As we head into 2024, we wanted to take a look back at the past twelve months and all that it had in store for Jamie Stern Furniture, Carpet, Leather & Fabric. We launched a series of exciting new collections, ran a number of engaging design contests, contributed to a great deal of beautiful projects and worked with countless inspiring designers and architects throughout the year.
Although it would be impossible to touch on every wonderful endeavor, we did want to take the time and recognize some of our favorite highlights from 2023.
Furniture Design Contest
Early in the winter months of 2023, our furniture division ran the Inaugural Jamie Stern Furniture Design Contest. Interior designers and architects from around the United States and Canada were encouraged to create a wholly original lounge chair design and submit it for the chance to have that design brought to life at our domestic furniture mill. After a month of competition, we received 165 submissions ranging from updated classics to truly one-of-a-kind pieces that burst with personality.
Our panel of judges were all accomplished interior designers in their own right and were tasked with sifting through the entries and selecting two regional Grand Prize Winners. After meeting over Zoom, the judges selected “The Companion Chair” by Anthony Milano of New York City’s Parts and Labor Design and an inspired new piece by Denise Gatica of the Dallas-based Ink + Oro.
Rug Design Contest
Later in the year, we ran the 4th Annual Jamie Stern Rug Design Contest. Similar to its furniture counterpart, our Rug Contest encourages interior designers to submit original pieces for the opportunity to have them turned into beautiful natural fiber area rugs. Our judges were once again selected from the interior design community and were tasked with reviewing nearly 200 submissions. Of these entries, eight regional runners-up were selected to have their designs turned into wool mini-rugs. The judges also chose four Grand Prize Winners, whose work is currently being transformed into 5x7 area rugs made of all natural fibers including New Zealand wool and bamboo silk!
The Grand Prize-winning designs can be seen below.
Leather Compass
2023 also saw our Leather division introduce a brand-new tool. The Jamie Stern Leather Compass was created to help designers navigate the world of upholstery leather. By clarifying key terms like pure aniline, semi-aniline, corrected top grain and full grain, the Leather Compass distills leather to its most important elements to ensure that each leather selected for a project looks, feels and performs perfectly!
Does your project call for a high durability, protected leather or are you looking for a leather that will breathe, age and develop a sophisticated patina with time and use? Is the budget a primary concern or is the client looking for a long-term investment leather that will only improve and become more comfortable. By combining the information found in the Jamie Stern Leather Compass with the dedication and our passionate sales team and the expert craftsmanship of our leather finishers, you can be confident that you are specifying the perfect leather for every project.
Click here to request a physical Jamie Stern Leather Compass now!
Moody Center
Working alongside Gensler Austin and the Houston-based McCoy Rockford, Jamie Stern manufactured a wide array of furniture, carpet, fabric and leather for various spaces of the Moody Center. This new 15,000+ seat venue is located on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin and hosts a variety of sports, entertainment and family events. The stadium is also home to both the university's women's and men's basketball teams and attracts top acts from every popular genre of music.
Standard selections from Jamie Stern's vast catalogue as well as wholly custom designs were specified for this large project, all of which needed to be completed and on site in time for the Moody Center's Grand Opening Celebration, a concert featuring George Strait and Willie Nelson.
In total some 200 pieces of furniture were domestically manufactured including custom versions of our popular banquette styles: the Alicia, the Chambers and the Arlo. Additionally, over 30,000 square feet of Jamie Stern leathers were specified including colorways of our Milano, Fast & Furious, Trento, Hair-on-Hide and Honeycomb. These exquisite leathers were used to furnish guest suites, public spaces, backstage areas and more to ensure that Longhorns, visitors, crew members and performers would be comfortable wherever they found themselves. Two of our recently introduced fabrics, Calgary and Celeste, were also used to upholster various banquettes. Finally, a number of Jamie Stern area rugs were specified including ten hand-loomed Jamul flatweaves and a series of custom hand-tufted numbers that were made with 100% New Zealand wool.
Algarve Collection
Last year, Jamie Stern launched its fourth division, Fabrics & Textiles. Featuring a wide selection of both budget-friendly performance fabrics and boutique materials that emphasize the many benefits of natural fibers, there is a Jamie Stern project for every project and application. 2023 saw us expand this division with the introduction of the Algarve Collection!
Taking its name from the southernmost region of Portugal, this collection features five patterned fabrics that range from large-scale geometrics to non-repeating organics. These diverse woven textiles draw inspiration from the Algarve’s coastal geography as well as the Moorish, Roman and Mediterranean architecture found there. The colors are all elegant neutrals that accentuate the beautiful patterns and rich textures that define this new collection.
Paradiso & Reverie Collections
Things didn’t slow down at all as we entered autumn! October saw Jamie Stern introduce not one, but two all-new designer rug collections: Paradiso and Reverie.
Paradiso for Jamie Stern represents Kenzie Leon Perry’s first foray into designing a collection of area rugs. While each of the three designs – Mira, Palmetto and Laurel – is bold and distinctive, an emphasis on handmade production techniques, all-natural fibers and an undeniable sense of Miami flair seamlessly ties this singular collection together.
"Since launching Ze Haus, I’ve been on a journey to research [and] create art and designs inspired by predominantly black and Afro-Caribbean cities in South Florida. This inspiration derives from the oldest permanent settlement in Miami, the historic Coconut Grove, home to the earliest Bahamian settlers. In addition, my love of nature is captured through Coconut Grove’s abundant coconut trees, palms and flowering tropical plants." Read our full interview with Kenzie Leon Perry here.
Caroline Kepley is the co-founder and lead designer of Comma, an industrial design firm with a central focus on interior projects. Reverie for Jamie Stern represents Kepley’s first foray into designing a collection of area rugs as well. Its three abstract designs – Visage, Celine and Terre – are born out of her love for novelty, a fascination with human connection and a constant search for beauty.
"Like most designers, we pull from our environment and there’s so many beautiful color gradients around us from the sand melting into the blues of the sea or the undulating tones of green of a new leaf. I wanted to scale that up for interior spaces and bring that feeling indoors. I was also playing with the tension between manmade and nature, rectilinear versus organic." Read our full interview with Caroline Kepley here.
BDNY
In mid-November, we hosted our 6th Annual BDNY Showroom Event! On both the Sunday and the Monday of the trade show, we served breakfast, lunch and mimosas to a continuous stream of local and visiting interior designers alike. In addition to enjoying traditional New York-style meals and cocktails, our guests were able to browse our latest collections, sit test a variety of our standard furniture offerings and even catch sneak peek at some exciting new introductions we have lined up for 2024. The two-day event was truly a great time and we cannot wait to host the 7th edition next year!
Rug Customization Software
Last but not least, in early December we officially launched our new Rug Customization software. This tool gives designers access to over 650 standard Jamie Stern rug designs and enables them to customize the colors, scale, size and fiber content with just a few intuitive clicks. The Rug Customization software was carefully developed over the course of the past year and we are excited to finally get it in the hands of all the unbelievably talented designers we work with. Enabling creative design is one of the core values of all four of our divisions and this new tool certainly checks that box!
Click here to get started with this innovative new tool!
We would like to thank each and every one of you for your support and friendship this past year. 2023 was an exciting, busy year for all of us at Jamie Stern. We are very much looking forward to 2024 and what the next twelve months will bring. There are a number of wonderful new introductions, projects and events on the schedule that we cannot wait to share. Stay tuned and have a happy New Year!
