[originally posted May 2022]
All of us here at Stickley are thrilled to announce that our newest lifestyle collection has arrived in showrooms! Throughout its development, the Martine Collection won the hearts of everyone here lucky enough to see it and touch it. And it’s a story worthy of its own blog post.
Stickley’s Director of Design, Marissa Brown, was tasked with creating a new modern collection in mid-2020, just as the COVID-19 pandemic had upended lives across the globe. In her home studio in Brooklyn, the creative process was routinely interrupted by the cry of ambulance sirens. As she later described it: “When I started searching for inspiration for a new Stickley collection, it was at the height of our lockdown year, such a chaotic and stressful time. I decided I wanted to create something that was the opposite of that, something that felt soft and comforting and calm.”
To create the softness she was looking for, Marissa was inspired to design furniture that smoothed away hard edges and angles, replacing them with curves, radiused edges, and round arcs—an approach that fit right in with current design trends. She studied the work of mid-century modern and Italian modernist designers, and then settled on solid cherry as the perfect medium for her vision, thanks to its warmth, its familiar flowing grain, and its ability to take on beautiful, smooth shapes when sanded. Cherry has been a wood of choice at Stickley since the 1920s, so it was a fitting choice.
brushed bronze. She loves that these fixed pulls make no noise and can be grasped easily with two fingers from above or below. The team also found a unique way to suspend tabletops of exceptionally clear tempered glass to create Martine’s striking glass-top occasional group.
Of course, the Martine Collection is still Stickley through and through. More than a century of proven craftsmanship gives every piece its heirloom quality and longevity. Case pieces feature our signature mortise-and-tenon joinery and side-hung, center-guided drawers, and impeccable skill goes into achieving continuous-match grains across drawer faces and shaping Martine’s bold beaded moldings and saber legs. The collection’s seating boasts an eight-way hand-knotted spring system for long-lasting support and beautifully crafted upholstery, including finely tailored waterfall skirts on select pieces.
Additional sources:
Marissa Brown, Director of Design
