Converting warehouses to offices, bars and breweries is great, but the Dallas Design District also still attracts light manufacturing and showrooms.
One of the central Dallas neighborhood’s latest artistic residents hails from the land down under.
Milton & King, a wallcovering manufacturer and designer, recently leased a 7,300-square-foot building at 901 Dragon Street for its first showroom and brick-and-mortar retail in the United States. The one-story building was constructed in 1953 and is owned by the Mantas family, according to the Dallas Central Appraisal District.
The firm’s wallcoverings have been featured on HGTV shows like Gut Job, Making It Home and Brother vs Brother, as well as in Better Homes and Gardens magazine.
The company supplied actress Zooey Deschanel and her husband Johnathan Scott, one of the Property Brothers, with floral-themed wall coverings and leaf-shaped sconces, which the couple showcased in an Instagram post last year.
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Brothers Richard and Bryce Capp founded the company in Queensland in 2008. They say Dallas is a smart choice for international companies looking to plant roots in the states. It’s smack in the middle of the continental U.S., which makes distribution around the country easier than shipping from one coast to the other.
And besides, this company likes the heat.
“We’re from a place in Australia which is similar in climate,” CEO Richard Capp said. “Also, you can get a direct flight from Sydney to Dallas.”
Of course, the state’s business-friendly climate and low taxes didn’t hurt.
“That’s what originally brought us here,” said Capp. “We were in an office in Austin for seven years.”
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It was the Design District that attracted the firm to Dallas for its U.S. base. The majority of the wall-covering market — both national and niche brands — are represented in the district, he said.
“There’s a lot happening here, and it’s nice to be a part of that higher level of energy in design,” he said.
While big developments like Fort Worth’s AllianceTexas have attracted manufacturing for other international boutique brands, such as the Swiss chocolate company Läderach, Milton & King prefers the inner-city creative vibe of the Design District.
“We don’t have a huge footprint,” says Capp. “It’s more about people working in the showroom, rather than being in some industrial complex.”