Brad Pitt and collaborator Frank Pollaro at work. (Pollaro Custom Furniture)
When he's not raising six kids with his fiancée Angelina Jolie, acting in blockbusters like "Moneyball," filming bizarre perfume commercials, or working to rebuild New Orleans through his Make It Right Foundation, it turns out Brad Pitt has been hard at work ... designing furniture. Does the man ever sleep?! Pitt collaborated with Frank Pollaro — a New Jersey-based design firm known for their Art Deco reproductions — on about a dozen pieces, including tables, chairs, and even a bed (only nine will be made), which he will unveil in NYC on November 13.
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But Pitt's newfound hobby didn't come completely out of the blue. "I've been doodling ideas for buildings and furniture since the early 1990s, when I first discovered [Charles Rennie] Mackintosh and Frank Lloyd Wright," says Pitt, 48, in a new interview with Architectural Digest. "Actually, I found Wright in college [at the University of Missouri], when looking for a lazy two-point credit to get out of French. It forever changed my life." And how. With the help of prominent architects, Pitt's Make It Right Foundation has worked hard to create quality affordable housing for New Orleans residents still reeling from 2005's Hurricane Katrina. He also collects modernist and contemporary furniture, which is how he connected with Pollaro. The veteran furniture maker was at Pitt's home delivering a piece when he caught a glimpse of Pitt's sketchbook of furniture designs. When Pollaro suggested that the two team up to make some of the drawings come to life, that's exactly what happened.
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A Pitt-Pollaro bed (Pollaro Custom Furniture)
If you plan to purchase one of Pitt's pieces, you should know that they won't come cheap. Pollaro reveals that the price tags on his furniture are "typically at the highest end of the custom-furnishings scale, and these will be up there, even north of that." However, he adds that they could eventually be made less pricey if they're ever mass produced in cheaper materials. "The same chair we charge $45,000 for might sell for a fraction of that," Pollaro says. Yikes — $45,000 is a little out of our price range, even if you consider that each piece is autographed by Pitt!
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Despite his new line, Pitt scoffs at the idea of being called a furniture designer himself. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves," he laughs.
Read Pitt's full interview in the latest Architectural Digest, which hits newsstands November 6, and check out the Pitt-Pollaro.com website when it launches on November 11.
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