Priceless Design Finds at Internum

Internum carries an impressive line of European furniture brands like Baxter, which specializes in rich and eclectic ’50s-inspired furniture, rugs, and lamps.

First came the available square-footage. Now it’s time to design it. As the managing director of Internum, a high-end contemporary furniture showroom in the Design District, Arturo Lagunes has been well positioned to observe—and capitalize on—this ongoing luxury real estate boom.

In 2012, while many businesses were still struggling during the Great Recession, Internum’s sales jumped nearly 40 percent over the previous year. The boom times continued from there, Lagunes says.

Internum’s good fortune is in part a result of its impressive line of European furniture brands, including world-renowned Italian names like Baxter and Giorgetti. The Baxter universe comprises “increasingly rich and eclectic” environments with a nod to the 1950s, complete with everything from leather couches to coffee tables, rugs to lamps.

“We do not sell cheap furniture,” says Lagunes, who estimates his average sofa price at $20,000. “It costs because it’s worth it.

Luckily for Lagunes, deep-pocketed Brazilians, Russians, and other foreigners have been buying up Miami vacation homes like pairs of shoes. But will the high-flying market last? After three years in the business, Internum has a bright future, Lagunes predicts.

“Miami is Miami,” he says. “It’s always trendy.” Internum, 3841 NE Second Ave., Ste. 101, Miami, 305-576-1135

PHOTOGRAPHY BY TK