Almost a year ago in late August, the namesake furniture company founded by Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams shocked the industry when it announced its abrupt closure. Founded by the duo in 1989, their leather club chairs and sleek sectionals became staple pieces for shoppers who valued form and comfort from their furniture.
In March of last year, they drew New York’s cool-kid design sphere to the swanky Nine Orchard hotel to celebrate the launch of a 19-piece capsule with Rafael de Cárdenas. Come August, however, Stephens Group, the equity group that the business partners sold their brand to, suddenly laid off its 800 employees and announced that the brand would be “unable to continue operations.”
Three months later, the industry again pricked its ears when furniture and textile company Surya announced its acquisition of the Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams IP, inventory, and manufacturing equipment. Now, the brand has soft-launched its first collection under Surya: a trade-exclusive lineup of its 50 most-loved sofas and accent chairs. As the brand inches towards a full relaunch with a new lineup of designs, it’s focusing on rehiring previous Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams talent and reviving production at its original North Carolina facilities.
“We have a lot of customers who’ve been waiting on the sidelines for these products to be back on the market, so instead of waiting for a full launch, we decided to get the sales team rolling and bring back 50 pieces that we know designers love,” Surya president Satya Tiwari tells Business of Home. “It’s difficult to go from zero to 100, so this is a way that we can restart our manufacturing and continue to ramp up to a larger product launch in the fall.”
