When we first met Thomas O’Brien at the Hickory Chair showroom here, he was wearing hip, narrow, black-rimmed rectangular glasses, which he sometimes would take off for a casual if slightly uneasy portrait for photographers.
He was moving things from one side of an end table to another, turning on lights, adjusting lamp shades and smoothing wrinkles from seat cushions as furniture buyers and journalists judged his first collection of living, dining and bedroom furnishings for Hickory.
That was last spring. Even then, that quiet but nervous edge was surprising since O’Brien already had achieved such success with his interior design work, and his Aero Studios, the sophisticated New York showroom he opened in SoHo in 1992, was such a hit.
Six months later, with a new bath fittings collection and more acclaim to his name since then, it will be interesting to see what other surprises will be found when the 39-year-old designer unveils his much-awaited second collection for Hickory here next week. His latest 25-piece furniture collection, Greenwich Studios, will make its debut at the 10-day International Home Furnishings Market, the twice yearly unveiling of furniture collections by manufacturers such as Hickory, Broyhill, Lexington and Stanley.
There’s always a buzz of wonder about what’s new, and what’s sometimes sadly passed off as new, in furniture collections that are rolled out during the design market. But O’Brien and the Aero style he’s known for turns up the volume on these expectations in the Hickory Chair showroom. New pieces always are kept tightly under wraps before the market opens.
O’Brien was raised in upstate New York, and studied industrial and graphic design, photography, filmmaking, architecture, art history, drawing, painting, sculpture and textile design at several New York schools. He brings these various parts of himself to his collections and his belief that “antiques come back as new furnishings.”
His first furniture collection, unveiled last fall, was done in a “warm Modernist” style. He made a few additions to that collection in the spring, and is now being applauded for successfully taking Hickory Chair into more contemporary territory. Hickory Chair, known for its traditional, classic touch, now has a mellow mix.
O’Brien’s lounge chairs are good examples of what’s appealing about his style. What he does to them is what a talented fashion designer does to that little black cocktail dress from the ’50s: He makes them work for you in the 21st Century.
For O’Brien there’s always a mix of modern with traditional.
“Designers like Mark Hampton are inspirational,” said O’Brien, referring to his predecessor at Hickory Chair. O’Brien began collaborating with Hickory after Hampton died in 1998. “You refer back to them all the time in the things you do. Sometimes you refer back to them in the color you choose, the style. . . . It’s the memory of them. [But] the important thing is to approach each project differently.”
O’Brien, who is attracted to designers such as midcentury masters Jean-Michel Frank, Hans Wegner and Charles and Ray Eames, does this by being open to the possibilities.
Shelter magazine photo spreads often feature his Minimalist interiors. This look is what he’s become known for most, but the soft-spoken O’Brien is quick to set the record straight.
“I don’t just do Minimalist interiors,” he said. “Some of the projects I do are very traditional, fancy drapes and all those things.”
His new bath fixtures (Industrial Luxe), which come to Waterworks stores in Chicago and Winnetka in November, also put O’Brien’s mark on traditional style.
His creative energy seems to be just the infusion the Hickory, N.C., company needed to move forward.
“He understands how to mix the classical elements into warm and welcoming interiors,” said Jay Reardon, president of Hickory. With O’Brien’s input, Reardon said Hickory has “a new way of looking at modern interior design.
“He blends modern pieces with archival pieces,” Reardon said. “His use of texture and color, and various design elements are kept clean and simple for a new modern fresh look.”
O’Brien’s debut collection now is sold exclusively at Marshall Field stores. A favorite in this collection is the classic three-seat sofa and the wraparound wood bookcases. (Sofa, $2,934; bookcases, $1,218 each.)
“Because of the large houses that are being built here . . . the furniture needs to float out in the middle of the room,” said Michael Kerley, Field’s regional manager of interior design. “This makes the design look better in all directions.”
From a writer’s point of view, the idea of being wrapped with books as you take a Sunday afternoon nap, is idyllic.
O’Brien nods in agreement but adds that too many books can be overwhelming.
“I used to have all my books in the bedroom on the bookshelves. They were so suffocating and so heavy,” he said. So he moved them to his office and library. Reconsidering how and where you display books is one way to change the look of a room, O’Brien said.
But there are other ways.
“It’s not just eliminating books and accessories,” he said. “You have to decide what’s the thing that you really want to change and start there. The biggest change will come when you eliminate and really edit things away.”
Editing has been key in his role as the designer’s designer. He has done residential and commercial spaces for Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani, and commercial spaces for Donna Karan.
His career took off in the years he was creative director of Polo Ralph Lauren. He helped develop the Polo Home Collection and was responsible for the styling and design of Polo retail showrooms around the country. He joined Polo Ralph Lauren in 1987 and left in 1992 to open Aero Studios, a combination interior design practice and fine furniture gallery.
His most recent residential project has been Giorgio Armani’s New York penthouse.
“Armani is amazing and inspirational to work with. He makes decisions very quickly. He’s involved in every decision,” O’Brien said. Describing Armani, this upstate New York native could as easily have been describing himself.
“It’s interesting to see him work,” O’Brien said of Armani. “He always does change things a little bit. He might change two things but those two things make the difference,” said O’Brien, after he’s turned on table lamps that were off and reconfigured small figurines on end tables he designed for Hickory.
He fidgets with a few more things, makes final adjustments to the table lamps with white parchment shades. (They really do look better turned on, and the small sculptures he shifted from one place to another stand out more.)
For O’Brien, when it comes to design–whether creating a space to showcase his pieces or one to actually live in–success is all in the editing.
Prices range from $399 for the Chelsea stool to $3,980 for the mahogany and glass Tricia display cabinet. For more information, call Hickory Chair at 800-349-4579.
