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DANIEL BASILETTI






Retail & Brand Expertise


Procurement - Product Development - Brand Development
Merchandising -  Sales Strategy -  Operations
MAGAZZINO ITALIAN ART
Retail Consultant (2023-present)

Photos by Marco Anelli / Tomasso Sacconi.

Magazzino Italian Art is a museum dedicated to advancing scholarship and public appreciation of postwar and contemporary Italian art in the United States. Magazzino servces as an advocate for Italian artists as it celebrates the range of their creative practices from Arte Povera to the present.

The Robert Olnick Pavilion, named after Co-founder Nancy Olnick’s late father, is the second building on Magazzino’s campus in Cold Spring, New York, opened to the public on September 14, 2023. The pavilion added 13,000 square feet of exhibition space, a multi-purpose room with auditorium capabilities, and a combined Italian cafe and store.

The store includes mouth-blown Murano glass from Nason & Moretti and Venini, as well as ceramics from Sardinian artist Giovanni Deidda and Bitossi.  In addition to these examples of fine Italian craft, the store offers jewelry, publications, and museum souvenirs.
NASHER SCULPTURE CENTER POP-UP STORE
(Holiday 2021)


The Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas, TX, had removed their celebrated museuem shop during the pandemic and didn’t have the resources availalbe to open it again after the museum reopened.

Through a partnership with design distributor AMEICO, I made a proposal to re-launch the retail store, originally designed by Charles Sparks + Company, with a pop-up shop for the 2021 Holiday season. I made a selection of products from the AMEICO collection, coordinated installation with the Nasher team, trained staff, followed sales and held monthly check-ins with the retail team.

The temporary shop was open from November 3, 2021 - January 6, 2022. Read the press release here.
AMEICO
Sales & Marketing (2014-2023)


Based in New Milford, CT, AMEICO is an importer and distributor of 20th and 21st century industrial design. After working out of a small office in New Milford for 14 years, owner Peter Kahane started looking for new space, not only to provide his employees with a better working environment, but also to show his wide collection of home, office, & tabletop products, lighting, and furnishings. In the same block was an abandoned building which was built in 1918 to house the SNET Telephone Exchange for the area, but had laid dormant since the early 1990s. In 2012 AMEICO purchased the building and began extensive remediation and renovations.



By the end of 2013, the office was working from the new location at 29 Church, and work began on setting up a retail shop, furniture and lighting showroom, a kitchen, and a library. 29 Church opened to the public on June 15th, 2014.



“I wanted to let you know that seeing your space and the objects you carry was a turning point for me as a creative and a huge inspiration for the grant I later applied for. I mentioned that trip in my thesis as it was the first time I had seen so many beautifully designed chairs, ceramics, lighting, books, posters - every inch was considered and had design history - all in one place. I owe you a massive thank you for sharing that design playground with my class.”

-UCONN Student, after visiting AMEICO with their design class

29 Church in the New York Times, June 19, 2013:
Museum of Sex
Director of Retail & Product Development  (2012-2014)


By curating a more artful and enriched program of merchandising than was previously offered at the Museum of Sex Store, the customer base was extended beyond the usual tourists, resulting in increased sales, and greater interest from manufacturers and artists to collaborate on product launches and in-store installations.


Along with the change in store merchandising, the MoSEX Store website was re-launched, with a new design by Liz Kinnmark, laying the foundation for future online community initiatives.



A new logo treatment and visual language was developed with Emilie Baltz, Kimberly Kulka and Vera Apuzen, to strengthen the store's identity. This new branding was applied to various print and digital media, including:

A product line which further explored the MoSEX store brand and the context of the store identity within the Museum.



Wayfinding, advertising, and print media: 
Moss
Product Manager (2002-2012)



Moss Gallery presented a highly curated selection of industrial design works which were presented in a Museum-like setting. Working closely with owner and design maven Murray Moss and his partner Franklin Getchell, a program of exhibitions on the subject of art and design were mounted in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, and Milan.



New operation systems were developed as the store grew beyond its original space at 146 Greene Street. By 2010, Moss had grown to a 10,000 square foot space occupying the corner of Greene Street and Houston Street in Manhattan, a 5,000 square foot gallery in West Hollywood, LA, and a gift shop integrated into the Bazaar at the SLS Hotel.



Through its unique store-as-museum approach, Moss was able to launch the careers of many designers, establish US markets for several manufacturers, and many of the works that were created for Moss quickly became design classics, finding their way into the permanent collections of Museums worldwide.