A master of proportion and reductive detailing, Richard Frinier has an acute ability to see what is missing and what can be. This visual acuity combined with intuition continuously inspires him to consider how people connect and enjoy their interior and exterior living spaces, and to explore new materials and construction methods while using existing materials in effective, efficient and compelling ways. Having traveled to over 40 countries across five continents, he has enjoyed working with manufacturers, artisans and craftspeople one-on-one across the globe. Originally a sculptor and freelance lighting and interior furniture designer, his first commercial interior furniture designs sold 9,000 sets during a five-year production run. With a Master of Arts degree, he also taught advanced furniture making at the college level for many years before accepting a position with the Brown Jordan furniture company as an entry level designer. Working with Mid-century modern designer Hall Bradley he grew ambitious and determined to become a part of the storied design legacy of this iconic brand where he would stay for over 20 years becoming chief creative officer and designer overseeing all furniture, textile and material research, design and development, brand architecture and evolution, and all marketing and public relations for the company’s 12 brands driven through a creative entity he established, led and directed for Brown Jordan called DesignResource.

In 2002, he returned to private design practice co-founding his own creative consultancy along with his wife and partner of many years, Catherine, where they license exclusive and cobranded collections and provide creative consulting services to leading brands around the world. Today, he is widely respected by the trade for his vast body of work, which is specified and acquired by architects, interior designers and consumers for interior and exterior spaces equally. Designs are sold in over 80 countries with many celebrating over 10, 20 and 30 years of continuous production. Yet, his greatest compliment is when a person he has never met before is drawn to and makes an emotional connection with his designs.

Richard Frinier has received over 100 product design excellence and career achievement awards and designations, including: a Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Casual Furnishings Association, a division of the American Home Furnishings Alliance; induction into the American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame; Stars of Design award as designated by design industry luminaries, colleagues, peers and the press at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles; listed among the Top 40 Most Influential Individuals in the Home Furnishings Industry Over the Past 40 Years by FurnitureToday trade journal; the Industry Partner Award from the International Casual Furnishings Association for his studio’s contributions to the industry and to community; multiple GoodDesign^® awards from the Chicago Athenaeum Museum of Architecture and Design for furniture and textile designs now archived into their permanent collection; the Reddot Award of Excellence and inclusion in the permanent collection of the Reddot Museum touted as the world’s largest contemporary museum; multiple IDSA IDEA awards from the Industrial Designers Society of America; Interior Design magazine’s coveted Best of Year and Best of Decade design awards; and, many others shared in collaboration with partnering brands. His work has appeared broadly in highly regarded and recognized art and design trade exhibitions from Salone del Mobile in Milan, Maison et Object in Paris, and Clerkenwell Design Week in England to Art Basel Miami, HD Expo, Neocon, High Point, WestWeek, and the International Casual Furnishings Market in the United States. Prop masters and stylists have set their stages with his designs in film and television productions and also in print fashion stories and promotions. Richard Frinier as a designer, along with his most lauded and award-winning designs, has also been editorialized internationally in collectively hundreds of design books and trade, design and lifestyle print publications, and across social media and the blogosphere capturing the prolific nature of his creative contributions to the design, furniture and textile industries. His designs have been specified for luxury estates, private residences, hotels, resorts, spas and public spaces around the world.

Richard and Catherine Frinier have launched, sponsored and supported various student design scholarship programs through leading design trade organizations across the nation and their studio has sponsored hundreds of design student memberships across these organizations. Additional charities include: DirectRelief, American Red Cross, National Disaster Search Dog Foundation, Susan Love Research Foundation and the City of Hope.