Fab.com Chief Creative Officer Has Us Signing Up Fast

By Chadner Navarro
August 10, 2011

Fab.com

Bradford Shane Shellhammer's oft-photographed New York apartment

Daily deal sites and flash sale platforms seem to be launching at an alarming speed. (What will they be selling next on the interweb—severely marked down, limited-edition prospective spouses? Livestock? Real estate?) So it’s important to be judicious anytime you’re asked to leave your email address in yet another “sign up” field.

One site we wouldn’t hesitate to subscribe to is Fab.com, a new ecommerce site where every day, you can snag different specially priced, design-centric goods from all over the world. (Recent offers have included a Joe Cariati decanter from Los Angeles, edgy jewelry from Brooklyn-based indie designer Kiel Mead and Italian lighting from FontanaArte.)

Bradford Shellhammer and his New York City apartment featured on Dwell.com (via YouTube).

Baltimore-bred, New York-based Bradford Shane Shellhammer, a Co-Founder and the Chief Creative Officer of Fab.com, is the guy behind the site’s intriguing brand partnerships. With a resume that includes stints/consulting gigs at Design Within Reach, Blu Dot, the Sundance Channel, Dwell magazine, Full Frontal Fashion and Huffington Post, it’s safe to say Shellhammer has the design expertise to differentiate, say, a chic cheese platter from something that’s simply cheesy, along with the media savvy to generate serious buzz.

Below, the 35-year-old design doyen discusses why he loves working at Fab.com, how he decides which lines to feature on the site and how to decorate your digs to look more like his oft-photographed NYC apartment.

Bradford Shane Shellhammer

Bradford Shane Shellhammer

The Inside Source: How did you come into the Fab.com fold?

Bradford Shane Shellhammer: Jason Goldberg, our CEO, and I have been friends for over a decade. We'd started another company last year (a social networking site called Fabulis) and a year into that, we decided to [change the business] into what Fab is today: the go-to source for affordable and accessible design online.

The Inside Source: There are a lot of flash sale sites nowadays. How does Fab.com differentiate itself in an over saturated market?

Bradford Shane Shellhammer: We're different in a few ways, but the biggie is that we're not a liquidation resource. We've truly become a new sales and marketing channel for designers, artists, and manufactures big and small, iconic and emerging. This means we're selling and bringing to our users unique, amazing designs everyday—not just excess inventory that was gathering dust on warehouse shelves.

Many other flash sale sites celebrate the deal itself. Or they focus on things like luxury or traditional home. We focus on design. Design influences everything and exists in all products. It's also something that exists in all price points. We're not elitist and we're not a bargain basement. We're design lovers bridging the gap between amazing designers and an audience hungry for inspiration.

Fab.com

Items that have been sold on Fab.com: Craighton Berman lamp, Objeti Leif Table, Sancal Sectional Sofa

The Inside Source: What’s your favorite part of your gig at Fab.com?

Bradford Shane Shellhammer: Jason oversees the business. He also designs and builds our product: our website. All the designs we sell—those things fall under me. How could I not love my job!? I meet every day designers and creatives who make things! And I help them get their art and designs into the hands of consumers. It's rewarding on so many levels. Design really enriches one's life. We're doing our little bit to bring design to everyone.

The Inside Source: You come from a very robust design background. How did you decide to transition to ecommerce?

Bradford Shane Shellhammer: I've written online forever, having had a widely read blog way before blogs became ubiquitous. So online has always been in my blood. And I have been lucky enough to work for a great design retailer, Design Within Reach, and manufacturer, Blu Dot, as well as Dwell magazine. All those things together prepared me for what I tackle at Fab. Jason and I say Fab takes our two strengths and marries them perfectly. He's a master of social engagement and a designer of user experiences online. And I have a unique eye and ability to connect with and find designers to work with. It's the perfect partnership.

The Inside Source: How do you decide which designers to work with? What draws you to the work?

Bradford Shane Shellhammer: Gut. Color. Emotion. Function. When I see something—anything—I have strong reactions usually: love and hate. The test around Fab is: Do I love it? If I don't, it doesn't make the site.

That's not to say I don't have diverse tastes. I'm a retailer at heart—not a design snob! I know that some things may not be for me, but could I see them enriching someone else's life. If I can see a product bettering someone’s life, solving a problem, making someone smile, then we will happily partner with that designer or brand.

Bradford Shane Shellhammer

Bradford Shane Shellhammer's oft-photographed New York apartment

The Inside Source: Your Manhattan apartment has previously been featured on Dwell.com, in the New York Times and elsewhere. What makes it special?

Bradford Shane Shellhammer: It's eclectic, colorful and whimsical. It's a shrine to art and design and color. It's my personality turned into a home. Not for everyone, but not like anyone else's, either. It's a bit Pee-Wee's playhouse. And I love color. And color looks good in print. The Fab office is now becoming my home's cousin. There are more than a few similar decorating choices.

