Frederic Debackere - Co-founder/Partner Born Design/Head Designer

Frederic Debackere, was born in Gravelines near Dunkerque, France. He studied first at the School of Applied Art at the age of 17 in Roubaix and continued to the School of Art Decoratives in Strasbourg, France with a degree in both Industrial and Architecture design. He was hired after school by Gaetano Pesce to develop his “Open Sky” and “Fish Design” collection of resin furniture and objects in New York City. Frederic collaborated with G.Pesce on some of is innovative Architecture project in Brazil.   He then worked with the artist, Dennis Oppenheim, to develop public art commissions, through hand scaled models and later 3D computer modeling and rendering. Numbers of winning commissions were built around the globe (Flying garden at Sacramento airport, Police Tower in LA…)
 
Most recently, Frederic designed the exterior of the Chanel Store at the Americana Mall, Manhasset, NY for Peter Marino Architects. He is currently designing modern stainless steel luxury home products for Magppie.  Frederic is also a freelance architectural designer for modern luxury residential projects in The Hamptons and New York City.  With the successful launch of the Slimmy Chair, the Takeoff Collection will be expanding in the future to include a lounge chair, stool, etc..  

Catherine Debackere - Co-founder/Partner Born Design/Marketing Director

Catherine Debackere's, professional sales background encompasses all that truly interests her; Design, Art, and Architecture. With stints at/as the NMAI Smithsonian Museum, Independent Art Curator, Private Art Dealer, Stribling NY Real Estate, and Design Within Reach, she is a perfect example of sell what you love and success will follow.

Along with directing the marketing plan and sales accounts for design products at Born Design, Catherine is a real estate broker at Sotheby's International Real Estate in East Hampton, New York.