When designer Athena Calderone launched a collection with Crate & Barrel in 2022, the curved sectionals and wiggly metal lamps inspired by her widely known Brooklyn townhouse were an instant hit. Now, the collaborators are following up that success with a second collection that takes cues from Calderone’s new Tribeca apartment, focusing on the structured silhouettes and abundant materiality of the Art Deco era, while giving fans another chance to bring her thoughtful designs into their homes.
“Everything we do is for the customer at Crate & Barrel and Athena's first collection was so warmly received by our community that we just wanted to do it again,” says Sebastian Brauer, Crate & Barrel’s head of design. “Athena was at a time in her life, too, where she was creating a new home and she was just full of ideas and wanted to design more. Of course, we welcomed the opportunity and wanted to layer new beautiful pieces into the collection and build on the favorites that we launched on our first round.”
Though the second collection is informed by a whole new slew of references, like the understated elegance of French designer Jean-Michel Frank, beloved elements from the first collection have been carried through. The shearling Le Tuco armchair, for example, was such a sensation that Calderone and Brauer decided to bring it back—and make it bigger. “We've done a larger scale of Le Tuco because it was something that the customer was asking for,” she explains. “It’s a different color shearling and we added an ottoman with it.”
The Honoré carved oak media cabinet was another bestseller from the first collection, so the team expanded that style with a bar cabinet and a tall storage cabinet. They also riffed on the popular Sassolino burl wood and concrete nesting tables to create the Argent metal nesting tables. “Rather than repeating ourselves, we've changed the materiality and we've done these beautiful cast metal side tables that also have this nesting ability,” Calderone shares.
These updated crowd-pleasers are the link between the first collection and the second, which is richer in color and more streamlined in form than its predecessor. “The first collection was more designed with the seventies in mind and the new one is the twenties and thirties, so I also want to illustrate that you can mix periods and your home can feel curated instead of studied with one particular period,” Calderone notes. “It just speaks to the ethos that I believe in design, that you can break the rules and have multiple points of view in your home.”
New furniture highlights include the Raffiné sofa, a long, boxy couch in a burnt sienna velvet, the Dualité coffee table, which combines a thick travertine top with plinth-like burl wood legs, and the Reposer daybed, whose walnut veneer base is layered with tufted upholstery and fastened bolster cushions. Calderone’s favorite light fixtures are the Onirique Alabaster pendant, sconce, and lamp, which were originally dome-shaped and then updated with a triangular form that was more affordable to manufacture. “It was priced too high, so it turned into a triangular shape, which was a creative solution that ended up being a better design,” she reflects. “I'm so much happier with the outcome.”
Calderone also dreamed up a special way to capture the collection—by taking over the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The historic building was once home to Eero Saarinen, whose father was the dean of the school, and served as a place of learning for design legends Florence Knoll, Charles and Ray Eames, and more. “It was this beautiful hub of creativity and it spoke to me on such a visceral level,” Calderone says. “I said to Sebastian, ‘I know this is crazy and I'm not sure it's even possible, but this collection feels so in line with the period and ethos of the Saarinen House—should we try?’ And we did.”
Fortunately, Cranbrook’s curator green-lit the photo shoot and Calderone’s instincts were spot-on—the collection blended flawlessly into the warm, century-old setting. “For me, design is about an emotional reaction and creating a space that feels well-balanced and well-curated,” she says. “You want somebody to walk into a space and just feel good or calm or curious. When I walked into the Saarinen House and saw all the pieces come together, I felt all those things.”
Athena Calderone for Crate & Barrel is available for purchase on the Crate & Barrel app starting today and will be shoppable on crateandbarrel.com starting tomorrow.
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