Issue link: http://papercitymagazine.uberflip.com/i/1433456
S ince opening its doors in West Palm Beach in late 2018, home design emporium Casa Gusto has drawn more than 50,000 followers on Instagram and an avid fan base of interior designers and others from around the world. A recent post showing hand-painted Talevera dishes artfully arranged on a wall above a peeling antique Swedish bench has garnered more than 5,560 likes and a load of inquiries. Martha Stewart has blogged about it, and House Beautiful listed Casa Gusto as one of the top home decor stores in America. People travel from around the globe to shop here, but design lovers from Texas are among Casa Gusto's biggest fans. "Boy, do they love it — An SUV will pull up and five, six, seven, eight, 10 women will pile out, and they're all from Dallas or Houston," says Charles Peed, who co-owns Gasa Gusto with his mother, Cris Briger, and brother Augie Briger. Peed photographs the dreamy Instagram images that garner so much attention, but it's the carefully chosen inventory that makes Casa Gusto stand out. Swedish, English, and French antiques from the 18th and 19th centuries are mixed with accessories designed by Casa Gusto, including monochromatic Talevera dishes and exquisite white tole and papier mâché blooms — all interpreted through the sophisticated Casa Gusto lens and handmade in Mexico. Everything must be truly special, or it doesn't make it through the door. "It has to be provocative," Cris says. "We never say, 'Oh my god, we need chairs' and then go buy some. Sometimes we don't have any chairs for sale because we haven't found any that fit the story." That story, Peed says, is rooted in romance and a sense of history, with furniture and objects displayed like works of art. Whether it's a charming scalloped table from Sweden, a spectacular carved gilt wood mirror from Italy, or an old red toile screen from France, each object is given the attention it deserves. "If you take a piece of brown furniture and put it in a house with other brown furniture, it looks like your grandma," says Peed, Tole tulip Gusto Made hand-painted chest Hand-painted Talevera plates and antique doors 73