Holly Hunt's latest collection signals an evolution for the legacy brand

For legacy brands, the process of moving forward while preserving a clear design DNA can feel like walking a tightrope. It’s a position understood keenly by the team at Holly Hunt, the American company founded over forty years ago as a furniture gallery in Chicago’s Merchandise Mart. Long associated with luxurious yet understated interiors, it evolved into a vertically integrated, multi-million-dollar design brand with showrooms across the US and in London, culminating in its $95 million acquisition by Knoll in 2014.

Now, with Onward – a nine-piece collection developed by executive creative director Jo Annah Kornak and design director Chris Eitel – the studio is signalling a marked shift. As Kornak puts it, the aim was not to reinvent the brand, but to refine it: 'My role is to protect the brand, but at the same time let the brand grow. This collection is really the same soul with a new rhythm.'

Launching this week in the brand’s Los Angeles showroom, the collection introduces softer curves, expressive colour and more sculptural forms, intended to sit comfortably alongside Holly Hunt’s existing rectilinear pieces, offering designers a way to shift the mood of a space without replacing it wholesale.

'We have a very strong foundation at Holly Hunt, but our industry is rapidly changing,' says Kornak. 'Part of our job is to always look around the corner and see what’s next. Without evolution, everything becomes mundane.'

Eitel, who is also Director of Design and Production at the Vladimir Kagan Design Group, which Holly Hunt acquired in 2016 following Kagan’s death, adds: 'What I really wanted to do was push design for Holly Hunt and find some new direction – adding product that felt aesthetically a little different, a little softer in its curves, while still maintaining great proportions.'

With their fluid forms and intriguing materiality, the pieces have a playful, almost space-age quality that sits outside Holly Hunt’s usual visual language. Kornak notes that the clean lines, attention to detail and commitment to craftsmanship remain intact. Take the Yoel stool, whose mushroom-like lacquered form is topped with an upholstered seat, or the Wayne bench and Selina slipper chair, both with curved upholstered seats that appear to fold over their carved solid wood bases. The Oliver side table, meanwhile, is cast in bronze with a softly dimpled surface texture reminiscent of rainfall caught in metal.

To achieve these finishes the team used a blend of advanced technology – such as precision digital modelling – with meticulous hand craftsmanship. The Dent cabinet, for example, features a textured wood surface that draws on traditional hand-chiselled woodwork, translated into a digitally modelled pattern that is precision-cut before being refined by hand. 'The design team tries to be in the manufacturing facilities as much as possible when we are developing something to help really shape it,' says Eitel. 'I think that’s an important part of the process, no matter what.'

The collection also provided an opportunity to explore colour more freely – moving beyond the restrained neutrals long associated with the brand and introducing moments of expressive contrast that expand its visual language without departing from the expectations of its existing clientele.

It is the first collection developed under the joint creative leadership of Kornak and Eitel, who both trace their design instincts back to formative mentors – Holly Hunt and Vladimir Kagan respectively, a grounding that informs their willingness to push the brand forward. 'We both learned from some pretty big personalities,' observes Kornak, who says she felt an immediate connection with Eitel. 'We challenge each other, which is great. When we first looked at this collection, we were considering a couple of ideas, and this was the bolder of the two. I said, ‘Let’s go for it’, because I’m a risk taker and I want to move forward.'

The pieces are now on show in Los Angeles and will roll out across the brand’s showrooms; 14 in the US including New York, Miami and Chicago, and the flagship showroom in Mayfair, London. The pair hint that there is more to come, suggesting that this playful collection is unlikely to be a one-off.

hollyhunt.com