A world-renowned brand has built a new, more permanent home in the Flatiron District amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Timothy Oulton is a one-of-a-kind furniture brand that takes pride in its handcrafted products. The brand name, Timothy Olton, grew up surrounded by antiques as his father ran a Halo Antiques store in Britain. At the age of 18, Olton joined his father to work in the shop during the summer and was quite fascinated by antiques.
In 1990, Oulton took over the family business and began focusing on actual furniture design, which eventually led to the Timothy Oulton brand. Every piece his company makes includes the finest materials sourced from around the world, from the finest leather to stone and crystal.
“It always starts with materials; we don’t even decide on shape until we have a material in our hands. We bring in old woods from the UK, leathers from Brazil and Argentina, stones, crystal, and glass, and we’ll look at the materials and say what we can try to do,” Olton said. Its and we do it with it.” “I follow Paul Smith’s saying: “You can find inspiration in anything, and if you can’t, look again.” LP Cover – Pink Floyd designs and Rolling Stones covers can be iconic. We have vintage cowboy-inspired leather finishes, and vintage jewelry-inspired lighting. I see the creative process as part of a quest, a journey. You explore, you discover, and often you end up finding inspiration in somewhat unexpected ways.”
The brand opened its first showroom in New York City in 2009 on the third floor of ABC Carpet & Home, but it was in 2018 when the store opened its first showroom in Los Angeles.
“We started in 2018 with our first showroom in Los Angeles and now have nearly 50 showrooms all over the world. We have always aspired to be in the best gateway cities in the world so after opening our flagship London store in Bluebird a few years ago, New York was On our minds a lot – it’s a center of design. Brutal New York, if you’re going here you’d better flip well!”
Although the brand has many storefronts around the world, one particular building has kept coming back to Oulton’s mind: 901 Broadway. Located in the Flatiron District, the building has a historic-looking facade with huge windows and is conveniently located on the corner of Broadway East 20th Street.
When the opportunity arose, Oulton took the opportunity to set up a shop within the building. Timothy Oulton’s new permanent storefront officially opened to the public in September 2021.
“I used to walk through 901 and always loved the windows – they’re huge! I’ve been wanting the building for a long time, it has a great history, and then we got lucky. They say be careful what you wish for when you get it!” Olton said.
One of the latest additions to the Timothy Oulton furniture line, the Apollo is a recreation of the famous Apollo 11 that made history many years ago. Created as an inspirational amulet by Timothy Oulton Studio, this piece is popular with entertainment and can be customized for indoor or outdoor use, each one being handcrafted by the Timothy Oulton team.
“It epitomizes the innovation, imagination and meticulous attention to detail that are at the forefront of every project we do, as well as our capabilities to design and manufacture anything from our workshops,” Olton said. “We built the first one in 2018 and we’re now getting to the Apollo 16 with more on the way. The interior can be customized to customer needs and the New York based interior features a tufted velvet interior printed with a design based on Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus. She’s just beautiful.”
Apollo was a huge success, attracting the attention of not only the average consumer but also celebrities and companies.
“We’ve sold it to customers everywhere, Gordon Ramsay bought Apollo for one of his restaurants in London, sold it in the US, Dubai and Italy, and built an outdoor version for a project in Olton,” he said.
As for what’s in store for the Timothy Oulton brand, the founder anticipates that there will be more storefronts as well as hospitality spaces coming to fruition this year.
“We have many new stores opening next year across the United States and globally, starting in Orange County, California. We are also looking to expand into more hospitality spaces – giving people a full experience. And we just finished working on our collection. The new ones launching next year. 2022 is going to be very busy!” Olton said.
For more information about Timothy Oulton, visit timothyoulton.com.