Banana Republic Moves Beyond the Closet With a New Furniture Range

Furniture is like fashion for the home, offering a way to express yourself and celebrate your own unique style. When much-loved fashion brand Banana Republic expanded into the home textiles market earlier this year with BR Home, it brought the brand’s keen eye for pattern and richly textured fabrics to a new platform—think intricately hand-knotted rugs, and luxurious bedding in linen, organic cotton, silk, and cashmere. Safe to say, the BR Home design team understood the assignment: They recently expanded with a full range of bedroom, living, and dining furniture, lighting, and interior accessories.

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"We are driven by a desire for discovery and self-expression, representing a new way to outfit yourself and your home," explains Sandra Stangl, Banana Republic president and CEO.

This desire to create a luxurious expression, rich in texture, has been a driving force since Banana Republic was founded in 1978 by Mel and Patricia Ziegler. From the beginning, success came from reimagining classics to create fresh, modern expressions with a timeless appeal. The apparel collections drew inspiration from around the world—and when Gap acquired the brand in the 1980s, the global influence remained prominent and a new sense of elegance was injected. 

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The same approach—centered around reinvigorating classics and global inspirations—comes through in the new furniture pieces. The sofas and sectionals, for example, take time-honored forms and reinvent them through a process of reduction, to create pieces with clean, contemporary lines that make an impact through their simplicity. These refined forms, paired with tactile accessories and an understated, natural palette, have the power to transform any interior setting into a calming sanctuary.  

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At the heart of the new range is a dedication to quality and craftsmanship, realized through the use of opulent textiles. Like the bedding, which was the precursor for the range of furniture, the focus is on fine textiles, including European linen, sumptuous cotton cashmere, and organic cotton. This appreciation of natural materiality extends throughout, from hand-rolled clay beading and hand-knotted wool rugs, to teak furniture carved by hand on the Indonesian island of Java. 

The BR Home pendants and chandeliers by South African collective The Handmade Story epitomize this commitment to craft. Each piece is made by a group of artisans that empowers women and families impacted by HIV. The hand-rolled clay beads crafted by the makers are threaded into stunningly intricate arrangements that bear the marks of the hand that formed them.

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"We’re obsessing over how the products are made and focused on the exaggerated stitching, the linings, the trims and cuts," says the BR Home design team. "What’s old is new again and the quality and elevation in our pinnacle fabrics elevates the overall expression."

Each collection in the BR Home range is titled after a destination or name that evokes its character. The London sofas feature a modernist yet soft silhouette that echoes the city’s iconic architecture; Brooklyn features bold forms forged from handcrafted marble that bring to mind the edgy industrialism of the New York borough; Lisbon is all about organic modernism rendered in richly grained oak; and Sydney is an ode to textural beauty in a streamlined silhouette that hints at the contrasts of the harborside city and its golden light.

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BR Home also offers home styling advice through the BR Atelier—a service akin to personal styling for fashion. Simply book a one-on-one appointment and the dedicated stylists can help with anything from finding the perfect statement piece, to creating a full interior scheme. After all, the beauty of the new BR Home range and its carefully considered palette is an ability to create impact at any scale. 

Discover more at BRHome.com.