Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent’s New Collection Wants You to Rethink Mid-Century Furniture Design
The best way to familiarize yourself with design is to explore the rich history and origins of every pattern, texture, and furniture build, among other things. That sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it? Luckily, Nate Berkus and Jeremiah Brent continue to release home collections for Living Spaces, a national furniture retailer, that are richly researched and inspired by places around the globe. Their Spring 2021 line is no different, and it specifically homes in on teaching consumers to rethink one of the most popular design styles: mid-century.
During a recent virtual event hosted by Living Spaces, the two designers revealed that a large purpose of the spring collection is to help others think beyond mid-century style in America. “When we were creating, we looked at each other and were like, let’s really reimagine what mid-century could look like in America to a broader audience,” Brent said. The collection is filled with mid-century style inspired by French, Italian, and Swedish design.
Through mixing materials, adding in great stone, installing bronze fittings, incorporating curvy ironwork, and much more, Berkus and Brent were able to bring this expansion of mid-century understanding to life through the upholstery and accessories that make up their collection.
They also wanted to embody this new, broader sense of mid-century design through creating the perfect balance of masculine and feminine features — so much so that it didn’t feel like one over the other. Take the Matteo Arm Chair inspired by 1930s France (above), made with curved details that are often perceived as feminine but metal legs that lean toward a more masculine look.
The spring collection follows a neutral color palette, with a large focus on the fabrics, textures, substrates, and finishes. “You’ll see velvet, you’ll see bouclé, they’re heavy, heavy textures with deep neutrals. It’s a mix of a heavily leaning neutral, but a rich, warm neutral,” Berkus said. “We lean very heavily in solids in the main pieces because that dovetails with our design philosophy, that people shouldn’t buy a bright patterned sofa, but bright patterned pillows, and keep their sofas as natural as possible so you don’t get tired of it.”