Lanoba Design Rebuilds After Fire Guts Red Hook Showroom

Founders David Singh and Lars Balderskilde lost their entire inventory in last week’s five-alarm blaze. An outpouring of community support is helping them chart a path forward.

Lanoba Design, 481 Van Brunt Street. Illustration by Tim Le

Just one week after a five-alarm fire gutted their sprawling showroom inside a Red Hook waterfront warehouse, Lanoba Design’s founders are plotting a new path forward.

David Singh and Lars Balderskilde, who co-founded the vintage Danish furniture business in 2015, lost their entire inventory – 900 pieces of furniture, along with refurbishment tools – in the fire, which tore through 481 Van Brunt Street last Wednesday evening. The four-storey building was built in 1870 using heavy timber construction. In addition to Lanoba, it housed the works of more than 500 artists, who were preparing for the annual Red Hook Open Studios showcase next month. While the cause of the fire is unknown, it took more than 250 firefighters and a boat to extinguish it, according to the FDNY’s update last week.

On Friday, Sep. 19, Lanoba posted a GoFundMe link with the goal of raising $55,000. An outpouring of community support nearly brought them to their goal less than a week later, when they had raised $51,669 over 627 donations.