Furniture mavericks’ philosophy is keep it comfortable, using a ‘relaxed design’
By Elaine Markoutsas, Universal Press Syndicate
For a good chunk of its 17-year history, the Mitchell Gold brand flew under the radar, despite the fact that it was quietly revolutionizing the furniture industry.
The modern-looking chairs and sofas snapped up by customers of Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, Williams-Sonoma Home and Storehouse had no hang tags to identify their provenance: a factory in Taylorsville, N.C., where they were made. What they share besides style is comfort in the spirit of “relaxed design,” a philosophy co-founders Gold and Bob Williams espoused from the beginning.
First there was seating clad in casual wearable material, such as denim and khaki. Washable slipcovers and distressed-leather club chairs, adapted from a vintage 1930s model Gold and Williams found at a Paris flea market, followed. There are chairs and a half, ottomans that double as tables, upholstered beds and a revival of sectionals scaled down for apartment living.
All of these are translated into an impressive variety of shapes and styles that captured the eyes and dollars of baby boomers and those of Generation X to help shape the $100 million-plus company.
Minimal lead time
Success, of course, breeds knockoffs. One thing still sets Gold and Williams apart: production with minimal lead time. Much of their retailer core keeps inventory in stock, and when it must be ordered, most pieces are available within weeks rather than months.
Gold and Williams furniture sits in W hotels and on a “Today” show set. It appears in a Radio Shack commercial. It has graced interiors for “Friends” and “Sex in the City.”
There’s something for everyone, including 19th-century English Regency, 1700s Dutch farmhouse, art deco, American Shaker, Indian Raj, mid-century modern, British campaign, 1970s Billy Baldwin (Jackie O’s favorite decorator), beach cottage, French moderne, 17th-century Moorish.
The best way to furnish with Mitchell Gold products is to mix it up and keep it uncluttered.
“If a room gets too busy, nothing looks special,” Gold explains.
While the outgoing Gold, 55, the company’s “chair-man,” is known for his marketing savvy, Williams, 45, is the design wiz, brilliantly translating visual bites from TV, fashion, travels, hotels and restaurants to designs that are hip, press-worthy and obviously in demand.
Now extending their brand with 14 freestanding showrooms, the two have created a coffee-table book to be published by Meredith in March 2014. In November, they’ll launch their own twice-yearly magazine, more a “magalog,” to spotlight products mixed with features.
That’s heady stuff for a former lighting buyer for Bloomingdale’s (Gold) and a former art director for Seventeen, a magazine for teenage girls (Williams).
But not much has changed, at least philosophically. The guiding design light still is comfort, both physical and mental, which is why the book will be titled, “Let’s Get Comfortable.” It’s loaded with how-to’s and engaging photographs that show furniture groupings against simple backgrounds.
De-stressing decorating and playing up inviting interiors are the common threads of the book.
¿A room has to feel welcoming’
“It’s not only physical comfort,” Williams said. “When you walk in the door, a room has to feel welcoming.” That means family pictures “and lots of personal things around you that speak to who you are,” Gold said.
The design mavericks are environmentally aware, advocates of sustainable woods, ozone-friendly products and foam that is safe from known carcinogens. The company was cited by Inc magazine in an article titled “Entrepreneurs We Love.” Time magazine also profiled Gold, rare attention generally reserved for furnishings superstars like Ralph Lauren and Martha Stewart.
Lulu, an 11-year-old English bulldog, has been company mascot since her first day at work. “She’s very photogenic,” Gold said. “We had her in some ads, so she became a big talking point.”
¿Antiques of the future’
While the two may set trends, they don’t design what’s trendy. “We do pieces we have or would like in our own homes,” Gold said. Sometimes pieces are whimsical, perhaps “antiques of the future.”
“Our customers are of the income and taste level that they don’t necessarily want to have what everyone else does. Bob and I love 18th-century but don’t want whole houses full of it. It’s the mix that makes pieces feel collected rather than decorated,” Gold said.
Very often, Gold said, the details “make people want to buy your stuff.”
With upholstery, it may be big nailheads or distinctive welting that defines a sofa’s silhouette. With case goods, it’s a hand-rubbed finish, the Chinese red interior of a cabinet or drawers lined in hand-blocked Venetian wallpaper. These pieces are being crafted in Italy by fourth-generation furniture makers and in China and the Philippines, where rattan and woven pieces are done to perfection. With lighting, details include chrome dimmers, clear cords and glass balls as pulls.
It always comes back to comfort.
“In 1989, nobody used the word ¿comfort.’ It was all about $799 sofas,” Gold said, “but when you sit down, you don’t want the cushion to feel hard. You don’t want a real austere look. Furniture has to be comfortable.”
