During High Point Market in October, designers stole a rare break from the windowless-showroom grind. The invitation: a visit to a perfectly preserved 1970 modernist home designed by Fred Babcock and Milo Baughman for Thayer Coggin, founder of the eponymous midcentury furniture company. Its owners, vintage furniture dealers and married couple Michael Radziewicz and Jennifer Ponce of PRB Collection, had furnished each room with the company’s pristine 20th-century inventory, which meant designers could admire collectible furniture, lighting, and ceramics inside an actual home in the historic Emerywood neighborhood of High Point, North Carolina.
The showcase signaled that PRB Collection—formerly known as Ponce Berga and long an open secret among top designers—has officially arrived. The company launched in 2017 with 72 pieces. Today, between its inventory on 1stDibs, The Expert, and its own website, it maintains more than 11,000 SKUs and moves north of 10 items per business day. Robert Stilin, Nate Berkus, David Lucido, Heidi Caillier, and Courtney Bishop are just a handful of the high-profile designers who regularly source from PRB. “By now, almost anyone involved in modern design has worked with us,” says Victor Berga, the third partner in the company. (In case you missed it, the last names of the company’s three founders, Ponce, Radziewicz, and Berga, form the acronym PRB.)
“They have excellent taste and I can always count on finding something I love,” says Miami-based designer and AD PRO Directory member Jennifer Bunsa, a steady client. And the volume, she says, is unmatched. “While most dealers might have a few examples of what you’re looking for, PRB will have hundreds. They’re especially good for unique lighting.”
Radziewicz, a former art dealer, has a sharp sense for how vintage reads in contemporary rooms. Berga, raised in Stockholm and now based in Paraguay, is an expert in Scandinavian furniture and lighting who has expanded PRB’s networks across Europe and Latin America. Ponce, a former math and science teacher, built the operational spine—from barcodes and warehouse logic to white-glove freight.
The Move to High Point
In 2023, the business relocated from South Florida, where they had operated a storefront in West Palm Beach, to the North Carolina furniture capital. The calculus was simple: Warehouse costs in High Point are a fraction of South Florida’s, and the city’s infrastructure is built to support the furniture market. “We realized, if we came here, we could invest in inventory and a robust infrastructure,” says Radziewicz. (The company just added a fourth warehouse to its facilities.) The team also tapped into High Point’s network of upholsterers, woodworkers, electricians and shipping companies. The firm can handle COM reupholstery, custom electrical work, and international delivery. PRB also opened a permanent showroom in local design center 313 Space.
Pricing for Projects, Not Collectors
Pricing is calibrated for project reality, not trophy hunting. Though PRB has moved so-called “important” pieces, like an early Vladimir Kagan lounger that sold for $25,000, and a rare Otto Schulz coffee table that took in $70,000, the “sweet spot,” say the partners, is lamps under $2,000 and seating under $5,000—a price range that lets designers spec broadly without compromising pedigree. The pitch to designers is efficiency. Their trade platform offers downloadable tear sheets, holds, and the ability to organize multiple project boards. The company adds 20 to 30 new listings most weekdays, and the founders say they work with roughly half of the AD100 list-makers
“In terms of operations, we look probably more like a furniture company than an antique dealer,” says Radziewicz. “We are trying to make things as streamlined and as helpful for interior designers as possible.” The secret is out.
