Garrett Wells & Associates

Author of the Casa Ispirata design language and design leader for each of the brand’s products.

Central to the success of the brand’s launch was building a product line whose designs leverage the organization’s core competencies and operational infrastructure to create differential value.

Responsible for concepting, design, development, prototyping, finishes, merchandising, sales and distribution for each of the brand’s products. Additional responsibilities include visual creative for all touchpoints of the brand and showroom design and execution.

Casa Ispirata’s 2021 launch collection included thirty items and one hundred twenty-five SKU’s.  

There is no question that Italy has an extraordinary history of art and design.  The roots of Italian design and style go back to 14th-Century Florence - the cradle of the Renaissance.  However, it was the postwar years of the 20th century where a combination of Italian style and Hollywood glamour truly propelled Italy onto the world’s stage (at least as far as popular culture is concerned), thus cementing its image for fashion and design leadership.

The 20th century proliferation of Italian-American alliances and partnerships - particularly the era between 1965 and 1995 – served as important points of inspiration in the founding of Casa Ispirata.  It is in this light that we shaped the design language of Casa Ispirata to reflect a combination of the brash confidence, energy and scale of American design and the restrained elegance and flair of Italian design. 

The confluence of these two elements served us well in forging a unique and authentic design language that endows Casa Ispirata with a slightly devil-may-care brand of aspirational yet livable sophistication.  

Led concepting, design, development, prototyping, merchandising and product introduction for Stanley Furniture’s Butterbay Hill, Panavista, Havana Crossing and Heritage Collection wood home furnishings collections. Additional responsibilities included visual creative for all touchpoints of the brand and showroom design, display and shopping experience.

Butterbay Hill was designed to reflect a kaleidoscopic view of Jamaica: from the Jamaican Georgian architecture of its 18th and 19th century great houses to the 20th century resorts that came into vogue as agriculture gave way to mining and then tourism. The end result is an aesthetic that we referred to as Jamaican eclectic where, standing on the shoulders of its British West Indies roots, is a collection that toggles back and forth between the sophisticated restraint of clean, contemporary design and the rollicking era of 1950’s and 1960’s Caribbean glamour that made Jamaica the type of place where photographer Slim Aarons, as he put it, would spend time photographing “attractive people in attractive places doing attractive things”.

Modern design, properly and purposefully executed, conveys a quiet sense of beauty and serenity that draws people in. As such, our objective in the creation of Panavista was to design and build a wood residential furnishings collection that adheres to the core principals of modern design, while reaching beyond its midcentury roots in a way that is forward looking, even futuristic, but not cold and severe. Heritage played an important role in the design of Panavista both because Stanley Furniture was a plank member of the midcentury modern movement and because heritage is a key component of any brand’s design language. Throughout the design process, the austere beauty of Stanley Furniture’s collections from the 1950’s and early 1960’s, such as Visionaire, Finnline and American Forum, would serve as guideposts. That influence, combined with Panavista’s blend of midcentury French design and the inspiration offered by the sculptural beauty of brutalist design, earned it a Pinnacle Award in the formal dining category from the American Society of Furniture Designers.

Spanning three distinct style categories, Havana Crossing was the first collection of its kind to examine and interpret the full spectrum of Havana’s architectural and cultural landscape. While Havana has long been known as one of the world’s few intact Spanish Colonial cities, what is less widely known is that it was primarily constructed in the first half of the 20th century. Thanks to the timing of its growth and the influence of cities such as Miami and Las Vegas, with which it competed for tourists, Havana took a leadership position at the forefront of modern architecture in Latin America. The way that Havana’s architects, which were largely Cuban, so deftly reconciled the simplicity of midcentury modern design with the city’s prevailing European colonial architecture created a beautiful style that fit perfectly in its Caribbean environment and influenced other architects and designers around the world. This creativity, the impact of foreign investment and the ensuing post-1959 isolation, has yielded a uniquely Cuban aesthetic that is unlike anything you will see throughout the world. The very harmony with which all of these styles, colors and textures coexist, shoulder to shoulder, cut right to the heart of our design thesis and mission: to experience the full spectrum of Havana’s architectural and cultural landscape and synthesize that into a beautiful collection of wood residential furnishings.

