Amy Howard, owner of the successful Amy Howard Collection, strives to create personal furniture through her love of the job and her artistic talent. Here, the Memphis native reveals what’s behind her carefully crafted pieces.
TEXT by Jordana White;
PHOTOGRAPHY courtesy of the Amy Howard Collection
Amy Howard is owner of the Amy Howard Collection, a line of classic 18th century French, Italian, Paris Moderne and Gracious 1930s style furniture. From line inspiration to material choice to actual furniture design, Howard is involved in every step of the creative process. While the range of furniture, design services and other products Howard produces is extensive, she considers everything she does to be personal.
That personal connection began years ago. Born and raised in Memphis, Howard grew up in an entrepreneurial family. Her father, now 90 years old, was a builder in Memphis for 57 years; her mother was also involved with the business.
“My dad really taught me a work ethic,” Howard says. “I get a great deal of enjoyment from my work because I am so passionate about it. I don’t know that I’ll ever retire—I love what I do.”
Exactly what Howard does is always evolving. Her background is not just in furniture design; in fact, Howard began her career as a decorative artist with a studio in Memphis, teaching the art of painted finishes, gilding and furniture restoration. Over the years, she amassed training in numerous areas.
“I studied the art of painting furniture in New York,” Howard says. “I learned trompe l’oeil (a mural technique) in San Francisco and I delved into Toscana finishes while studying in Italy. Basically, I’ve trained all around the world.”
Having such a wide range of experience, Howard felt she knew what elements designers needed to style artful creations and she wanted to meet those needs. Together with her husband, Gene, who is COO of the Amy Howard Collection, she began her own line of products, creating turneau mirrors and three-piece panels to take to market.
“My husband and I would go out and start shopping,” she says. “We’d pick pieces that had beautiful lines, but maybe the finishes weren’t quite right, and we’d start redoing them. We’d repaint and refinish them and designers would come and buy them. After doing that for a few years, we realized that we really needed pieces that could be replicated on an ongoing basis. So we started making chests, consoles…three pieces turned into over 300 pieces today…we just grew.”
As the business grew, the Howard family grew as well. The couple has three children: Brooke, Megan and Preston. According to Howard, she has passed on a “curse” to her kids.
“They’ve all grown up seeing (their parents) owning our own business, and have each become entrepreneurs in their own right,” she says.
Even while building their own projects, Howard’s kids still contribute to the Amy Howard Collection, each in their own way.
So how tough is it to work with your family? Howard says they’ve got it figured out.
“When you respect one another for what each brings to the table, there’s no problem—it’s actually a treat. My office is in the (Amy Howard Collection) mill; Gene’s is in the finishing building. He’ll come over to me and bring lunch and we get to just chat.”
The only catch?
“Sometimes we have a hard time turning it off and just keep talking about business,” Howard says. “That’s when the kids step in and tell us to have some plain old family time!”
That family time is particularly precious to Howard with all the projects she juggles.
“If I’m not working on 10 things at once, I’m not happy,” she says. “I love working in chaos.”
In fact, right at this moment, Howard has three new projects in the works—an accessory line set to debut this spring, a line of paints for the home and a book that takes readers through the process of home beautification, DIY style. But even with all of these projects, Howard still has her time-honored favorites.
“I love working on bedroom pieces,” she says. “Especially four poster beds—they have such a cocoon-like aspect to them. We’re born in bed, we die there—it represents a lot to me as an artist.”
So much of what Howard does reflects her inner artist, she says.
“I always tell my husband that our house is an extension of myself. I’m never really that concerned about how I dress—I’ll have on jeans, an oversize shirt and Ferragamos and feel like I can show up anywhere. But when it comes to my house—that’s where I really reflect my personality. The art on my wall—those are pieces I’ve chosen because they make me cry. The china in my cabinets is collected—not purchased as a set of twelve. I have a beautiful life and I reflect it in the things that I keep around me.”
Ultimately, Howard hopes that her designs will help clients do the same thing in their own homes.
“I want to create heirlooms,” she says. “In the coming years, when children look through their parents’ homes, I want them to see my furniture and say, ‘That was Mom’s favorite.’ I want to be the one making the antiques for them. That’s what we’re making for the future.”
