Natural Transformations at Cocoon Gallery | Naples Illustrated (2024)

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Elements from nature find new form and function at Cocoon Gallery, thanks to founder Mitchell Siegel and a skilled team of artisans

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Cocoon Gallery had been rooted in Greenwich, Connecticut, for approximately 20 years before its founder, Mitchell Siegel, thought about visiting Naples. It was a business partner who urged Siegel to tour Fifth Avenue South initially, suggesting it could be a fecund location for his high-end furniture, art, and decor business.

After visiting, it didn’t take long for Siegel to relocate. In 2020, he set up shop here, closing the Greenwich location in 2021. After opening a showroom on Fifth Avenue South, he later established a large woodshop nearby, an atelier of sorts, where sustainably harvested elements from Mother Nature (think: exotic timber, roots, vines, leaves, etc.) are transformed into extraordinary, one-of-a-kind pieces. Thus far, the change of venue has proven to be a solid business move. In fact, Cocoon’s success in Naples has allowed Siegel to expand; he opened a Palm Beach–based branch earlier this year.

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Fueling Cocoon’s prosperity—at least partly—is Siegel’s multifold contacts, which he has developed and maintained across decades. These allow him to directly source exotic and unique woods and other natural materials from off-the-grid locations spanning multiple continents. For example, much of the wood Cocoon uses for sculptures, tables, and table bases hails from Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines, while sparkling geodes, often incorporated into furniture or art pieces, call Brazil home.

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“If I had to take a bus 15 hours up a mountain with no toilet, I would do it before I would stay at the bottom of the hill and save time buying from a secondary source,” Siegel explains, “because I want to get the full scope of everything. And I want to get the best quality.”

How Siegel developed his invaluable international contacts requires a peek into the past. Originally from New York, he grew up in a family whose livelihood was defined by fabric. His grandmother and mother operated a sewing shop, and his father bought and sold textiles. As small textile shops met competition from larger retailers (such as department stores like Sears), Siegel’s father formed a business that leveraged the collective buying power of about 1,000 fabric stores across the nation. “I worked with my father, and this was my first real job,” relays Siegel. “At this point, textiles were still being made in the United States.”

In the early ’80s, Siegel says he and a friend “stumbled into spandex Lycra.” With generous lines of credit made possible by his father, Siegel and his partner started a textile import company, a business they built to $10 million in the first year. This company flourished for several years until countries like Mexico and China started sinking more teeth into manufacturing and exportation. Siegel (and his father) anticipated this shift but “didn’t know it would change so quickly,” he says. “By 1990, our business was annihilated.”

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From here, Siegel moved to the Philippines, working as an independent contractor, doing spandex production work for Rustan’s, a popular department store there. He made the most of his time in Southeast Asia, often exploring nearby islands as time allowed. “I was able to see how [cultures] used different natural materials for things,” he says. “There was a sense of usefulness, and I liked the look.”

A few years later, Siegel—alongside another friend and business partner—approached shopping mall mammoth Simon about opening Cocoon stores. They established four retail shops together, not selling superluxury items but rather various sundries, including tabletop ceramics, aromatherapy products, rice soaps, and soy candles. The enterprise struggled. “Malls weren’t the right place—except from December 18 to December 24,” expounds Siegel. “The business failed miserably.”

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Still determined, Siegel opened Cocoon Gallery in Greenwich. And about eight years ago, the company started making and selling high-end products exclusively. This upmarket shift has only accelerated with the Naples relocation. “We have wood, and this gives us endless options; we have the raw materials,” he notes. “Just like in textiles and fashion, we must have an eye for trends and designs and keep coming up with the new and different. We have the talent for this type of creativity.”

Indeed, Cocoon does have the talent, including a cadre of gifted artisans who have mastered woodworking and perfected sophisticated finishing processes, such as sanding, bleaching, staining, dyeing, and others.

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When the wood arrives at Cocoon’s woodshop, it has been cut but retains an organic shape. It’s stored outside, where it is fumigated. After, it goes into a large kiln for drying. It is then fumigated once again and brought into the woodshop for finishing. Cocoon’s artisans flatten, cut, sand, and shape the material as required. “This is a long process of hard work, but the time spent shows in the pieces,” says Siegel.

“The most important thing we do is the processing, which keeps the integrity of the wood,” says Frank Bentivegna, a Cocoon artisan. “The processing takes many steps. … We care about the integrity of the natural wood. We don’t paint it; we keep our wood natural-looking.”

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Inspiration for Cocoon’s pieces stems from multiple sources, including Cocoon’s team. Siegel believes everybody has something to contribute. “Everyone here is very important,” explains Siegel. “We listen to everyone.”

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Alternatively, if a customer comes with an idea, Siegel says they can usually make it happen. “A lot of time, we end up designing and creating for specific spaces—for instance, an area in someone’s home.”

And speaking of home, Siegel says Naples is his now. “I love living here,” he says. “Everything about Naples is top-notch, and that’s no longer a secret. If I didn’t travel for work, I would never leave or go on an airplane again.”

Story Credits:

Shot on location at Cocoon Gallery Woodshop, Naples

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Natural Transformations at Cocoon Gallery | Naples Illustrated (2024)

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