Launching a new business in the middle of a pandemic is not for the faint of heart. But challenging climes have hardly ever bothered Holly Hunt, founder of her namesake interior design empire and an influential figure on the design scene since the ’80s. “I’ve always thought the best time to work on a new venture or grow something is when everybody else is fearful and things are quiet,” she says during a Zoom call from her sunlit Chicago office.
And, in fact, it was during the financial crisis of 2008 that Hunt started a workshop that designed and built prototypes for the Holly Hunt Collection. It was the first time Hunt focused on ramping up her in-house product line; the shop later evolved and expanded into a full-on production facility. During fraught periods, “[y]ou have time to think and do things,” she says. “And that’s exactly when you need to be building your business: when other people are not thinking about it.”
This time around, the designer’s creation is House of Hunt, a boutique operation that will focus on residential interior design, new collections of furniture, and the development of homes that feature Hunt’s singular style and vision. It is both a return to arenas with which she is very familiar, while also being wholly different from her previous gigs, allowing her creative freedom and the ability to work more holistically across the entire home sector.
After launching her showroom in Chicago in 1984, Hunt opened nearly a dozen more locations throughout the U.S. and U.K., while exposing her customers to designer pieces from the likes of Christian Liaigre, Kevin Reilly, and Alison Berger. She also created lines of furniture, textiles, and lighting, which frequently appeared in the homes of movers and shakers ranging from George Clooney to Silicon Valley execs. Hunt eventually sold the company to Knoll in 2014 but continued on, first as CEO and then as a consultant, until 2019.
The designer shows no sign of slowing down with the launch of House of Hunt. “It was an evolution,” Hunt says of the beginnings of the company. “You see an opportunity, like, ‘That could be fun,’ or ‘Oh, it just makes sense.’” At her new firm, Hunt is working with many of her favorite collaborators again, such as architectural designer Neil Zuleta, whose first project with Hunt was the redesign of The Little Nell hotel in Aspen in 2008. “We want to be seen as a design and creative studio,” Zuleta says. “We’re doing interior design and architecture but also product design. Holly and I both love anything that has to do with the home.” The fledgling company already has its first collaboration in the works: a collection of around two dozen pieces of furniture and lighting for none other than Knoll’s Holly Hunt.
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But Hunt is quick to note that House of Hunt is not a redux of her previous company. “We want it to be special, not big,” she says of the size of her team. “It’s not how many jobs you have; it’s how well you do the jobs that you have.” As for the type of client she’s looking to work with? “Someone who has a keen interest in design, sophistication, and quality,” she says. “And, I hope, people who can make decisions. I would rather them have an opinion than not. We want to be able to understand them and see the world like they see it.”
One value that remains, however, is Hunt’s commitment to the creative process. “I’ve always said, ‘Don’t put the money first; put the product first,” she says. “If the product is right, the money will come.” Being unshackled from focusing solely on the bottom line, she believes, will make the results, whether it’s a home or a piece of furniture, that much better. “There’s really a lot more freedom with House of Hunt,” she says. “And with freedom, I think your vision can be better. The exploration is more fun. And if it’s not fun, why would I want to do this?”
