Kevin Terpstra, one of the founders of the New York home design store Mxyplyzyk, died last week at his home in New Milford, Conn. He was 48.
The cause was liver failure, said Kevin Brynan, his business partner.
Terpstra founded the Greenwich Village shop in 1992 with Brynan and Peter Maase. Over the last 14 years, Mxyplyzyk has become a shopping destination for clean-lined, moderately priced contemporary furniture and home accessories. Terpstra, who did some of the buying for the store, became known for his whimsical window displays and store presentations.
Born in Kalamazoo, Mich., Terpstra moved to New York in 1979 to study illustration at the Fashion Institute of Technology. For a time, he was display director at Bon Marche, a Manhattan shop that sold inexpensive apartment-size furniture and lighting. He then left to work at a new store, Dot Zero, one of the first modern design outposts in the Flatiron district.
After five years, Dot Zero closed, and Terpstra and Brynan opened Mxyplyzyk (pronounced MIX-ee-PLIZ-ik), a name inspired by – but not identical to – a Superman comic book character.