For Ramon Delgado-Maynes, sin pays.
Delgado-Maynes owns Material Environment, a vintage furniture and interior design store in the Fairfax district he opened three years ago.
The shop has a partnership with online vintage furniture, clothing and design portal VandM.com, which stands for vintage and modern. The portal is working with New York-based Showtime Networks Inc. on a contest coinciding with the second season of the Showtime series “The Borgias,” which follows the exploits of the infamous Italian Renaissance family.
For the contest, VandM-affiliated stores in 10 cities – including Delgado-Maynes’ shop – were assigned themes for window displays related to the series, and Showtime selected local designers to carry out the project. “Borgias” viewers will vote for their favorite design; the vote enters them in a contest for a trip to Italy. The designers with the most votes also win an Italian voyage.
Material Environment drew the theme “Sin.” L.A. designers Kyle Kannenberg and Melisa Myers came up with a mid-20th century version of a confessional chamber, with a priest on a chair lit by a Swedish glass chandelier. The display includes a collage of images from the series.
The “Sin” display went up late last month and was scheduled to close April 20. Delgado-Maynes said that his business ticked up while the window display was on view. Even the chandelier was sold within days of the display going up (although the buyer, a collector in Romania, wouldn’t get delivery until the display came down).
“All the time, cars are slowing down and even stopping in front of the store to get a closer look,” he said. “Many folks then decide to come in our store and several of them end up buying things.”