The trendsetter
Mention “Donghia” to design cognoscenti and the instant association is one of high style, high quality and, of course, high prices. The late Angelo Donghia, a designer, started the business in 1968, offering a collection of fine textiles and wall coverings exclusively to the design trade. But the company expanded to include furniture in 1980 after John Hutton joined the firm as design director, and by now, Hutton’s commissions span an awesome range–a throne for the emperor of Japan; a bed for the king of Spain; interiors for the American Center in Paris, the New York Philharmonic and the American Academy in Rome. However, Hutton’s inspired designs for Donghia furniture, as sold through the exclusive showrooms, have kept his work most prominently in the public eye.
VICTORIA LAUTMAN: How would you define Donghia’s place in the design world? Where does it fit in?
JOHN HUTTON: I guess we’re the leader. We’re an international company now, and we’re setting the style for American furnishings and gaining rapid ground in Europe as well. Our collections reflect contemporary living to a very educated public. From a manufacturing standpoint, I do things in a traditional way but using modern materials that I constantly update. But what we also bring to the market is a real study of comfort, and it’s the combination of these things that makes us the leader.
VL: Has the Donghia style changed over time?
JH: First of all, the whole collection is huge and there’s never enough room to show everything, which is why our pieces live on through our catalogs and brochures. Certain classic pieces have remained best sellers for over a decade, like the Noble Collection, which is 20 years old but still among our top 10 best sellers. I don’t hate these pieces, but I always prefer our newer work, and I create maybe 40 designs a year. That’s one way to maintain our audience, coming up with new products, creating a stir; you know, “Let’s see what’s new over at Donghia.”
So we do change, and I think all the work looks very different, but there’s obviously a common thread that is hard for me to see and difficult to describe. When I went to school, one had to study everything–18th Century design, art, fashion, society, literature–so I get embroiled in all that, plus I have an intense interest in history. But I’m basically a modernist. So when people ask to define the Donghia style, I say it’s John Hutton.
VL: How would you compare Donghia to more mass-market retailers like, for instance, Ethan Allen? What do you offer that they don’t?
JH: I’m in this business because I’m a gregarious person and I want people to live graciously, but I think the mass market is basically about the money. Donghia furniture is not inexpensive and it’s not meant to be. In this country, we’re available to perhaps 10 percent of the population, so it’s definitely a luxury product. But what we offer is quality, and as a designer it’s my responsibility to create something that is comfortable and that will last, something that people will hold onto.
I care first about comfort, which is not a primary concern in the mass market. I’ve actually had myself X-rayed in well-designed and poorly designed chairs to better understand contour, and studied with physical therapists. That compassion comes through, since all I have to do is get someone to sit in my furniture and it’s sold. But everything we do is made-to-order from a collection, with the fabric sold separately. So Donghia is couture, where mass market is ready-to-wear.
VL: Has Donghia’s market changed in the last 10 years?
JH: Yes, because we’ve moved into another generation, my generation of Baby Boomers! I’m 50, and when I started, the clients were much older than I and could afford fine things. Now the clients are people my age, and it’s easy to communicate with those of your own generation; we’ve been through it together. Also, the client is more prosperous at a younger age, and the buying public is much smarter and more demanding.
VL: Where do you look for inspiration and design ideas?
JH: If I were a poet, I’d write a poem about things that I’m passionate about, but instead I create a piece of furniture inspired by San Marco in Venice, or a doorknob from the cathedral in Cologne. In my mind, I carry around these favorite things that eventually are pulled out and put into use. Music, movies and art are all part of the mix, and often I even have someone specific in mind when I’m designing, so people are also an inspiration.
But I just can’t imagine designing for the millions of customers represented in mass market. I think that would have to be some sort of design-by-committee, where buyers say, “We know this arm was popular last year because it sold well, and that foot will work with this couch.” If you were to put a piece of my furniture next to one of those pieces, you’d know the difference immediately.
VL: Do Donghia designs trickle down to the mass market? Do you find your work is an inspiration to others?
JH: Yes, and it can happen very quickly. That industry is like a pack of vultures, and we see our ideas in hundreds of places. We joke about it, wondering what would happen to the industry if we hadn’t come along! Luckily, I always have a new idea.
The mass-marketer
The Ethan Allen furniture company was founded in 1932 and christened with the name of an American Revolutionary soldier. It offered home furnishings based on the solid (and stolid) Colonial designs that were all the rage 50 years ago. A network of Early Americanesque showrooms across the country made Ethan Allen furniture accessible to anyone who walked through the door, but fewer and fewer customers were doing so. Then, in 1991, a metamorphosis transformed the formerly frumpy retailer, thanks to president, chairman and CEO Farooq Kathwari. He updated Ethan Allen Interiors with expanded offerings, contemporary styling, affordable prices and modernized showrooms.
