Businesses find happiness in Pacheco Park

Why would anyone abandon a prime spot in the fast-growing railyard area for a retail space on out-of-the-way Pacheco Street in the lesser-known triangle district?

That’s what Victoria Price has just done, relocating her Victoria Price Art & Design gallery to a new development called Pacheco Park.

“I needed a bigger space,” she explains, “and parking! And when I drove by and saw this place, I just loved it. I signed the lease in three days.”

The complex grew out of the desire of the three partners in Tierra Concepts — Keith Gorges, and brothers Kurt and Eric Faust — to create a permanent home for Taos Furniture, which they bought in 2000 and renamed Carpinteros. The Pacheco Park development was conceived so the trio wouldn’t have to pay rent for their furniture operation, Gorges says, “and it just evolved from there. We didn’t exactly plan it as a design center,” he says, “but Santa Fe By Design moved in next, and then others followed. We’re delighted that things have worked out this way; it’s a very welcome development as far as we’re concerned.”

Every business in the complex is in some way connected with art and design, with tenants ranging from architects to jewelers.

“It’s becoming a very arts-oriented neighborhood,” says Price. “There’s the Pink Church arts center next door.”

But what really makes Pacheco Park different is its focus on contemporary design. Until a few years ago, it was virtually impossible to find much good, modern design in Santa Fe. That is now changing — with Price not only on the cutting edge of that shift, but leading it.

Price wants to attract people who appreciate that living in the Southwest means having access to a number of different cultures and artistic traditions.

“Santa Fe really is a hub, a place where so many different cultures come together,” she points out, “yet there’s hardly any interaction between them. Instead of keeping them separate, why not mix them up? Hang an old Navajo textile next to a modern chair, for instance. The mix is the excitement. Just look at Georgia O’Keeffe’s house. That’s real Santa Fe style!”

Price loves “that place where two apparently dissimilar things combine to produce something new,” she says. “After all, where the asphalt and dirt meet by the side of the road, that’s where the most wild flowers grow.”

A passion to innovate

Price’s new retail space in Pacheco Park is warm and welcoming. With displays of tables, chairs and lamps arranged in such a way that they invite you to sit down and pause for a while, it feels almost like walking into someone’s home. Carefully chosen artwork on the walls provide the finishing touch.

In addition to cutting-edge furniture and antique Navajo textiles, Victoria Price Art and Design also carries a selection of modern jewelry made by local artisans as well as sculptures, artifacts and knick-knacks of all kinds.

Price grew up surrounded by both art and design. Her father, actor Vincent Price, was an avid art collector; her mother, Mary Grant, was a designer; and her stepmother was model and actress Coral Browne.

“I was privileged to grow up with three innovators with great eyes,” she says. “They certainly had a very profound effect on me and how I see things and they definitely inspired my own passion to innovate.”

Price wants people to feel comfortable walking into her design space and just browsing, without any pressure to buy.

“I want people to come here, who won’t go into an art gallery because they feel intimidated,” she says. “I want people who think they can’t afford to have a piece of good design in their home to come here, too. Because they can.”

To that end, Price is now launching the Victoria Price Collection, a selection of gifts based on the artwork she carries. They include tote bags, memo pads, notebooks — even T-shirts and hats.

“It’s the sort of things you’d find in a museum store,” explains Price. “And, apart from the fun of coming up with the ideas, it’s important to me to have things that are financially accessible because I really believe that good design improves the quality of people’s lives. I guess I’m a populist at heart, because I’d like to make it possible for everyone to have a well-designed piece of art in their home.”

Cooperation is the key

It was Price’s friend, Page Kelleher, who first introduced her to Pacheco Park.

Kelleher was one of the first people to set up shop there. “I was so intrigued by the concept of this design complex that I took the space before I had a single stick of inventory,” she admits. “I didn’t even have any real idea of what I was going to sell!”

Six months later, Kelleher had an opening party and now, a year down the road, her shop, Santa Fe Modern Home, is doing so well that she is taking over the space next door.

Situated across the way from Victoria Price Art and Design, Kelleher’s emphasis is on hand-crafted, modern furniture. She uses local craftsmen and woodworkers to make up the pieces, many of which she designs herself. She also carries selected tableware, jewelry and ceramics.

The two stores complement each other in their mix of contemporary and traditional, and often cooperate on such things as advertising and special events.

“Cooperation is really the key to being successful,” says Kelleher, “especially in a town the size of Santa Fe. You can achieve far more by joining together than by being competitive.”

Kelleher had been coming to Santa Fe as a visitor since the 1970s and, after 25 years as a faux painter and finisher in the San Francisco Bay Area, finally decided to pack up and move here permanently.

“But I didn’t want to keep doing the same thing,“ she says. “I was sick of climbing ladders — I wanted a change.”

In the two years before she opened Santa Fe Modern Home, Kelleher made it her business to get to know many of the local designers, artists, woodworkers and craftsmen in the surrounding area. Consequently, when the store finally came together, Kelleher already had a list of sources to turn to for help.

“There is so much talent here,” she says. “I have a team of master craftsmen right here in my backyard. What a privilege!”

Kelleher would like to see more independent retailers move into Pacheco Park. Apart from Santa Fe Modern Home and Victoria Price Art and Design, the only other retail outlets are Santa Fe By Design — a decorative plumbing and high-end hardware showroom; the adjacent Accessory Annex, which carries cabinet hardware, bath accessories, mirrors, towel warmers and mirrored cabinets; and jeweler Hillary Somers, who creates scaled-down replicas of her husband’s scupltures as jewelry.

The rest of the complex, which is now 100 percent leased, houses architects, designers and builders.

“I’d like this center to become more of a gathering place,” says Kelleher. “A coffee shop would be a great addition. Maybe that will happen in time.”