Courtesy of Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams
It started 25 years ago. Bob Williams, then an art director for Seventeen magazine, and Mitchell Gold, who worked in the marketing department of Lane Furniture, moved to North Carolina together. There, Williams designed a dining-room chair to accommodate long after-dinner conversations.
“When we decided to start a company, we decided there was a real need for stylish, fashionable upholstered chairs,” Gold says. “The other thing we really believed in was having comfortable dining chairs where you could spend a longer time. When I grew up, we had uncomfortable dining chairs, and by the time dessert came, we were eating in the other room with a plate in our lap.”
At the time, they called it “relaxed design.” The sofas were covered in washable slipcovers and forgiving fabrics. Like a teen trading in her Keds for Manolo Blahniks, the company’s design is now more chic. “I would call it dressier relaxed design,” Gold says.
On November 12, the latest Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams Signature Store (Plaza Frontenac, 1701 S. Lindbergh, 800-489-4195, mgbwhome.com) will have its grand opening. The 10,000-square-foot space will be arranged in a series of room vignettes.
As detailed in their recently published book, Who We Are, the men and their company operate by a number of mantras: “We look backward to learn.” “We don’t like mean people.” “We obsess over minutiae.” “We love pets (and especially dogs with smushed-in faces).” “We give to our communities.” Over time, they’ve donated generously to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS, the AIDS Leadership Foothills-Area Alliance, and the creation of the National LGBT Museum in D.C.
The first mantra on the list, though, is “We provide comfort. For everyone.” That has a lot of meaning, Williams says, “not just in the furniture that we make, but in the society we create and in our work environment. We really want people to be comfortable.”
