HILLARY PETRIE / EGG COLLECTIVE
Hillary Petrie is a co-founder of the New York-based design company Egg Collective. Egg Collective was founded in 2011 with partners Stephanie Beamer and Crystal Ellis.
Before Egg Collective was a company, it was an idea. Conceived of as a creative partnership synthesizing its founder’s backgrounds in art, architecture, and woodworking, this notion evolved into an ethos: Materials are sacred and are imbued with infinite potential. The act of creation carries responsibility. Beauty has value, not merely for reasons of aesthetic gratification, but because the essential character of any object is defined by the circumstances of its creation.
Each item in Egg Collective’s Collection is handmade from natural materials that are intended to stand the test of time. That inherent solidity extends to every aspect of the company’s production processes. Community, quality, and stewardship of the natural world are at the company’s core. All of Egg Collective’s work is made of the highest quality raw materials in its own woodshop and in collaboration with local small-scale fabricators.
In addition to its commitment to high-quality craftsmanship, Egg Collective’s work is united by an underlying attention to detail, surface, and form. The company’s sculptural designs combine elemental shapes with materials that patina and age beautifully including: wood, leather, metal, glass, and stone.
Egg Collective also represents a small selection of emerging and mid-career contemporary artists and designers with the intention of creating a dialogue between the applied arts and the fine arts, and have also concieved of hosted and curated a series of exhibitions entitle “Designing Women” focused on women in the arts.
The many awards and accolades the company has received throughout its tenure include: Best New Designer at ICFF, Forbes’ 30 under 30, American Design Honors at Wanted Design, Wallpaper Magazine’s Best Young Americans, Martha Stewart’s American Made Honors, and the Award for Distinction at Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts, Washington University.
Landry Wall-Mount Bookcase, 2021
Walnut
116”L x 58.5”H x 12”D
“It really works — all three of us have strengths that the others don’t, and that’s why I think our partnership has been able to succeed for so long.”
— Hillary Petrie
“We are very collaborative. We learned early on that our design processes were complementary. The health of our relationship is the most important thing to our company and to each of us. Lots of people said, ‘don’t go into business with your friends,’ but we couldn’t imagine doing this job any other way. At this point, we can complete each other’s sentences.”
— Crystal Ellis
Egg Collective co-founders at their Brooklyn Woodshop in 2013 with the company’s first employee Christine Hanyen Wu
“We were the only women in the woodshops where we worked prior to starting our company.”
— Crystal Ellis
“There is no reason a woman can’t be as qualified and wonderful a craftsperson as a man.”
— Stephanie Beamer
“I was a mother before I had my daughter Martie. Egg Collective was my first baby.”
— Hillary Petrie
Hillary Petrie’s daughter Martie at Egg Collective’s Manhattan Showroom