We pounced upon our newest design discovery — the natty and tantalizing Native Citizen — days before its opening, en route to a Dominic Walsh Dance Theater meeting. The dance company is the home decor shop’s upstairs neighbor; the pair share a two-story, circa-1930s former printing plant that is being reborn and contemporized by architect Carlo Di Nunzo. Native Citizen owner Will Shoemaker and co-owner Denny Stygstra, who also serves as the showroom’s designer, preside over a 29-store retail empire, aka Langford Market, which is headquartered in Houston and has spread to six states. Besides clothing, each Langford Market boasts unique fixtures that are offered for sale in their phalanx of boutiques. Langford’s team of pickers has been housing props in a 30,000 square-foot warehouse in town. So Shoemaker and Stygstra figured, why not add a design destination to their retail mix? And that’s how Native Citizen came to be. The handsome 3,000-square-foot space is home to all manner of finds, from $2 painted clay pots to substantial pieces of furniture by Herman Miller and Steelcase, priced towards $2,000. Also in the mix (and singled out by Stygstra as best bets) are restored ‘60s and ‘70s lamps (including a cool Sputnik number), chandeliers formed from wall sconces and industrial touches such as coffee tables fashioned from salvaged factory parts (steals, from $300). This must-stop emporium also functions as an art gallery, representing the modernist-styled canvases of Mexican-born, Houston-based Edgar Medina; Medina’s abstractions, priced $600 to $2,000, could pass for paintings on the Mad Men set. Open daily, noon to 5 pm. 2311 Dunlavy St., 832.368.0754; nativecitizen.com.
