Southern Gents with a Beautiful Bar in Their Showroom Shake Up the Furniture Industry

Since 2010, the gents behind furniture company The New Traditionalists have been turning the industry on its head, infusing traditional style, which had become staid and stuffy in recent years, with a healthy does of cool. Founders Philip Erdoes and Brady Wilcox, having found success in the industry after launching modern children’s furniture brand Ducduc, sought to fill a gap in the marketplace: They wanted traditional-style pieces with fresh, modern details.

The New Traditionalists design their pieces in New York City and produce them in their own factory in New England. The methods used are tried and true to yield furniture, all of which is customizable, of the highest quality: Each piece is bench-made, upholstery is hand-tied, and finishes are hand-rubbed.

Native Oklahomans Erdoes and Wilcox may be New Yorkers now, but stay true to their Southern roots. They sought to bring their spirited way of living to the design world. Self-proclaimed drink lovers who are all about having a good time, they even built a beautiful bar in their showroom at New York Design Center so they can throw a few back with clients. We aren’t talking a bar cart — although they have handsome ones as part of their collection for your home — but a massive fully functioning bar, which happens to be more attractive than most NYC watering holes, to boot.

This fall, The New Traditionalists introduce their first rug collection, designed in New York and handmade in India and China by highly skilled weavers (without child laborers). The rugs are customizable in color, material and size, with hand-knotted and hand-tufted construction options out of silk, New Zealand wool, wool/silk blends, bamboo silk, and mohair wool and shag. Eleven patterns were introduced with the new collection, including standouts Forty-Nine Shades (featuring features ombré stripes), Maze (featuring a cross-hatch pattern with contrast colors), and East 2 West (featuring contrasting colors on the right and left sides that intermingle in the center).