×
Furniture and art are not the final layer added to a finished home. They are the architecture’s continuation. The way a chair sits against a wall, the proportion of a dining table to the room around it, the pieces of art chosen for a particular threshold or sightline, all carry the same intent that shaped the building itself. When furniture and art are developed alongside the architecture rather than after it, the home reads as a single composition.
Garret Cord Werner provides furniture and art consulting as a discipline within the studio. Our in-house custom furniture program, our long-standing relationships with artists and galleries, and our experience integrating collections into architecturally significant homes all support work that goes well past selection.
Furniture and art shape how a room is felt as much as how it is seen. A piece chosen because it is fashionable will read as imposed. A piece chosen because it belongs to the architecture, the materials, and the way the household lives will read as inevitable. Our work begins from the second principle. Each selection is evaluated against the building, the palette, the proportions of the room, and the long view of how the home will be used over the years. The goal is resonance rather than accumulation.
This perspective also shapes how we work with art. Whether the household is starting a collection or already has one, art is treated as part of the architectural composition. Sightlines, scale, lighting, and the relationship between the work and the materials around it are all considered together. A great piece in the wrong place is wasted; the right piece at the right wall finishes a room in a way no other element can.
Our studio designs and produces custom furniture in collaboration with craftspeople we have long working relationships with. Pieces can be developed with materials, scale, and proportions specific to the project, fabricated to the level of detail the design asks for. Custom design is the right answer when the room calls for something a catalog cannot provide. It is also the most direct way to extend the material language of the home into the furniture itself.
Where existing pieces are right for the project, we specify from manufacturers and makers we work with regularly. Curated specification is faster than custom and often the right answer for spaces and pieces where existing options serve the design well. Custom and specified pieces are developed together as one composition rather than separate streams.
Our team works with artists and galleries to source contemporary art for residential projects, including custom commissions. Whether the household is building a collection from scratch, integrating an existing collection into a new home, or looking for a single piece for a specific moment in the architecture, we help develop the brief, evaluate options, and bring work into the home through procurement and installation.
Hand-woven rugs designed by our studio and produced with weavers globally are part of the program. Custom dyed materials and patterns can be developed to align with the palette, scale, and proportions of each room. Rugs at this level shape a room as much as the architecture does, and designing them as part of the project rather than selecting them afterward makes a meaningful difference.
Selection is one part of the work. Logistics is the other. Our team coordinates fabrication timelines, procurement, framing for art, delivery, and on-site installation so the furnishings arrive in the right condition at the right time and are placed with the same care that selected them. For high-value art, we coordinate specialty handling and custom mounting where needed.
Both. Many projects begin with pieces the household already owns or collects. We evaluate what fits the new home, what could move with care, and where new pieces are needed to complete the composition. Honest conversations about existing pieces are part of the early work.
It works the same way. The starting point is what you respond to and how you want the home to feel. From there, we research artists, evaluate options against the architecture and your reaction, and bring work into the home through galleries we have relationships with. You do not need to be a collector to engage thoughtful art consulting; you only need an interest in living with art.
Yes. Custom commissions are a meaningful part of the work, particularly when the architecture asks for something a specific scale, medium, or relationship to the space cannot be sourced. Our team manages the commission process from brief development through installation.
Furniture and art consulting is structured around the scope of the engagement. Custom furniture and rugs from our studio are quoted as part of the project. Specified pieces and art are sourced through trade relationships. We discuss fee structure and procurement openly during early conversations so you understand the commitment before any work begins.
Yes. Furniture and art consulting can be engaged on its own when the architecture and interior architecture are settled. The most coherent results come from engaging this work as part of the integrated design process, but we work at the scope that fits the project.
Garret Cord Werner is a full-service architecture and interior design firm founded in 1996, with deep roots in Pacific Northwest construction and a long history of integrating architecture, interiors, and landscape into a single vision. Our studio designs and produces custom furnishings, lighting, and hand-woven rugs to complete each home with continuity from envelope to interior.
If you are working through furniture and art for a home where the pieces deserve the same care as the architecture, we would welcome a conversation.
