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“I’ve got some weird ideas,” Jeremiah Brent prefaced in his first design meeting with Crate & Barrel. Fresh off of launching a collection for Crate & Kids, the interior designer and Queer Eye host was ready to take things to a new level when the brand asked if he’d make an all-encompassing furniture and decor collection next. Referencing his sketchbook, Brent proposed a dining chair with a triangular back, a decorative table that doubles as a pedestal and hidden storage, and a wicker nightstand with “little iron bird feet.” “The weirder I went, the more excited they were,” recalls Brent.
The collection (out today!) isn’t inspired by a particular aesthetic or design era but is simply Brent giving the people what they want. “It’s everything you reach for that you can’t find,” he says.
There are textured glass table lamps that look like they were plucked out of a gallery in Vienna and a parchment-covered media console we would have guessed came straight from Milan. “I wanted to give access to everybody, and a freedom to create, assemble, and play,” adds Brent. We recently got the low-down on the collaboration from the designer himself and asked for his take on a few of the standouts.
The Double-Duty Pedestal
One obvious way to put this storage cabinet to use is to house glassware (bar cart, who?). Another clever idea, as the designer recently discovered on a project, is to treat it like a nightstand. “We had a tight space on one side of the bed and this added something beautiful and sculptural,” he shares. He also loves the idea of topping it with a sculpture in the entryway and stashing your keys and mail inside.
The Versatile Room Divider
Brent wants you to build a room around this see-through cabinet that’s inspired by his love of the Viennese Secession. It’s actually a perfect room divider, too. “If you have an open kitchen-dining room, you could take a pair of them and make a pathway in the center and display dishes inside,” he suggests. “Or, it’d look really beautiful up against a grasscloth wall in a library. There’s a lot of freedom with it.”
The Sofa With Zero Bad Angles
Brent’s nod to Tobia Scarpa, the Eero sectional is also designed to float in the middle of a room—its faceted back and sides and bronze-y fabric look great from all directions.
The Quirky Dining Chair
The dining chairs that Brent presented to Crate & Barrel early on in the creative process ended up pretty close to what he envisioned, with nubby boucle fabric, a shield-shaped back, and a sculptural iron base that’s reminiscent of the work of design greats like Alberto Giacometti, René Prou, and Ilana Goor. Don’t overthink the table you pair it with—go simple. “In a dining room in particular, the chair can be the thing to add a lot of personality,” says Brent.
The XL Coffee Table
The designer predicts the Elysia Coffee Table is going to be a big hit this fall thanks to its massive scale. “A lot of times, when you go to buy new furniture, everything feels tiny. This is a real old-school, big, 1970s coffee table,” he says.
The Textured Glass Lighting
The lighting assortment proves just how deep into the details Brent got. Look closely at the Rupert Pendant and you’ll notice that the metal cap has tiny perforations; the glass base of the Luna Torchiere Floor Lamp has a hammered-like texture; and the glass on the Braque Cube Table Lamp is rippled just so that it almost looks wet.
The Glam Ottoman
Before he started decorating homes, Brent was outfitting wardrobes, and the shearling-covered ottoman is a nod to his past work with celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe. If you don’t have an everyday use for it, his tip is to tuck a pair underneath a handsome table. “They’re very ’80s, but I love them mixed with the burnished brass and travertine Rummer table, which feels like it’s from the 1940s,” he says. “That, for me, is when design starts to feel really special and original.”