Pottery Barn is an American upscale

home furnishing Furniture refers to movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating (e.g., stools, chairs, and sofas), eating (tables), storing items, eating and/or working with an item, and sleeping (e.g., beds and hammocks). Fu ...

store chain and

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...

company, with retail stores in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Australia. Pottery Barn is a wholly owned subsidiary of

Williams-Sonoma, Inc. Williams-Sonoma, Inc. is an American publicly traded consumer retail company that sells kitchenware and home furnishings. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, United States. The company has 625 brick and mortar stores and distribute ...

The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California. Pottery Barn also operates several specialty stores such as Pottery Barn Kids and Pottery Barn Teen. It has three retail catalogues: the traditional Pottery Barn catalogue; Pottery Barn Bed + Bath to focus on its bed and bath lines; and one for outdoor furniture.

Early history

The Pottery Barn was co-founded in 1949 by

Paul Secon Paul Secon (July 13, 1916 – February 24, 2007) was an American entrepreneur and songwriter, who co-founded Pottery Barn with his brother, Morris, in 1950. Biography Secon was born to a Jewish familyWest Chelsea, Manhattan. Paul discovered three barns full of pottery from the factory of Glidden Parker in Alfred, New York, who had stored extras and seconds up the road from the business. The Secon brothers built their chain up to seven stores. Paul sold his share in 1966 and Morris sold his to a pair of outside partners in 1968. The new owner expanded the chain to 13 stores before selling it to

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in 1984. The company was acquired by Williams-Sonoma, Inc. in 1986. Growth continued until the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...

. Its

mail-order catalog Mail order is the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote methods such as: * Sending an order form in the mail * Placing a telephone call * Placing a ...

was first published in 1987. In 1999, the company introduced Pottery Barn Kids as a premium children's home furnishing and accessories brand. By 2000, the company had launched an e-commerce site for quick ordering process. Pottery Barn Teen, the first home retailer to focus on teenagers, was launched in 2003. The first Pottery Barn Teen store opened in

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

in 2009, as well as in New York City and Chicago. The store has a sub-brand Pottery Barn Dorm for young people starting college life.

Later history

In 2017, the company introduced an

augmented reality Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be de ...

app for iOS that allowed users to virtually place Pottery Barn products into a room and save room design ideas. It also announced PB Apartment, a small-space furnishings line, for millennials. In 2018, Pottery Barn Kids partnered with

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

which marked the first appearance of the brand in the United Kingdom. Its shop-in-shops featured furniture and accessories for nurseries. Ireland became the first European country to hold the franchise for Pottery Barn Kids in 2019. Pottery Barn Teens partnered with

Aquafil Econyl regenerated nylon is a product introduced in 2011 by Aquafil. It is made entirely from ocean and landfill waste, such as industrial plastic, fabric scraps from clothing manufacturing companies, old carpets and "Ghost net, ghost nets" (lost o ...

on the Spring 2020 collection "Watercolor Dots" rug, which uses regenerated nylon made from waste gathered in the ocean and other bodies of water.

In popular culture

Pottery Barn is referenced a number of times in ''

Friends ''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting ten seasons. With an ensemble cast starring Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa ...

''. For instance, when

Rachel Rachel () was a Biblical figure, the favorite of Jacob's two wives, and the mother of Joseph and Benjamin, two of the twelve progenitors of the tribes of Israel. Rachel's father was Laban. Her older sister was Leah, Jacob's first wife. Her aun ...

buys furniture for Phoebe's apartment (which she is staying in at the time), and claims it's all authentically old furniture, rather than being from Pottery Barn. Another example is in ''

Seinfeld ''Seinfeld'' ( ) is an American television sitcom created by Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld. It aired on NBC from July 5, 1989, to May 14, 1998, over nine seasons and List of Seinfeld episodes, 180 episodes. It stars Seinfeld as Jerry Seinfeld ( ...

'', Kramer talks with Jerry about how he is receiving too many catalogs from Pottery Barn. He saves the collected catalogs, takes them, and throws them into the store.

Sheldon Cooper Sheldon Lee Cooper, Ph.D., Sc.D., is a fictional character in the CBS television series ''The Big Bang Theory'' and its spinoff series ''Young Sheldon'', portrayed by actors Jim Parsons and Iain Armitage respectively (with Parsons as the latter ...

references it often in ''

The Big Bang Theory ''The Big Bang Theory'' is an American television sitcom created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, both of whom served as executive producers on the series, along with Steven Molaro, all of whom also served as head writers. It premiered on CBS ...

''. A Pottery Barn retail store is seen situated next to Felix Unger's Manhattan F.U. Enterprises office/studio in ''

The Odd Couple Odd Couple may refer to: Neil Simon play and its adaptations * ''The Odd Couple'' (play), a 1965 stage play by Neil Simon ** ''The Odd Couple'' (film), a 1968 film based on the play *** ''The Odd Couple'' (1970 TV series), a 1970–1975 televisi ...

's'' first season in 1970. Pottery Barn is referenced in the Broadway musical ''

Dear Evan Hansen ''Dear Evan Hansen'' is a musical with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, and a book by Steven Levenson. The musical follows Evan Hansen, a high school senior with social anxiety, "who invents an important role for himself in a tr ...

'', as a location where the title character works. He informs another character that he can get her and her family a discount in "overpriced home décor." In the

season 3 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In tempera ...

episode of the American family sitcom

Boy Meets World ''Boy Meets World'' is an American coming-of-age sitcom created by Michael Jacobs and April Kelly that aired on ABC for seven seasons between September1993 and May2000. The series centers on Cory Matthews (Ben Savage) and his friends and famil ...

titled "What I Meant to Say", Corey Matthews confesses to his girlfriend,

Topanga Lawrence ''Boy Meets World'' is an American television sitcom that chronicles the coming of age events and everyday life-lessons of Cory Matthews (Ben Savage). The show aired from 1993 to 2000 on ABC, part of the network's TGIF lineup for seven seaso ...

, that he loves her. Eric Matthews, Corey's older brother, then under social pressure, tells his girlfriend, Christie, that he loves her as well. This leads Christie to take Eric on a trip to Pottery Barn, which Eric laments. While at Pottery Barn, Eric and Christie buy a ceramic cat and napkin holders. The brand's "Found" collection sells vintage items from around the world. The company has partnered on collections with a number of pop cultural brands such as ''

Harry Potter ''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...

'', ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop-culture Cultural impact of S ...

'', '' Frozen'', ''

Thomas & Friends ''Thomas & Friends'' (originally known as ''Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends'' and later ''Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!'') is a British children's television series that aired across 24 series from 1984 to 2021. Based on ''The ...

'', ''

Fantastic Beasts ''Fantastic Beasts'' is a film series directed by David Yates, and a spin-off prequel to the ''Harry Potter'' novel and film series. The series is distributed by Warner Bros. and consists of three fantasy films as of 2022, beginning with ...

'', and ''Friends''.

References

{{Gap Inc. Retail companies established in 1949 Home decor retailers Furniture retailers of the United States Retail companies based in California Companies based in San Francisco Williams-Sonoma American companies established in 1949 1949 establishments in New York City 1986 mergers and acquisitions