which every part of the interior design industry — its stores, schools, trade associations and designers — are represented under one roof.

"We really try to be that focal point for the design industry," said IDC Vice President John Garvalia.

Margaret Miller, president of Miromar Development Corp., opened the IDC in May 2006. It's just across the street from her sprawling retail, golf and residential complex in Estero.

But it is the professional designers, and their clients, who are like kids in a candy shop at the IDC.

"It's like Christmas," said Margot Castritius, a North Fort Myers-based interior designer who has worked in Southwest Florida for nearly two decades. "I can go to the Design Center and I find everything under one roof. They have so much quality furniture from around the world." She ticked off names of just a few of her favorite stores there and some of what she likes to shop for: Jardin De Ville (indoor-outdoor furniture), Clive Christian (kitchen cabinets, bedrooms, baths, offices), Murano Glass Creations (chandeliers and mirrors), Kravet (fabrics). Other names include Ann Sacks and Walker Zanger (tiles and stones), The Wood Floor Co. and California Closets.

EVAN WILLIAMS / FLORIDA WEEKLY Clockwise from the top, interior designer Kira Krümm in her office at the IDC; Amy Jimenez, manager of Kravet; Mary Ellen White, manager of Roche Bobois, a French furniture company with a showroom at the IDC. "Did you go to Stark (Carpet and Fabric)?" she asked. "Oh my God, they have the most beautiful carpets."

Before the IDC, she often traveled to Fort Lauderdale or sometimes even New York to find materials she needed for clients with worldly tastes.

"Can you imagine, as an interior designer, having to travel to New York to find something really nice?" she asked. "Now you can stay in Southwest Florida. Now I don't have to lose a day. The convenience for a designer is to just go there and get everything you need. For designers, it's just a must. Also the general public, they can go there, browse and get ideas."

Ms. Castritius is part of the Designer on Call program at IDC, a free service for any shopper. While the first floor of the building includes retail stores open to the public, showrooms on the second and third floors only sell to licensed designers or people in the home decorating trades.

Mr. Garvalia said he strives to include "a mix of international, national and local tenants." And clients who buy products from those tenants are just as diverse.

"We draw definitely from Southwest Florida, Sarasota, St. Petersburg, Orlando, some even from Fort Lauderdale, all over the country and out of the country as well," said Amy Jimenez, a manager at the Kravet fabric store. It's a fourth-generation company started in New York, which has more than 65,000 different styles of fabric. They also sell carpet, lighting, drapery, wallpaper and decorative trim.

One unique aspect of working at IDC, she said, is "The inspiration that comes from being in a design center and the competition (among stores at the IDC), no doubt."

Kira Krümm, an interior designer who moved her office from Naples to the Design Center a year and a half ago, agreed.

"The IDC is a place to be inspired, create and get an education," she said. "All the resources are right here."

Many of her clients also have developed worldly tastes and ask her to design the interiors of their second, third, or fourth homes in Southwest Florida.

"Where they come from is all over the world," she said. "We have clients form the Midwest, clients from Europe. People that come to this area are very in tune with style and design."

Like most businesses, the IDC has felt the effect of the recession. Mr. Garvalia said original plans to expand the 250,000-square-foot building to nearly twice the size, and add a hotel and office park to the 38-acre property, have no time frame. When the IDC opened in May 2006, 14 stores were open. Currently, there are 45 stores at the IDC; there is room for 70.

Mr. Garvalia noted there are a handful of new stores and showrooms, with more on the way.

"We have more exciting things to come," he said.

A venerable French furniture company, Roche Bobois, opened a showroom at the IDC this year.

"The building is beautiful and the people are friendly," said manager Mary Ellen White. "So far, so good."

And designers like Ms. Krümm are busy.

"Business has been tremendous," she said. "We're extremely busy, very much in demand."