Designer Tara Bernerd is known for many things. Her rockstarrish personal style (think colored leather jackets, jangling armfuls of bracelets) and color-soaked, luxe interiors (she’s masterminded everything from Belmond’s Maroma resort to Equinox’s downtown L.A. outpost). Bernerd’s renowned, too, for her raucous laugh and love of Campari soda (London-born, she now lives mostly in Milan). But this spring, she’s hoping to earn accolades for an entirely new venture: moving into high-end homewares via not one but two partnerships, with Frette and Medea 1905. “It’s all happened organically, but they also represent very prominent names,” she says, “And they take things seriously, as do I.”
Bernerd is offering an exclusive preview to Robb Report of what the public will see for the first time during the Salone design show in Milan next month. The Medea 1905 collection came first, via a residence she was working on in Milan; via that project, she encountered Luigi and Andrea Tagliabue, the cousins who run the family firm which first earned accolades for its 1955 Medea chair by Vittorio Nobili. Rather than launch a huge assortment of designs at the outset, she says, they resolved to create a small, capsule collection, and build it out, almost floor by floor, starting with the eight-strong debut which focuses on the bedroom.
“It’s very much Marlene Dietrich, a nod to the glamor of the past,” Bernerd says of the inspiration for everything from a bench to bedside tables. Fluted glass, marble, and antique brass are key elements, but crucially, Medea 1905 is offering customizable details, so the rattan bedhead could be replaced with oak wood, perhaps, or linen. And, of course, for unapologetic goodlifer Bernerd, there’s something no modern bedroom should be without: a cocktail bar. “I did a little side table, too, with flirty, lovely kick flare legs, somewhere to put my martini on,” she says.
While workshopping that collaboration, Bernerd stumbled in her second one, after Frette CEO Filippo Arnaboldi suggested she design some soft goods to complement that bedroom suite. Rather than sheets or drapes, though, Bernerd opted to produce what she craves most herself in any setting: blankets and throw pillows. “When I was much younger, the first thing I did was go to Hermès and buy the bed throw, that marvelous blanket, and I love them in any home, all rolled up piled high in a big basket at the end of the bed or your sofa,” she says. “And I’ve always been kind of a perfectionist with final touches, like where the cushion is going or is the throw long enough to cover the bed, and how should I fold it?”
This collection, dubbed Disrupting Architecture, draws inspiration from building styles of the past, especially Deco and Modernism; Bernerd describes the designs as “playful patterns melting together.” She’s produced the cashmere-wool pieces in typically bold colors, like peacock blue and caramel; the neon orange and lime green, though, has an added, sentimental inspiration. Just as she was about to conclude the design process, she thought of her mentor and friend, the late Sir Richard Rogers. That starchitect was renowned for his love of dayglo clothing, always spiffily outfitted in color blocked clothes and primary-hued shoes. In tribute to him, she added those two final styles, and called his wife Ruthie, the chef-owner of Michelin-starred The River Café, to tell her; Ruthie gave her unreserved blessing. Bernerd promises more to come. “This isn’t a one-off—it’s years’ commitments,” she says, “I hope we’ll be on a much longer journey with a homeware collection we’ll expand on.” Hopefully, starting with some cocktail napkins.