Southern California’s Nathan Anthony has a romantic backstory — in fact, it seems husband and wife designers Tina Nicole and Khai Mai were almost fated to work together. He owned a furniture factory and she had a background in textile design, so combining their assets just made sense to the young couple. In 1989, they established a furniture design business, named it after their son, and started creating.
Nathan Anthony furnishings are strongly influenced by contemporary European design, thanks to Tina’s Italian-American background and the couple’s extensive international travels. As principal designer, Tina describes her style as “soft modern” — edgy shapes are finished with rich textiles and accented with luxury touches like Swarovski crystals.
Tina cites fashion designer Coco Chanel, architect Patricia Urquiola and poet John Keats among her many influences. Khai Mai’s philosophy is simply that “design should inspire”. Nathan Anthony furniture is built by hand, and alder frames, Pirelli webbing, and heavy gauge steel springs are standard. Their upholstered pieces are highly customizable, with hundreds of fabric and leather choices plus the option to specify unusual sizes, trims and treatments.
