Squeezing furniture into small spaces is a constant struggle for micro-sized-apartment–dwelling New Yorkers -- fashion editors are forced to store Louboutins in their stoves and aspiring hostesses serve cocktails on their TV stands. Enter Carolina George, the furniture company started by Georgia Tapert (owner of Georgia Tapert Living in SoHo) and her childhood friend, Caroline Cummings. "I needed a coffee table and a bookshelf in a new apartment, but didn't have space for both, so I combined it into one piece," explains Tapert. Presto! A classic console scissors apart into dual serving or writing tables; the top of a desk flips up to reveal a vanity mirror. "Anytime we saw something multifunctional [in the past], it was really cheaply made and sort of tacky," Tapert continues. "It was a fun challenge to come up with space-saving pieces that were chic, affordable and well-made."
All of Carolina George's pieces are made to order in the U.S. using beautiful woods and finishes, with details like inlaid nickel or a stenciled edge. Tapert grew up around beautiful things -- her mother, Annette Tapert, is a well-known interior-design writer. "My mother encouraged me to be creative," she says, "for example, to repaint my room should the spirit move me." Today, Tapert never sells anything in her store that she wouldn't want in her own home. "I want to do a line of bookends. I just love well-edited pretty bookcases with amusing objects. I like color and things with character."
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