American luxury lifestyle brand storming the Cotswolds

If you’re hoping to talk about furniture with Gary Friedman, the charismatic president and CEO of the American housewares brand RH (formerly known as Restoration Hardware), you are in for a surprise. He speaks at the speed of a rapid-fire Kalashnikov and tells stories of Leonardo da Vinci and architecture not to mention the brand’s houseware designs. But all of these influences feed into the brand’s retail concept, “a curated world of luxury living, dining, travel, and design services,” built around high-end “galleries”: the company is known for its acquisitions of various city ​​buildings (“if we can’t find one, we’ll build it”) to create experiential destinations that feel more like condos than shops.

One writer described his 90,000-square-foot, six-story tour in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, a $100 million vision of soaring atriums and glittering chandeliers topped by a bustling rooftop restaurant, as where he can “gain inspiration for his megayacht while Eat American Food”: Customers can expect to pay around $2,195 for a wood dining table from a product line of furniture, lighting, textiles, rugs, bath items, décor and outdoor products, as well as baby products, children and adolescents, from manufacturers worldwide.

Friedman, a veteran retailer who as its president grew the Williams-Sonoma-owned Pottery Barn business from a $50 million dinnerware business to a $1 billion-plus furniture brand, has transformed Restoration Hardware’s fortunes. , the American company founded in Eureka, California in 1979 and changed its name to RH in 2012 when it was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. When Friedman joined the company 22 years ago, he “had a market capitalization of $20 million and was on the brink of bankruptcy.” As of 2022, he employed about 6,200 people and posted revenue of $3.59 billion, though this figure represents a year-over-year decrease of 4.48%. RH has experienced a drop in share prices as it navigates a slump in the housing market, and Wedbush analyst Seth Basham has said the brand faces “continued pressure”.

Friedman acknowledges these challenges, but is moving forward with a new growth chapter for the business, part of an overall business strategy to “climb the luxury mountain” by moving the business from the mid-market to the luxury provider. This month, the brand opens its first store outside of North America, RH England, The Gallery in historic Aynho Park (formerly Aynhoe Park), a sprawling estate in the Cotswolds. The move will be followed by a gallery rollout in London’s Mayfair, Milan, Paris, Madrid, Brussels, Düsseldorf and Sydney over the next two to three years.

“We’re trying to build the first fully integrated, multi-category luxury home brand in the world,” says Friedman. “Luxury brands tend to be born at the top,” he adds of what has been a challenging strategy. “It is very difficult to reposition a brand because it is like repositioning a human being. It is not a job for the faint of heart. We were facing bankruptcy for the first 10 years and there were a lot of people who said we couldn’t do it, but we’ve been at this for 22 years and we’ve hit a tipping point.”

HR’s focus on exhibiting design within an architectural framework aims to position it as a place and trendsetter. “Everything we do comes through the lens of architecture. That is why we restore historic buildings – they are statements of great thought and our investment in them elevates and makes the brand more valuable.”

Aynho, however, is a big change for the brand. “We needed to do something for our first international gallery that would say who we are and what we are capable of. We have other buildings that we are working on: old palaces in Milan and Madrid, but this had to be unexpected,” explains Friedman. On the risk of buying a property in the countryside, he says: “Most people would say we’re crazy opening our first European store an hour from the capital, but we knew Aynho Park was the right place the moment we saw magnificent architecture and country scenery. park with roaming deer.”

Formerly the family home of collector and restorer of historic buildings James Perkins, who established an art design studio amid Georgian splendor, the Grade I listed Aynho has undergone careful restoration. “I found myself constantly joking that we needed the King’s permission to change anything,” laughs Friedman.

We blur the lines between residential and retail and home and hospitality

Regardless, he and his team have been mindful to respect the people and traditions of their new home. “We have kept James’s magnificent stairs, his 10 foot statue of Hercules and his unicorn! I paid close to a million for everything because they are amazing. When you walk in you will be looking directly into the unicorn’s eyes and beyond is an amazing green onyx fireplace from Mexico surrounded by chandeliers and urns. There is also a portrait of James, his wife Sophie and his children in the gallery because they are part of Aynho’s story”.

The details of RH’s product offering focus on rarity and exclusivity. “About every seven or eight years we pivot the entire company. Our product line is undergoing the biggest transformation. Aynho will be the first place to see this elevated new product line, which is pouring in from all over the world: sofas made in Italy and tables carved from Italian travertine, plus a beautiful collection of furniture from Vietnam,” he reveals. “I found these places on a Jeep tour. A number of English craftsmen were already making very high quality products in small numbers for showrooms in Europe and the US in the $2 million to $5 million range; We’ve built a great business out of them, buying $50 million to $150 million of many of them a year.”

He has also used the space for more immersive experiences. There will be an exhibition dedicated to Sir John Soane (selected in collaboration with the london museum), who remodeled the house in 1798, and an entire room to one of his favorite designers, Anouska Hempel. Lady Weinberg is not only designing a series of collections for RH, but she was so caught up in a taste test during a visit to one of her restaurants when they first met that Friedman finally took Hempel’s advice about presenting dishes for the place. “I’m a huge fan and always made sure my whole team stayed at his hotel, Blakes, when we were in London. I remember we would go to each other’s rooms just to see the decorations.”

Hempel says he has created a “multi-piece collection” that represents his vision of design: past, present and future. “There will be garden furniture, a lighting collection and selected pieces from my previous work.” On caviar, she adds: “As a hotelier at heart, service and style are part of my nature, so I was delighted to be invited for a private tasting. Having 11 people around you while you individually collected caviar pearls was a blast, especially with chopsticks!”

Hospitality plays an important role at Aynho, as it does at many of HR’s galleries. He will have three restaurants on site, including The Orangery with its “living fire” concept (the same concept at his New York guest house has just been featured in the Michelin Guide). “We blurred the lines between residential and retail and home and hospitality,” says Friedman. “If you are going to invite someone to your house, you will have to offer them something to eat and drink.”

Friedman hints that he has already been scouting property in the Cotswolds for his next “RH Guest House”. The company launched a hotel concept in New York City in September 2022, complementing a hospitality offering where clients can also charter its luxury yacht or charter one of its private jets (“Bernard Arnault came on tour last week Friedman smiles.) Interestingly, the rooms in the New York guest house do not contain any RH furniture. “That’s what turns people’s heads, but we have a 90,000-square-foot showroom for that. It’s about showing what’s possible from a design and architectural standpoint,” adds Friedman.

The climb to the right continues. “We have to be careful how we go, because if you displace too many customers you’re in trouble,” Friedman concludes. “We’re in a good position, but at a point where we say, ‘Where the air gets thinner, the odds get smaller.’ So we stick to our values.”