Functional Fashion: Bathrooms Meet Luxury: Design By D'Vontz

For generations, the bathroom has existed as the most utilitarian of household spaces -- a necessary room set aside for basic usefulness rather than for beauty or a showcase for style.

But two Tulsa entrepreneurs thought differently. Greg Hoff and John Kellerstrass saw an underserved niche and set out to put bathrooms on a pedestal and blend fashion with function.

In 2004, the former high-end home remodelers founded a bath and plumbing design company, D'Vontz, offering sleek, contemporary pedestal and vessel sinks, vanities and vanity counter tops, bath tubs, faucets and drain works.

Three years later, the tiny company started on a shoestring budget is a national and international design and distribution business with a steady growth plan and a trio of design industry awards.

The stylish line crafted from marble, granite, copper and select hardwoods is mainly sold through wholesale showrooms in 23 states and the District of Columbia.

To break into the marketplace, the two men took a niche item -- stone sinks -- and created them in a number of shapes. But they also designed a range of bath products that rival what can be found at only two other companies, Hoff said.

"We saw an opportunity . . . and we decided to forge ahead with this," he said. "We've built a national business out of Tulsa."

The company's rapid growth actually began soon after its 2004 debut at the annual Kitchen and Bath Industry Show, where those marble sinks and matching vanity tops attracted the attention of Lowe's Cos. Inc.

"They were the first big retailer to buy our product," Kellerstrass said.

Lowe's put a limited selection of D'Vontz's products in what was then just over 1,000 of its stores. The home improvement retailer now displays between 15 percent and 20 percent of the total line, and customers can special-order the products.

The complete D'Vontz collection can be found at major wholesalers in the plumbing industry, such as Ferguson Enterprises and Winnelson -- "companies doing billions of dollars in business a year," Kellerstrass said.

Those showrooms, located in most major cities, cater to architects, interior designers and home builders, Hoff said, and products can be custom-made. The 12,000-square-foot home office and distribution warehouse in a local industrial park is where head designer Morgan McBratney envisions each new item in the D'Vontz line on a computer screen.

Products created by the Tulsa native who studied furniture design in Georgia are manufactured in seven plants -- two in China, one in Taipei, two in Mexico and two in Oklahoma. The U.S. locations produce all the wood products.

"The difference between D'Vontz and the other manufacturers in the world is that all of our products have been designed by us," Kellerstrass said.

The company has also come of age during the bathroom's renaissance.

"What we're seeing now is an industry trend where bathrooms are becoming retreats," he said, complete with spa touches and amenities like plasma TVs. "The growth has exploded in the past 10 years."

Bathrooms in many new homes are larger and more luxurious, lending themselves to more fashionable furniture and plumbing. But homeowners with older houses are renovating their much-smaller bathrooms with more luxurious cabinetry and plumbing.

"The complexion of the bathroom is changing," Kellerstrass said, and D'Vontz has kept ahead of the curve with a number of space- conscious products to fit in those smaller rooms.

"For a new company, we have a very extensive product offering," Hoff said.

From marble and granite sinks perched atop metal bases and matching vanity counter tops to handmade, one-of-a-kind hammered copper sinks and bathtubs, D'Vontz's reputation in the industry is growing.

"We have the ability to do any type of product," Kellerstrass said. "That's what sets us apart from our competitors."

Debbie Blossom 581-8387

debbie.blossom@tulsaworld.com

D'Vontz awards

Tulsa-based D'Vontz receivedthree major 2007 Awards forDesign Excellence last monthfrom the annual ADEX programthat recognizes product design offurniture, fixtures and finishes.

This year's competition --sponsored by Design Journal, aninternational trade publication forinterior designers and architects-- included 500 companies thatsubmitted 2,000 new products forreview, marking the mostcompetitive event since theprogram began in 1994.

Top platinum awards weregiven to the Metropolitan pedestalensemble crafted from stone,wood and metal; and a Lautusnatural stone vessel sink inmarble. Both were in thebath-home fixtures category.

A gold award was presented foran all-wood, modular cabinetdesign with an adjustable-heightcounter top entered in thecabinetry category.The company's product line canbe viewed at dvontz.com.

(c) 2007 Tulsa World. Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.