Designers
For more than seven decades, Brown Jordan has partnered with the most innovative, forward-thinking designers from around the world. Each creator personifies an enriched taste for beauty and an unwavering commitment to iconic outdoor design.
John Caldwell
Richard Frinier
Kevin Diedrick
Michael S. Smith
Ann Marie Vering
Kevin Diedrick
As the Director of Design for Brown Jordan, Kevin Diedrick leads in-house Design and Development as well as collaborate with award winning Design partners from around the globe.
Upon joining Brown Jordan in 2017, Kevin brings over 10 years of experience designing and developing products for the Outdoor Furniture market. With a background in Industrial Design, Kevin takes a pragmatic holistic approach to product design, balancing form and function along with material science and manufacturing. Inspired by global travel and traditional craft as well as modern manufacturing and innovation, Kevin’s work interprets familiar forms in a contemporary context.
“Good design is equal parts aesthetics and function, but not one without the other.”
John Caldwell
My first break as a freelance furniture designer was in Los Angeles in the late 1950s for Brown Jordan. Brown Jordan’s first furniture products were Army cots built during World War II. It was after that that they became known as a high quality outdoor furniture company.
Primarily known for contemporary designs by Walter Lamb (who salvaged bronze tubing from sunken battleships off Hawaii for his pieces), Van-Keppel Green, Hall Bradley and myself. Van- Keppel Green’s furniture was used notably in John Entenza's “Arts and Architecture” case study homes. John Entenza also selected one of our early custom desk designs, which he showed in an issue of “Arts and Architecture” magazine. One of my first designs, Mai Tai, for Brown Jordan was produced in 1957; I was 18 and still a student.
Our office has designed outdoor furniture, office furniture and accessories, umbrellas, lighting, and ceiling fans for the United States and world markets. I also have taught and lectured on design for 20 years at various California colleges, including Long Beach State, Pasadena City College and the Art Center College of Design.
We have always been interested in using the latest light-weight, durable, and easy to clean materials for our outdoor lines. Aluminum has probably been my favorite material to work in. The Mai Tai design was one of the first furniture lines to incorporate extruded aluminum and vinyl lacing. We have also worked in teak, all-weather wicker, as well as dye cast aluminum and molded plastics.
Located in South Pasadena, California, we maintain a staff of 6 people.
“By definition, design is never finished. You can always improve a design.”
Richard Frinier
Internationally acclaimed and prolific California-based designer Richard Frinier inspires people to create spaces that bring the quality of indoor living outside and the casual spirit of the outdoors inside. Always looking for what is missing and what can be, his modern to neoclassical designs may be seen in royal palaces, resorts, and private residences around the world. A master of arts and crafts, Richard began his career as a sculptor, artist, and interior furniture and lighting designer. In 1981, he joined Brown Jordan under the tutelage of Mid-Century Modern designer emeritus Hall Bradley where he stayed for over 20 years becoming the brand’s chief creative officer and lead designer realizing many significant and critically-acclaimed material and design innovations upholding the Company’s design legacy and evolving the outdoor furniture industry at large. In 2002, he returned to his own creative practice and continues to design for Brown Jordan today. Richard’s sought after designs are remarkably celebrating 10, 20 and 30 years of continuous production. Editorialized and published extensively, his iconic creations appear in design houses, the stage sets of television and films, and design and trade exhibitions globally. A recipient of over 90 prestigious awards, including induction into the American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame, an ICFA Lifetime Achievement Award, Stars of Design - Pacific Design Center, reddot Design Museum and Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design GoodDesign™ awards and permanent collections, IDSA/IDEA, IIDA/HD, ASID, ISFD-Pinnacle, ICFA-Design Excellence, and Interior Design magazine’s coveted Best-of-Year and Best-of-Decade awards, Richard is among the Top 40 Influencers in the home furnishings industry over the past 40 years as designated by trade editors and professionals.
“My design mantra has always been to be authentic, relevant and memorable to create an emotional connection with others.”
Ann Marie Vering
With a hybrid portfolio of hotel, furniture and restaurant design, Ann Marie Vering uses a holistic approach to handcraft products and projects from concept to completion. Her education in Architectural Engineering coupled with an artistic background enables a unique understanding of each project. Instinct and perception are key traits upon which she relies. She believes that the best ideas are those created by unexpected experiences. Ann remains immersed in both fields of art and engineering, drawing influences from extensive travels and keeping oath to originality and meaning. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, Architectural Digest and C Magazine. Each year, she takes on a select number of design projects and development efforts for top clients.
“Exploring and experimenting are essential for my design process.”
Michael S. Smith
Michael S. Smith is one of the most sought-after, celebrated, and influential American designers of our time. With an international profile of residential, hospitality and commercial clients, Smith’s style is a seamless blend of European classicism and American modernism—always fresh, always evolving, always underscored by the belief that everyone should live with things they love.
He possesses a curator’s knowledge of and appreciation for the past, nurtured by studies at the Victoria and Albert Museum and extensive work in the antiques business. Whether in designing furniture or in the interiors he creates for his clients, a deep respect for tradition—viewed through a modern eye—is ever-present.
Lauded by the press for over two decades, he’s been named more than ten times to Architectural Digest’s coveted “The AD100,” as well as “Designer of the Year” by Elle Decor, which has also featured him nine times on that publication’s “A-List.” A recipient of numerous honors and awards, most recently he was recognized with the prestigious “Arthur Ross Award for Interior Design” from the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art in 2018. He designed the interiors of two U.S. Embassies: one located in Madrid, Spain, and the other in Paris, France. During the two terms of the Obama Administration, from 2008 through 2016, he was the decorator of record for the White House, where he redecorated the First Family’s private residence, the Oval Office, and numerous other rooms. In 2010, President Obama appointed MSS to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House.
Smith also sits on the boards of Madrid’s Prado Museum and Museo Reina Sofia, and he served as Special Visual Consultant to the 90th Academy Awards.
"I adore beautiful things, but I’m more interested in the idea of them and how they interact than I am in the objects themselves."
