DESIGN IS IN THE DETAILS
New Sarah Richardson collections
Canadian designer and television personality Sarah Richardson (the host and co-producer of numerous HGTV shows) is known for her love of home design and churning out more projects than seems possible — this year being no exception.
In collaboration with Palliser Furniture, Richardson has released a furniture and home furnishings collection, which took three years to produce — delayed a little this year because of the pandemic.
The collection features four different styles — Shore, Vista, Annex and Boulevard — each celebrating different eras and materials.
Boulevard is made from rich, dark walnut, and features art-deco styling, says Richardson. Vista features white oak with a pale oyster finish. The Annex collection has a mid-century flavour, with a pale ash veneer, with swirl and check patterns.
“It looks contemporary, but also celebrates the diversity and pattern in the wood,” says Richardson.
“There's everything you need to complete any room in your houses. From sofas to rugs, coffee tables to credenzas, dining tables, chairs, media consoles — you name it, we designed it,” she says.
There is a no-nonsense feeling about everything Richardson turns her hand to, and her collection for Palliser is the result of tried and true design styles and materials that she's used during her long and successful career, combined with new designs.
In her new collection, the Silhouette sofa is a reproduction of one she designed for her own home in Toronto, and other sofas and chairs are replicas of pieces she's been designing for her private clients for over a decade.
With home furnishings increasingly following the path of fast fashion, Richardson says her underlying motivation for this collection was to channel all of her knowledge as a designer into durable furniture and furnishings at an affordable price point that people can feel happy about. It can be daunting for people to choose furniture pieces they like that work together — and not break the bank. Richardson says she hopes to take the guess work out of it.
“We spend so much time thinking about the details, the scale and proportions and realizing these environments, so it's not just a chair, but how does it look and feel in daily life, and within an environment,” she says.
Making it foolproof for customers has been the driving force since day one for Richardson and her team. From the first sketch to selecting every one of the fabrics and making sure they meet the standards for durability, practicality and feel. The goal, says Richardson, is for these pieces to look as good on day 101 when they've been well used, as they do on day one.
“Design and value in equal measure. And a feeling of luxury without a luxury price point,” she says.
Producing this collection has been a labour of love, she says, and she's learned a lot from 2020.
Furloughed workforces, supply chain disruptions and retailers closing down are all reasons she didn't launch her collection in the spring, as originally planned. But that's OK. She says she aims to put things out there that have longevity, so if they arrive a season or two later than anticipated, it shouldn't make a difference.
“This is a collection that is born of human time and effort; it is not produced by robots on a factory line. Machines are used. But the upholstery and the sewing is done by hand. The fitting of the covers is done by hand. So much of it is done by hand,” she says.
Richardson has also just released the second volume in her Collected book series — called Collected: Past Present. “It combines a diverse collection of opposite styles, looking at the intersection between historic homes, with modern new spaces, or adding soul to a new home,” she says.