The Contemporary Vintage Furniture That HGTV's Jeremiah Brent Is Obsessed With

HGTV's Jeremiah Brent loves antiques. His style is not defined by a single aesthetic, but more so the mixing of different eras and identities in a way that feels eclectic yet harmonious. Among his favorite vintage designers to mix into his projects is Italian eccentric Carlo Bugatti. His husband Nate Berkus even gifted him one of Bugatti's chairs for his birthday.

In a TikTok clip, Brent expressed his admiration for the late 19th century, early 20th century furniture designer, saying, "The intricacies of his work, what he did, the materiality of everything — It's so beautiful to me." Bugatti famously combined a wide range of materials in his creations, from different woods and metals, to glass, mother-of-pearl, bone, and a particular fascination with vellum (a paper-like material made from calfskin). 

His furniture took detail-oriented design to the extreme, with meticulous and oft-hypnotic wood carving and wood inlay, rope and tassel ornaments, intentional asymmetry, exuberant shapes, and a confusing yet fascinating confluence of influences. It's perhaps because of that amalgamation that the HGTV star gushed, "It's so contemporary, yet has a traditional edge, with also this bespoke artisan flair to it." It can be the perfect vintage decor to incorporate into your maximalist home, or the source of character in a clean-lined modern minimalist space.

If the name Bugatti sounds familiar, it's no coincidence. Carlo was the father of automobile designer Ettore Bugatti and the similarly celebrated sculptor Rembrandt Bugatti. Carlo himself was the son of a prolific artisan, Giovanni Luigi Bugatti. He was born in Milan, Italy in 1856 and majored in architecture at the Brera Academy of Arts, gaining recognition as a furniture designer in the 1890s. By 1904, he was also making silver sets and jewelry.

With vintage decor having its biggest moment in decades, designers and enthusiasts like Jeremiah Brent are rediscovering Bugatti's work. His spectacular pieces are the complete antithesis of the type of clean-lined, minimalist furniture that has dominated modern decor since the 1990s and which has, in time, become regarded as impersonal and austere. Now, the biggest furniture trend requires you to get in touch with yourself, to find pieces that are one of a kind and that speak to your unique taste.

Bugatti's work ticks all of those boxes. In fact, since it combines Gothic, Moorish, and Japanese traditions with a fantastical and even futuristic view of design, there's arguably something for everyone in his furniture. Unfortunately, it's not exactly accessible. Most pieces are either a part of museum or private collections, and when they do go on sale, they go for tens of thousands of dollars. The least expensive example you can buy on 1st Dibs is a parchment and copper mirror that costs a breezy $18,500. Nevertheless, he can be a tremendous source of inspiration and a reminder to not let limits of style and epoch limit your approach to design.