Meet Cecil Adams, Creative Director at Currey & Company, a wholesale manufacturer of distinctive home furnishings, including lighting, furniture and accent pieces.
Their reputation for innovative furnishings spans the residential, contract and hospitality spaces, and Currey products are found in interiors around the world.
Their vision, to create distinctive home furnishings, has never wavered. Their mission, to serve their customers, owners and employees in an exemplary manner while nurturing a culture that encourages all to flourish, has remained steadfast for more than 30 years.
They are a diverse mix of people who work together and take pride in their work, but this wouldn’t be the case were it not for the spirit the Currey family instilled into the weave of their company, which is still maintained by leadership today.
Currey & Company’s reputation for innovative furnishings spans across residential, contract, and hospitality spaces. This family-owned company based in Atlanta, GA is known for its showcasing of natural materials, authentic design, and elegant finishing techniques. Its vision, to create distinctive home furnishings, has never wavered, and its mission, to serve customers and team members in an exemplary manner while nurturing a culture that encourages all to flourish, has remained steadfast for more than 33 years.
Currey & Company offers nearly 2,000 products, ranging in style, scale, material, and price point to suit a broad range of interior design tastes. It operates permanent showrooms in Atlanta, New York, Dallas, Las Vegas, and High Point, N.C., and is represented in design centers around the country and internationally.
What inspires your design at Currey & Company?
Our inspiration comes from many places, but mostly it comes from the interest in all things natural and all things handmade, which was put in place by the founders of Currey, Robert and Suzy Currey. We also take inspiration from our customers, whose voices truly direct us in their enthusiasm for designs we present.
What’s been your biggest creative challenge?
Keeping our designs fresh and current is a big challenge. It is critical to find the balance between a reverence for the past and what current trends may be revealing to the designers and their customers. Something as simple as an update to a finish can really make a difference.
How do you develop a new creative direction alongside your creative team?
I usually begin by taking in everything that is going on around us to develop creative direction for our design team. At some point in the schedule, I turn all that off and put together a slide show with an eye toward creating product that we can actually produce, and ideas that will inspire them to dig deeper into an idea.
A good example is our Mondrian trend, which came out of an interest in all things Mid-Century along with the trend toward black and white that took place a few years ago. By adding this artist’s work as an idea into the mix we were able to inspire the design team to produce some really unique products and tell a great story in media and our showrooms.
What do you believe is the most important variable to focus on when deciding on the look and feel of the Currey & Company brand overall?
The biggest variable by far is the mood of the customer and what is happening now. How do we absorb that and create products to delight and inspire our customers while maintaining a brand that is recognizable? We must listen and keep in balance between what is selling today and what we would like to show that gives a clue to what may be following. Always with handmade goods from all over the world, there are many variables. Sometimes these are happy mistakes that can really turn into something. Willingness to absorb and roll with whatever comes along is a key element in keeping things moving in a positive direction.