Worldwide Wares: Homescapes, Carmel

California Home & Design, February 2006
Featured in California Living: Monterey Peninsula,
Destination & Design by Molly Hardle

One of Homescapes, Carmel’s catch phrases is “we travel the world so that you don’t have to.” Co-owner Thompson Lange admits it’s a little obnoxious at times (“most of our customers enjoy traveling as much as we do”), but it aptly sums up Homescapes, Carmel’s mission of delivering rare and interesting found objects to the Monterey Peninsula and beyond. Thompson and his brother, Beau Lange, started their business nine years ago, and the Lange’s literally go to the ends of the earth (“We’ve never been to Antarctica but other than that, every continent is represented”) to acquire Homescape, Carmel’s eclectic inventory. The store stocks such fascinating pieces as opium beds, Chinese altar tables, artisan lamps, Indonesian plantation chairs, exotic orchids and local artwork. And yet the Lange brothers are careful to point out that their inventory is more than “just something for people to stare at.” Each piece has an intended purpose and if it doesn’t the Langes repurpose it to better serve their customers’ needs. “We find primitive things—benches, mortars, stones, animal troughs—things that had a use, have a spirit, have a life, and transform them into objects that look good and function well in people’s homes,” Thompson says. Half the fun of shopping at Homescapes, Carmel is perusing the store’s fascinating, multi-layered displays. “We really concentrate on balance and color because that’s what you’re going to do in your home,” Thompson says. And Beau adds, “one of the things we always hear is ‘Oh, this gives me the greatest idea for when I get home.’” It’s worth noting that Homescapes, Carmel is not just family-owned (even the brothers’ younger sister Keri Marion works for them), but also family-oriented—the brothers treat their community like a part of their family too. The company supports the Carmel Art Association, Meals on Wheels and the Monterey County AIDS Project and in 2005, Thompson helped raise money for the Deaf & Hard of Hearing Service Center in Salinas by running the Great Wall of China Marathon. “We try to give back in any way that we can, even if it isn’t monetary,” Beau says. And although Homescapes has a strong local customer base, it continues to win recognition with magazines and industry groups nationally. Home Accents Today named the store among its top 50 shining stars in retail for 2005 and Gifts and Decorative Accessories Magazine gave the store the Gold Award for Promotion in 2004. “Some of these organizations we don’t even know, but they seem to know us,” says Thompson. “Homescapes, Carmel has received several national awards based on people following us.” Yet another reason for Bay Area residents to stop into Homescapes, Carmel, the next time they’re in the area.