VICTORIA LAUTMAN: How would you define Ethan Allen’s place in the design world? Where does it fit in?
FAROOQ KATHWARI: We are mass-market, but at the middle, or even the upper-middle, rather than the low end of things. In fact, we’re positioned right where the largest opportunity in home furnishings is at the moment, and in the last six or seven years we have greatly expanded our style offerings to accommodate our clientele. We’ve become more affordable but also have increased our level of quality, and today, Ethan Allen reaches a fairly large consumer base. Interestingly, it’s also a very wide consumer base, ranging from people in their late 20s and just starting out, all the way up to the heads of corporations. Our customers might earn $40,000 a year, or in the millions.
VL: Why, and how, did Ethan Allen change, starting in 1991?
FK: Let’s start with “why. That is very much tied to the idea that there has been a vast change in consumer attitudes toward design in the last 25 years. Before then, there was an interest in design only at the high end and limited to a very elite consumer.
More recently, good design has come down to the middle market, and that availability creates a bigger awareness, which in turn creates a greater demand. What happened at Ethan Allen is that we realized we had to change with the market, that Colonial was no longer the predominant style of choice, and that we had to keep up with a shift in attitudes. And we had do it quickly. Our inspiration actually came from the clothing and auto industries. In apparel, stylish clothes are now available to many more people than ever, and the same is true for the auto business, where it’s very hard anymore to tell if you’re looking at a BMW or a Toyota.
Also, we saw that, just as consumers were no longer using a single style of clothing to reflect their tastes, their homes were now being designed to reflect all sorts of different styles under one roof. So that attitude was something we wanted to pursue.
Now, for the “how.” The first thing we did was to study what consumers were wearing, and then we developed several home furnishings lines based on what we discovered. For instance, we saw that casual styling was becoming important, using classic elements like denim, which had been updated. Also, classic European looks were popular but had been relaxed to reflect contemporary attitudes. So style and comfort clearly had to go together in apparel, and therefore also in the home. In the end, we created two broad classifications–a casual collection and a classic collection–and within those two categories we offered various lines so that people had a choice.
VL: How would you compare Ethan Allen to high-end, designer home furnishings like, for instance, Donghia? What are the similarities or differences?
FK: I shouldn’t say this, but the obvious difference is one of price. All those companies at the high end are catering to a very small group of customers. At Ethan Allen, our objective is to provide those same services to a larger client base, but what we’re providing is the same as a small, very elite design house would provide to the very rich. The way we can do that is by being accessible. We have 306 stores, but we’re also accessible in the way our stores are designed, and the way our product is promoted and advertised.
VL: Has your market changed as a result of your corporate shift?
FK: Before we changed, our consumer base was made up of older clients who had grown up with us and the Colonial look for which we were known. That consumer was aging, and, of course, they were changing too. Now we’ve opened this floodgate of customers all across the demographic board. And, as I’ve said, our products reflect those changes. Today, the Colonial line is still produced, but it looks very different than before the shake-up; it’s been redefined. And our number-one-selling line is Shaker style, but it, too, has been redefined in terms of scale and color.
VL: Where do you look for inspiration and design ideas?
FK: There are about 2,000 interior designers who work for Ethan Allen in the various stores, and I give them homework: to go out and look and absorb ideas, from all sorts of objects, artwork, nature–wherever. We don’t just look at other furniture. At this moment I’m looking at a Monet reproduction and the bridge in the painting is so beautiful, I’m thinking what a great design it might be for furniture. But all this is still relatively new for us, generating new ideas and furniture lines. Our most contemporary line, called Radius, has been available for three years and it’s still going strong.
VL: Do you see Ethan Allen as a creator of home furnishing trends or, rather, as an interpreter of trends?
FK: I would say that today we do both. We are the creator of ideas, but then we interpret the ideas to help a larger consumer group become more comfortable with design. For instance, with Radius, we made contemporary styling acceptable to a larger group than others in the industry could have done. How? Because we show the consumer how the pieces can be used, in a way that’s digestible to them, rather than showing it off in a way that’s like a museum. High-end showrooms are intimidating, but we’re not.
VL: Do you think designers from those high-end companies come to Ethan Allen for inspiration, or just a quick peek?
FK: I think that they’re all very smart business people and that they would visit us just to keep up on what’s selling. Because chances are, what’s in our stores sells. Let’s just say we keep our eyes on each other.
