Duo Mark Badgley and James Mischka’s creations have been gracing the runway for decades, but now they’re moving into a new realm of design: furniture. Debuted at spring High Point Market, Badgley Mischka Home Collection puts a modern twist on Old Hollywood glamour. Here, the designers give us a behind-the-scenes look in their own words.
On the Square
“The inspiration for the tumbling squares came from one of our beading layouts. We took the drawing and the rendering of it and blew it up to be size-appropriate for furniture. There’s a feat of engineering in there as well as an aesthetic consideration in terms of the placement of the rods. The glass top we wanted to make not just a piece of glass. There’s a defined inside line around the edge so it has a little bit of interest that’s above and beyond what you’d expect.”
California Cool
“The top piece is wood that has been lacquered white. What we were excited about was we always love lacquered 1940s French casegoods, but the durability factor is just not there. So we applied a surfboard finish to all the lacquered pieces to make them extremely durable. It gives you a really cool look as well as durability, and just the fact that it’s a surfboard finish kind of gives it a California laidback feeling as well.”
Old Hollywood Glam
“The Monterey lounge chair was inspired by a room we saw that Billy Haines decorated back in the 40s. So it’s a vague inspiration of a Hollywood interior from that decade that we combined with some French furniture that we had seen at a museum, and then we just jumble them in our heads. Then we took the open back idea and filled it in with gilded rods that were inspired by a bamboo forest outside our office.”
Beauty at Any Angle
“When we design a couture gown, a woman has to look beautiful at every angle. This Monterey sofa, for example, is so beautiful from the back. We didn’t take any shortcuts. A lot of sofas today, they cut corners with their design just to be slammed against a wall and they’re not finished properly or beautifully from the backside. This sofa can really flow to the middle of the room and just be so gorgeous as an object from any angle. We think that’s really important.”
