European panache has also come to Sarasota in the form of COR upholstered furniture at Home Resource, the exclusive source for the German designer brand in the state of Florida. Home Resource owners Michael and Kathy Bush are in good company, since COR is featured in a studio within the trend-setting Domus Design Collection showroom (known to design junkies as DDC) on Madison Avenue in New York City. I tested the seating while three top execs from COR were recently surveying the Sarasota scene. This company has been making the Conseta upholstery system on the floor at Home Resource since the early 1960s, and the simple, streamlined design has survived the whims of fashion ever since.

But the beauty of the system is what you don’t see: customization capabilities unheard of to American furniture shoppers. It fits right in with the trend to personalization in everything from wallpaper to tennis shoes. Any retailer who gets the COR line must take training in the available options, and Kathy Bush is the resident expert after a week at COR headquarters near Dusseldorf, Germany.

“This truly is fitted furniture with better ergonomics,” she says. “We can personalize arm height and width, seat depth, the length of the sofa of modular unit. And there are six different cushion densities and five legs to choose from.” The standard size Conseta sofa runs $6,400.