Creative Mind: Jo Annah Kornak
Holly Hunt's creative leader steers both the collections and collaborations, as well as the spaces that display the pieces in immersive, art-filled settings
At Holly Hunt, Jo Annah Kornak is that rare breed who not only understands the power of cross-pollinating industries—fashion and interiors, for example—but also knows how to do it. “We get many of our textiles from the same mills as the fashion houses, which means we are able to get that perfect green or blue that you might see on the runway, but apply it to furnishings,” she says.
As the brand’s senior vice president and executive creative director of furniture, lighting, and textiles, she oversees all the products under the Holly Hunt label and masterminds more than 450,000 square feet spread across 15 showrooms. For the Los Angeles location, she installed her version of a villa and a café inside a 1940s landmark in the Sycamore district of Hollywood. “I couldn’t touch the outside, so I had to draw people in another way and make it a destination,” she says.
Fostering talent: “It is very important to connect and collaborate with new talent in order to change the view, because you’re really only ever living inside your head,” says Kornak. Her latest find is glassblower Jeremy Maxwell Wintrebert, whose vase she picked up in a shop in Paris. “I visited his studio, and now we’re looking at designing furniture together.”
Artistic collaborations: When she first met Christian Astuguevieille, he was doing just rope furniture. Now Kornak is working with the French artist on a wall covering line as well as rugs featuring his art. “It is so essential to see different points of view, ideas, and perspectives generationally and stylistically. That’s what keeps things fresh and surprising.
A version of this article first appeared in print in our 2024 Spring Issue under the headline “Creative Minds.” Subscribe to the magazine.