The Heritage Collection was comprised of vintage Stanley Furniture from the 1950’s and 1960’s that was purchased from various antiques sources around the country and brought back to Stanley’s Martinsville, Virginia facility where it was completely restored and certified before its re-introduction. In addition to creating a halo effect that elevated Stanley’s position as a manufacturer of heirloom-quality product, the Heritage Collection opened doors to a new audience of potential customers and expanded Stanley’s current sphere of legitimacy into the midcentury modern category.

Led Valtekz, a separate division of Valley Forge Fabrics specializing in ultra-premium synthetic leathers, through its entire start-up. Architected a multifaceted business strategy that was built around servicing the interior design, home furnishings, yacht and custom automotive industries. By 2007, its customers included thirty-one of America’s finest interior design showrooms, Hatteras Yachts, Azimut-Benetti SpA, Giorgio Armani SpA, Baker Furniture, Century Furniture and Hickory Chair.

Scope Of Work

• Blueprinting: Identified core competencies of manufacturing platforms and developed a business and product design strategy that would allow Valtekz composite fabrics to be leveraged beyond traditional upholstery and into casegoods, wallcoverings and the yacht and custom automotive industries.

• Branding: Created a corporate brand identity that established Valtekz as an ultra-premium, aspirational brand whose products appeal to the same affluent end user via multiple channels of distribution. Established Valtekz as an ultra-premium, aspirational brand that would turn a formerly pedestrian vinyl product into a coveted component for some of the most respected names in the home furnishings and yacht industries.

• Marketing: Led design, development and deployment of consistent company-wide marketing vision including collateral, sample books and advertising.  Valtekz was featured in The Wall Street Journal in 2005, House Beautiful in 2006 and 2007 and Traditional Home twice in 2007.

• Product Design: Led design, development, production and launch of more than 349 items across nine collections in three years. In doing so, secured a licensing agreement and developed collections in collaboration with acclaimed interior designer, Celerie Kemble. Products from Celerie’s collections were chosen as the 2007 winner of Interior Design Magazine’s Best of Year award for wallcovering and as a finalist in their Best of Year award for residential upholstery fabric.

• Distribution & Sales: Secured distribution agreements with thirty-one of America’s finest interior design showrooms. Established and sustained relationships with elite customers in the home furnishings and yacht industries including: Baker, Century Furniture, Giorgio Armani SpA, Hickory Chair, Stanley Furniture, Azimut-Benetti SpA, Bertram, Hatteras Yachts, Lazzara Yachts and Viking Yachts.

Led the start-up of Century Furniture’s Century Leisure business unit, which represented the company’s entry into the casual furnishings industry. Led Century Leisure through its initial product introduction into all major categories: teak, mahogany, aluminum, stainless steel and woven. Launched four collections with leading furniture designer, Richard Frinier. Worked closely with the team at Oscar de la Renta on their licensed home furnishings collection with Century and led product development, branding and marketing of the mutual relationship with the House of Chatsworth.

Scope Of Work

• Blueprinting: Conducted market research and developed and executed a positioning strategy that leveraged Century’s leadership in home interiors across the increasingly transparent threshold separating indoors from out. Developed strong relationships with key manufacturing platforms in Thailand, Honduras and Mexico. Established distribution with existing home furnishings customers and premium retailers in the casual furnishings marketplace.

• Product Development: Led product design and development, working closely with lead designer, Richard Frinier. Launched four collections with Richard, two of which, Archipelago and Andalusia, remain in the company’s product line to this day. Led design, development and launch of the Chatsworth collection in conjunction with Oscar de La Renta and the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire. Led design, development and launch of product additions to the Century Leisure portion of the Oscar de La Renta for Century Furniture collection.