Shifting from couplehood to business partners, Tutolo and Bassignani open interior furnishings store in Victory Park

NO DISHING ON ‘THE DONALD:’ Before they opened Haven in November, Tutolo, left, and Bassignani both worked for Trump Modeling Agency. And they both signed confidentiality agreements.

"What's in a name?"

Shakespeare might have argued not much. But when it comes to Jon Tutolo and John Bassignani's new store in Victory Park, the name Haven says it all. The three-month-old home furnishings store is a sanctuary of hip and beautiful goods.

Both Tutolo and Bassignani know about stylish surroundings. They both worked for Donald Trump at the Trump Modeling Agency. The mogul swiped Bassignani from Elite Model Management, and Trump imported Tutolo from Dallas. At 27, Tutolo was named president of Trump Models soon after he began working there. But don't ask them for any Trump gossip or to comment on the Rosie O'Donnell dustup.

"We signed a confidentiality agreement," Bassignani says.

After living in New York for more than 10 years, it seems strange that they'd relocated to Dallas to open a retail store. But Tutolo, a former North Texan, was ready for a change. Plus, he explains, "I'm passionate about interiors, and this market didn't have a niche like this."

Tutolo's niche is showcasing gorgeous, handmade goods that you can't get anywhere else in Dallas.

"I'd have to absolutely love it if someone else in Dallas carries it," Tutolo explains.

Opening Haven was no snap decision. Before moving to Big D, Tutolo and Bassignani spent nearly three years planning Haven: collecting ideas, names and products. And though the two are no longer a couple, they are dedicated to being business partners, committed to helping people make their homes look and feel the way the owners want them to, without simply copying some art director's idea of a perfect room.

"Most people don't want to live on a magazine page," says Tutolo. "It's much more personal to mix it up."

The items there aren't super modern or super shabby-chic. At first glance, the items in the Haven showroom seem to have nothing in common. But somehow they work together: ceramic vases that can also be used as candleholders, glassware the color of smoky topaz, and wire wall sculptures made of light bulbs.

The design of the showroom is stylishly placid: chocolate-stained concrete floors, breathy, high ceilings lined with exposed Douglas fir beams. Tutolo and Bassignani designed niches for the walls that required building out the walls by two additional feet, and they had white stone with a rich, craggy textured installed along the back wall. It may have been a raw space when they got it, but now, it's a haven.

Of course, barring the actual bones of the store, chances are the place will look different every time a customer visits. Even the color scheme of the store changes.

"It's very neutral in here now," Tutolo says. "But soon we'll have lots of lavenders and blues for spring. Just like with fashion, we want to rotate the colors with the seasons."

Customers will find a broad range of prices: from plush, clean line sofas to gifts at prices that, "won't give you buyer's remorse the next day," Tutolo says.

He also explains that Haven is not about intimidating people into spending too much money or scaring them into buying mass market items because they wouldn't know their own good taste if it walked in the room wearing Prada.

"I appreciate the comfort of home and how important that is to people," he says. "And it's so rewarding to see people happy."

Although you might be able to furnish an entire home shopping at Haven, that's not necessarily the shop's focus.

"You could come close to it," says Tutolo.

But Haven is more about finding something or somethings that are "so you or the last piece you need or something to build an entire room around."

And if you're wondering if you can get Tutolo or Bassignani to create that room or rooms for you, well, "I've definitely made a few house calls and it's so much fun," says Tutolo.

Haven has been open since November and has been enjoying a good stream of business, including a number of residents from the W. Although they love their new location, they'll be happy to see other retail clients moving in and parking becoming more available once construction is complete.

Haven, 2416 Victory Park Lane. Mon.-Sat. 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., Sun. noon-5 p.m. 214-324-2203.


HAVEN HOLDINGS

Horse prints by Robert Dutesco
These black-and-white photographs of horses are stunning. Robert Dutesco photographed on Sable Island, off Halifax, Nova Scotia. More than 300 wild horses live there, but nothing else, including trees, no shelter, no shade, no people or development. Just horses. $2,500.

Vases by Gilles Caffier
Some are striped with rows of thread. Others are beaded. And one set is tye-dyed, stitched leather. They are modern without being either stark or obtuse. "We have tons from Caffier for the spring," says Tutolo. "I was a crazy person at the gift show." $220 and up.

Swans Island blankets
Handmade off the coast of Maine, Swans Island Blankets are one of Tutolo's favorite items. Warm, neutral tones accented with a second color. They are cozy and have a natural feel because of being hand-woven wool. $375 and up.



This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition March 2, 2007