Dave King

“I’m not materialistic or anything,” said Dave King, sprawled on his living room shag carpet with his infant daughter. “I’m just interested in being around things people have really labored over.” King, of course, knows well what it means to labor over one’s work. As a songwriter and drummer for Happy Apple, the Bad Plus, Halloween, Alaska, and a heap of side projects, he’s constantly on the road, touring with one of his bands or collaborating with other far-off artists. Collecting art and scouring vintage shops for modernist treasures is a favorite diversion while he’s away. He has a long list of can’t-miss shops in Paris, Chicago, and, of all places, Phoenix, but he’s also a regular at Twin Cities spots like Theater Antiques, Succotash, and Classic Retro at Pilney.

“Clean lines make for good creative energy,” King said, crossing his arms and surveying his domain, a modestly sized apartment in downtown St. Paul. “When you’re in a room filled with things that people really thought about, it makes you do the same.” In his living room, King gets inspired by a wall-sized drawing by local artist David Paul Schmit. “This one I love ’cause it’s got rockets,” he said. “A lot of mid-century design is concerned with rockets.” Nearby, a Werner Panton moon lamp and a six-foot stainless steel lamp with tiny star-shaped cutouts also play to the celestial theme. King is adept at creating a high/low mix. A Philippe Starck “Eros” chair (the one that looks like a tilted martini glass) is perched in the corner, and hanging from the ceiling is sculpture by King’s four-year-old daughter, created from a water bottle and red string. “This is her trying to be Marcel Duchamp,” he said, giving it an affectionate spin.

In the bedroom, one focal point is a trio of striking portraits on cardboard. King literally bought them out from under the artist, a Parisian hobo, who had been using them as a mattress. But, as in the living room, the eye is also drawn to the spare yet striking furnishings: a low-lying bed flanked by tubular Philippe Starck side tables and Italian office lamps (King has a special thing for lamps), a custom-made desk with cabriole metal legs, a curvy Eames dining chair.

It’s clear that King has a strong vision, and, one might think, a lot of money. But he points out that his collection was amassed slowly, over time, and that he and his wife are still saving for a down payment on a house. “We never had that much money, so we just started picking up small things,” he said. “My wife found a few here and there; I picked up others. Luckily we have the same taste. There’d be nothing worse than the love of my life being into La-Z-Boys.”—Christy DeSmith