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| Charles Brill, left, with Alex Williams and Theo Richardson |
Six months after graduating from the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in the US, Charles Brill was already running his own business, Rich, Brilliant, Willing, with fellow graduates Theo Richardson and Alex Williams.
“It began very organically and with no upfront capital,” he explains. “We had all moved to New York after school and banded together. Our collaborative working process enabled us to create a collection of furniture that defined our aesthetic and way of thinking.”
That was 2006, when the economic climate seemed robust and opportunities for young smart designers with imaginative ideas were plentiful. Times have changed. But Brill and his partners have a pragmatic approach to the downturn. “We strive on maintaining low overheads and expenses. This allows us to choose projects we want to work on and see a value in. Fortunately we’ve been keeping very busy.”
Raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Brill says his parents introduced him to aesthetic pursuits, such as photography, but it was their encouragement and support, not just their personal interests, that inspired him to pursue a career in design. He remembers them buying him a small welder, which he used to create kinetic sculptures. Then, when he was 16, he transformed the family’s garage into what he describes as “an ad hoc laboratory – with a table saw, welding torches and materials to build and experiment with”.
“My father bought an old broken-down Volkswagen that wouldn’t start,” he recalls. “Before I learnt how to drive, I learned how a car functions by taking it apart and completely restoring it – the engine, brakes, interior upholstery and the exterior. This initiated my interest in pursuing a degree in industrial design.”
Brill selected RISD for its traditional Bauhaus-like foundation course. “The school encourages a strong work ethic and conceptual thinking combined with practical skills,” he explains. He credits two professors in the furniture design department, John Dunnigan and Lothar Windels, for teaching him to appreciate the value of producing well-crafted objects and the importance of detail and coherency.
In his junior year, Brill was accepted into RISD’S European honours programme in Rome and while there he was fortunate to secure an internship with US designer and architect Kevin Walz. He followed this with an apprenticeship at the New York studio of prominent mid-century furniture designer Vladimir Kagan after graduation and says he regards both experiences as valuable. “It allowed me to learn the structure of a successful design practice,” he explains.
Rich, Brilliant, Willing was established in January 2006 around a kitchen table in the East Village. Initially the partners created furniture or lighting, often customised in colour, finish and dimensions, for architects and designers. One of their earliest works was the Excel Perch, “a seat with five legs in random lengths of brightly coloured materials – a piece of furniture you pull up for a conversation, hang your hat on or simply admire”, Brill says. It is made to order and retails for $900.
“In the beginning, publicity and sales came through friends and colleagues in New York but in the last year we have been attending trade shows, such as [the Salone del Mobile in] Milan and the ICFF [International Contemporary Furniture Fair] in the US.”
As a result, the practice caught the eye of buyers at New York-based retailer Kiosk, which commissioned them to make an original, witty signature product for the store. The Candle Party is a “colourful mash-up of candles that becomes a sculptural centrepiece. It’s a more fun and sexier alternative to giving a bouquet of flowers”. It was voted the “must-have collectable” of New York Design Week 2008 and costs only $25.
Rich, Brilliant, Willing now employs a paid intern on a three-month rotation and has basement studio space in an East Village neighbourhood that the partners refer to as “our laboratory”. And they say they relish the collaboration. “One plus one plus one equals a lot more than three,” he says. “Each of us has a different point of view. I explicitly love materiality and interior spaces, Theo has an unconventional colour palette and eye for sculpture and Alex is an inventor bringing spontaneity and energy to the work.”
The trio are currently focusing on designs for April’s Salone del Mobile – a new metal end table and a production version of their Excel floor lamp design, which they are showcasing in a pop-up store sponsored by Apartamento magazine in Zona Tortona. It will be the first time they have presented their work in Europe and, they hope, an exciting new chapter in their progress.
Brill might be only 24 but he has already proven that with talent, determination and a bit of chutzpah it is still possible to succeed, even in hard times.
