Getting Really Steamed

By Matthew Hall

     I’m showing my age here, but I remember the original broadcasts of the ’60s-era TV show, “The Wild Wild West.” While that program was a pleasant diversion for me, it wound up meaning a lot more to ModVic LLC’s Bruce Rosenbaum, our April cover subject.

     For one thing, “TWWW” served as a venue for some serious father-son bonding: both Bruce and his dad loved the show and watched it together whenever possible. And decades later, the program—whose episodes centered around two Secret Agents in the 1860s using a variety of retro-future tools (such as a concealed sleeve gun that was brandished by sliding it down an ejecting mechanical support arm) to protect U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant—provided inspiration for the younger Rosenbaum as he embarked on an effort to make Steampunk design his life’s work.

     Like “TWWW,” Steampunk is a retro-futurist aesthetic that marries Victorian-era objects, furnishings and gadgets with state-of-the-art technologies. And it’s making its way into a variety of hospitality settings, including Rosenbaum’s creations for The Hotel Marlowe in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the Nantucket Hotel + Resort near Cape Cod.

     For Rosenbaum’s views on why Steampunk is gaining in momentum and prominence, check out this month’s Q+A. One especially telling point that he made during our conversation is that Steampunk owes much of its growing presence in hospitality to the sector’s robust pipeline of adaptive-reuse and renovation projects. For a fascinating look at two noteworthy—albeit non-Steampunk—renos, see the “Hit Refresh”feature.

     Meantime, interested in revisiting “TWWW” to sample its Steampunk ethos? My talks with Rosenbaum inspired me to do so. Appropriately enough, I found that analog-era program is available in a variety of digital forms: DVDs, online video streaming services and digi-broadcast sub-channels run by TV stations. To borrow a catchphrase from yet another bygone era, back to the future, indeed. 

Original Article from Boutique Design: http://www.boutiquedesign.com/content/getting-really-steamed