Here at Livingetc, we're big fans of potter-turned-lifestyle guru Jonathan Adler. Who knew he was about to celebrate 25 years in the business? To celebrate, he's launching a 900-square-foot pop-up shop at Barneys New York flagship, which seems to us like the perfect excuse to hop across to the Big Apple to check it out.
The fact it's at Barneys is particularly appropriate given the department store gave Adler his first break back in in 1993, by making an order that would subsequently catapault his career in design.
Adler is working his trademark playful chic onto an exclusive collection of limited-edition furniture and exclusive home products.
When Adler was approached with the opportunity to do this takeover, it gave him a chance to reflect on everything he's done and made over the years. So he created special oversize huge pieces exclusively for Barneys – including reworking some of his most iconic pieces and defacing them with gold paint.
Fittingly, the pop-up space revolves mostly around his pottery, the starting point for what is now a veritable furniture and decor empire.
Adler always had an affinity for clay, and has been somewhat besotted with the material since he first tried out pottery at summer camp when he was 12 years old. His business only really took off after Barneys placed an order for Adler's ceramics 25 years ago.
A friend of Adler's knew someone at Barneys who visited Adler's apartment which happened to be just down the road from Barney's. At the time Adler was selling his pottery for about$20 a piece, and the first order was for a few hundred. The rest, you can imagine, is history...
Fast forward 25 years and Adler has 20 stores, 1,000 wholesale accounts around the world and a full slate of hotel and residential projects to his name.
“Barneys was the first store to take a chance on me when I was a clay-spattered potter Rollerblading around NYC. Now I’m a clay-splattered potter Uber-ing around NYC, and it feels great to be back at the very place where my creative odyssey started,” says Adler of his return to Barneys.
The installation showcases the designer’s most irreverent designs. “I took some of my favorite porcelain pieces and cranked up the glamour with surreal, subversive applications of gold. And I’m obsessed with the furniture in the collection—it’s bold, it’s graphic, and it’s cool…I hope! I love it all,” he added.
The Exclusively Ours pieces in the 25th anniversary collection include fun acrylic centerpieces, porcelain vases, and artistic home accents. The full offering also includes optical trays, beaded pillows, candles with the brand’s iconic muse silhouette, and more.
Discover the pop-up at Barney's Madison Avenue store, or shop the pieces on barneys.com.
