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We Want Everything From Jonathan Saunders’s Debut Furniture Collection

One quick look at Jonathan Saunders’s career in fashion and you’ll immediately notice a deft approach to color and unique sense of play when it comes to pattern. It’s no surprise, then, that the same aesthetic can be seen in his debut furniture collection, which launched February 13 at Frieze Los Angeles.

Dubbed Saunders, the 15-piece collection includes tables, armchairs, benches, stools, and textiles, all of which bear a striking resemblance to the quirky patterned dresses and mixed-print suiting that he was so well-known for before closing his namesake label in 2015 (just one year later, he signed on as chief creative officer at Diane von Furstenberg).

“[The furniture line is] something that I'd been thinking about for some time,” Jonathan says. “I studied product design originally and was always very driven by process. A lot of my work early on in my fashion career was about textiles and the fabrication.”

In addition to graduating from the masters program at London’s Central Saint Martins school in 2003, Jonathan studied product design at Glasgow School of Art, which gave him a varied background that helped him tackle furniture design. “It's a much slower process,” he says of the main difference between designing furniture versus clothing, “but there's much more development time—there's definitely synergies and some similarities between how I worked in fashion and how I’m working as a furniture designer.”

What makes the collection stand out, though, is Jonathan's attention to traditional and varied techniques, which he split into three categories: marquetry, tubular steel, and textiles.

The marquetry pieces, which include a screen, bench, shelving, and a stool, use dyed woods including sycamore and birch applied and inlaid on minimalist plywood structures.
The marquetry pieces, which include a screen, bench, shelving, and a stool, use dyed woods including sycamore and birch applied and inlaid on minimalist plywood structures.
Photography by Image Group
Jonathan manufactures all of these wooden marquetry pieces at a family-owned workshop in Valencia, Spain.
Jonathan manufactures all of these wooden marquetry pieces at a family-owned workshop in Valencia, Spain.
Photography by Image Group
Jonathan's work with tubular steel was inspired by the Bauhaus, one of his favorite design movements. This armchair (which we would love to have) plays with color in a beautiful latticework of nylon webbing.
Jonathan's work with tubular steel was inspired by the Bauhaus, one of his favorite design movements. This armchair (which we would love to have) plays with color in a beautiful latticework of nylon webbing.
Photography by Image Group
Jonathan combined cubes and pyramids in interlocked metal with nylon, webbing, and resin to form these geometric pieces.
Jonathan combined cubes and pyramids in interlocked metal with nylon, webbing, and resin to form these geometric pieces.
Photography by Image Group
This square stool with leather upholstery is dark and expressive, but also looks incredibly functional—the best of both worlds.
This square stool with leather upholstery is dark and expressive, but also looks incredibly functional—the best of both worlds.
Photography by Image Group

“I think we're living in an interesting time, and I feel that designers are working within multiple mediums [and] crossing over into different areas within design,” explains Jonathan of the collection. “I think it's an exciting time, as consumers are intrigued by experiences in their own homes or things other than just what we wear. So for me it's an interesting thing to expand into other areas and see how it goes.”

According to the designer, he can see himself in the furniture and design business for the long haul. If his future design work is anything like his first collection, it’s bound to attract the same fans that gravitated toward his colorful, eclectic clothing.

The elements that may just take the most inspiration from Jonathan's career in fashion are the textiles, which are designed to be used on upholstery and home furnishings. He screen-printed the pieces by hand.
The elements that may just take the most inspiration from Jonathan's career in fashion are the textiles, which are designed to be used on upholstery and home furnishings. He screen-printed the pieces by hand.
Photography by Image Group
“I think color is at the epicenter of everything I do,” he explains. “I've always been inspired by how colors make you feel. I think that sensibility is something that I've been drawn to irrespective of what field of design I'm working in.”
“I think color is at the epicenter of everything I do,” he explains. “I've always been inspired by how colors make you feel. I think that sensibility is something that I've been drawn to irrespective of what field of design I'm working in.”
Photography by Image Group

Originally Appeared on Architectural Digest