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Leave it to Christopher John Rogers to create a buzz during New York Fashion Week without even having a show on the calendar. The designer unveils his ready-to-wear collections off-schedule now, but this time around, he went off-script, debuting his first-ever venture into the home universe with a very special and intentional collection of four chairs made in collaboration with Irish furniture purveyors Orior. Rogers met the brand’s creative director Ciaran McGuigan during their time at the Savannah College of Arts and Design, and stayed in touch with a mutual admiration for each other’s work. Orior hand makes all of its furniture in Ireland, with heavy Danish influences impacting the work, thanks in large part to to McGuigan’s parents creating furniture there.
The resulting quartet of chairs takes Rogers’ prints from past collections (you might recall the likes of Dua Lipa wearing the checkerboard Pop Print dress from Collection 008), masterfully imbued onto timeless, sleek silhouettes that are the perfect amount of extra. It’s natural that Rogers’ creative mind led him to create furniture, as his impeccable taste and distinct point of view make the most sense to translate to the world of interiors. The cherry on top of this wonderful collaboration is that all profits from sales of the collection will be donated to grassroots organizations coordinated by Color For Change, a nonprofit civil rights organization committed to fostering Black communities and bolstering the voice of Black Americans. ELLE.com caught up with Rogers prior to the launch to ask him about the genesis of the collaboration, and whose home he’d love to see one of the chairs in.
How did this collaboration come about with Orior?
I met the team during my time at SCAD—Ciaran graduated a few years before me. We stayed in touch, and Christina from my team actually reintroduced me to the brand back in 2019, and I really loved the craftsmanship and adventurous use of color. We kept in touch with each others’ work, and they approached me about the possibility of working on something together. It’s been really fun to see how the collaboration evolved.
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What do you hope to bring to the market with the new partnership?
I would say that these pieces are definitely worth their weight. They’re handmade in Ireland, upholstered in Italian fabric, and limited-edition. They’re collector’s items that will definitely be with you for decades, if not longer.
How was the process of entering the furniture space? Did you approach the design in similar or different ways to fashion?
It was quite seamless, considering our teams’ familiarity with one another and our similar aesthetic viewpoints. I like to create work that exists in a liminal space between something high-octane and something quite straightforward, and I think I approached this project similarly to my fashion offering.
What does luxury furniture look like to CJR? Can we expect you to dip into more lifestyle collaborations and ventures?
It looks like this! Intentional pieces that are well-made and built to stand the test of time. I think my point of view translates easily to various types of design regardless of medium, so, yes, definitely more lifestyle ventures happening soon.
What’s your favorite piece in the collection and why?
I think the Gradient Dot Lia Chair. It combines one of my favorite prints that we’ve ever done with a declarative but classic wingback shape.
Who are some of your favorite furniture designers?
Wendell Castle, Verner Panton, Eames, and Le Corbusier.
If you could have a piece from the collection in anyone’s home, who would you want to have it and why?
Probably Kelly Wearstler—she has impeccable taste, and her work was one of my first true introductions to the intentionality that’s possible with interiors.
The Christopher John Rogers x Orior collection is available to shop now at oriorfurniture.com.
Kevin LeBlanc is the Fashion Associate at ELLE Magazine. He covers fashion news, trends, and anything to do with Robyn Rihanna Fenty.