The Inside Source: Such as?

Bradford Shane Shellhammer: The office is bigger so we pretty much work in a larger version of my place: toys, colors, patterns, textiles, Eames, Vitra, Alexander Girard, graphic posters, and fun people! And an occasional cocktail!

Fab.com

The Fab.com offices

The Inside Source: What's your decorating philosophy?

Bradford Shane Shellhammer: Contained chaos. Telling stories through collections. Layering materials, textures, patterns, and colors. It's very busy, very all over the place. But pieced together in a way that makes sense—that complements and seems sensible.

I say take risks. Don't be afraid of color. And learn the art of mixing high and low, showroom pieces with scavenger hunt finds [and] eBay-sourced art with art made by your friends.

The Inside Source: Do you subscribe to any one style?

Bradford Shane Shellhammer: I like patterns and textures—loud things. Think Pucci, Etro, Paul Smith, Moroso and Alexander Girard. I'm a mid-century modern buff, too, but those Saarinen and Eames pieces need to be married with current designs like Objeti or Blu Dot. You can't have too much of one theme. That's boring. Eclectic homes are the most genuine homes.

Fab.com

Fab.com offices

The Inside Source: How often do you redecorate?

Bradford Shane Shellhammer: Fab.com has been up for less than two months and already I have a new purple Spanish sofa, a new shower curtain, a new set of serving bowls (Thank you, Sarah Cihat!), and lots of new Milton Glaser prints on my walls. Some could say my need to redecorate is a serious problem. I chalk it up to being a Gemini.

The Inside Source: Do you use eBay to source furniture, decorations, etc.?

Bradford Shane Shellhammer: Yes! Half the art in my home was found on eBay: Clown paint-by-numbers and a silkscreen of Warhol's Marilyn with Mike Tyson's face are my favorites. I got them all for under $10! And I bought a Viking stove on eBay, too.

Fab.com

Fab.com offices

The Inside Source: What can we expect from Fab.com that could potentially make our homes as fabulous as yours?

Bradford Shane Shellhammer: Art makes a big difference in a home, and we're bringing really special, really affordable art to the Fab community. We're also showcasing a lot of fantastic design jewelry—something hard to find. It may not make your home more fabulous, but a new ring makes everyone feel special.

Roll over items for details

Vintage Bulgarian Socialist Art Poster

(buy it now price, $95)

Isamu Noguchi Akari 3-Piece Lamp

Vintage Hudson Bay 4-Point Wool Blanket

Vintage 1979 "Clue" Board Game

(buy it now price, $35.99)

1986 Interview Magazine with Stevie Wonder

(starting bid, $4.95)

Always Ask a Man Book by Arlene Dahl

(buy it now price, $34.99)

The Andy Warhol Diaries Book

(buy it now price, $14.95)

Jar of Buttons

Beautiful People with Beautiful Feelings

(buy it now price, $19.75)

Fab.com Chief Creative Officer Has Us Signing Up Fast

1. Vintage Bulgarian Socialist Art Poster: "I collect posters and have a Bulgarian boyfriend. Our house is filled with graphic posters like these that are from another era, both political and graphically."

2. Isamu Noguchi Akari 3-Piece Lamp: Light as sculpture? Noguchi was a genius. When not lit, these add to any room decorated in any style. And when lit, the light quality filtered through the paper makes everyone and everything look great.

3. Vintage Hudson Bay 4-Point Wool Blanket: "I know it is summer, but now is the best time to snatch up a classic Hudson Bay blanket. I have bought several on eBay."

4. Vintage 1979 "Clue" Board Game: Game night is big at my place, and I use eBay to snap up the old versions of my favorites [and bring] back memories from my childhood. The old games' graphics and designs were so much better—more subtle. "Clue" is my favorite.

5. Jar of Buttons: "I like collecting things, and I love showing off the collections. One of things I have in my home is large jars of buttons. I love plastic, metal, new and old. I fill mason jars with them and line walls."

6. 1986 Interview Magazine with Stevie Wonder: Vintage magazines! Who wants to read current trends!? I want to know what life was like in the era of good taste ('50s) and bad taste ('70s). But the '80s are the best, and I have a stack of Interview magazines from the '80s sitting out for my guests to peruse.

7. The Andy Warhol Diaries Book: eBay's the perfect place to snap up my 3 favorite books: The Andy Warhol Diaries, Arlene Dahl's Arlene Dahl's Always Ask a Man and Donny Miller's Beautiful People With Beautiful Feelings.

8. Always Ask a Man Book by Arlene Dahl

9. Beautiful People With Beautiful Feelings by Donny Miller

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