Baker vs. Holly Hunt vs. Hickory Chair: Comparing the Three Benchmark Luxury Furniture Houses
The three trade-only houses every luxury interior designer keeps in close rotation — construction, signature strengths, pricing, and the rooms each one belongs in.
The three trade-only houses every luxury interior designer keeps in close rotation. Here is how I specify between them — construction, signature strengths, pricing, and the rooms each one belongs in.
Clients researching luxury furnishing usually arrive familiar with retail flagships — Restoration Hardware, Arhaus, Crate & Barrel. The next tier, the brands that actually furnish the homes featured in Architectural Digest and Veranda, are largely invisible to consumers because they sell only through interior designers. Baker Furniture, Holly Hunt, and Hickory Chair are the three I specify most often.
They are not interchangeable. Each occupies a distinct lane in construction quality, aesthetic signature, custom program flexibility, and price point. Choosing well between them — and combining them within a single home — is most of what distinguishes a composed luxury interior from a furnished one. For a broader view of how this fits into a full commission, see our turnkey interior design service and the complete furnishing cost guide.
Baker Furniture
EST. 1890 · HAND-FINISHED TRADITIONAL AND TRANSITIONAL CASE GOODS
Holly Hunt
EST. 1983 · ATELIER-GRADE MODERNIST STATEMENT PIECES AND SCULPTURAL LIGHTING
Hickory Chair
EST. 1911 · AMERICAN-MADE EIGHTH-GENERATION UPHOLSTERY WITH DEEPEST CUSTOM PROGRAM
How I Combine Them in a Luxury Home
In a typical whole-home commission, the mix looks something like this: Hickory Chair handles the daily-use upholstery — the family room sectional, the primary bedroom bed, the breakfast banquette. Baker carries the foundational case goods — the dining table, the library desk, the foyer console, the primary dressing chests. Holly Hunt delivers the one or two pieces that define the room — the dining chandelier, the living room lounge chairs, a bronze occasional table that becomes the photograph everyone remembers.
Around those three, a composed room layers in Visual Comfort or Urban Electric lighting, Stark or Patterson Flynn rugs, and one-of-one art sourced through a private dealer. The result reads as collected over time rather than ordered from a single showroom — which is exactly the point. For more on how this approach shapes a full Charlotte commission, see our luxury interior design Charlotte service page and the Highland Forest case study.
Where Retail Brands Belong
Many clients ask whether they can substitute retail brands for the trade houses to save money. Honest answer: for the rooms that read in photographs and host guests — living room, dining room, primary bedroom, study — the answer is almost always no. The construction gap is visible and the pieces age differently. For secondary spaces, transitional rentals, or guest suites, well-chosen retail can be appropriate. We discuss this trade-off in our Restoration Hardware comparison and our turnkey vs. traditional guide.
The pieces in a Baker, Holly Hunt, or Hickory Chair home are still beautiful, comfortable, and unfailing twenty years in. That is the only standard worth specifying to.
Which luxury furniture brand is the highest quality — Baker, Holly Hunt, or Hickory Chair?
Are Baker, Holly Hunt, and Hickory Chair only available through interior designers?
What does a sofa from Baker, Holly Hunt, or Hickory Chair cost?
How long do these brands take to deliver?
Can I mix brands within the same room?
Specifying These Brands for Your Home
Baker, Holly Hunt, and Hickory Chair are trade-only — accessible to you through our full-service and turnkey commissions. We handle the showroom relationships, COM specification, lead-time orchestration, and white-glove installation.