“There’s a song I’ve carried with me for years, just looking for the place it belonged.”

That’s what Ethan Allen creative director Kemper Johnson says about “Putting It Together,” the song that inspired our new commercial, “Details.” It’s about the age-old struggle between art and business, the tension between carrying out a creative vision and earning enough approval (and cash) to keep doing the work, and the drive to keep creating work that’s fresh and inventive.

Let’s time travel behind the scenes to 1982, when Poltergeist was in theaters, “Eye of the Tiger” was burning up the charts, and Stephen Sondheim got an idea for a new kind of musical.

Sondheim in a Slump, Circa 1982

After a string of Broadway hits in the 1970s—Company, Follies, and Sweeney Todd among them—Stephen Sondheim’s first musical of the 1980s, Merrily We Roll Along, was a flop. The lackluster showing spelled the end of his collaboration with longtime partner Hal Prince. In 1982, he launched a tentative project with off-Broadway playwright James Lapine.

The two found inspiration in the pointillist painter Georges Seurat and his 1884 work A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of Grande Jatte.

To Lapine, the painting looked like a stage set without a main character. He and Sondheim decided that the artist was the missing character, so they went about imagining a Seurat-like persona named George. Lapine started writing and adding song cues, but when he had finished the first act and gathered the actors in for a reading, Sondheim had only just written the opening chords of Sunday in the Park with George.

Art Isn’t Easy

By the time rehearsals started for the off-Broadway workshop, Sondheim was still lagging behind; he had only completed the score for the first act. In fact, the play launched incomplete, with Sondheim and Lapine coming out on stage giving nightly speeches about how the work was still in progress. Although it may sound like a crazy way to write a show, for Sondheim, the process was ideal; he was able to meet the actors and get a sense of who they were before composing songs for them.

By the time the show made its official Broadway debut in May 1984, the second act had only been complete for a few days, and those who saw it had a range of opinions about it. The New York Daily News said it didn’t bear looking at or listening to for very long, but New York Times columnist Frank Rich loved it, calling it “a contemplative modernist musical that, true to form, is as much about itself and its creators as it is about the universe beyond.”

Sunday went on to win a Pulitzer Prize and two Tony awards. “Putting It Together” also got a boost from Barbra Streisand, who decided to record the song for her 1985 Broadway Album. Sondheim himself came to the recording studio and helped Streisand and her collaborators personalize the lyrics and the score. The musical also enjoyed a second Broadway run in starting 2017, with Jake Gyllenhaal reprising Mandy Patinkin’s role as George.

Working out the Vision

For “Details,” Kemper wanted to reimagine the song with a less agitated, more modern feel. He tapped vocalist Anna Dellaria, who infused the piece with a warmer, more laid-back aesthetic while still capturing the excitement of watching a work of art—or a room, in this case—come together.

For Ethan Allen, “Putting It Together” was a welcome reminder of our core values: bit by bit, putting it together—every detail matters in the art of what we do.

And in the spaces you create, the artist is you.

If you haven’t seen the commercial yet, here it is:

For more on the story of how “Details” came to be, check out our interview with Kemper and director Joe Wright.

“Having just a vision’s no solution / Everything depends on execution…”

Ethan Allen creative director Kemper Johnson knows a few things about bringing a vision to life. One of the minds behind the fun, fashion-forward Bull’s-Eye World campaign that reenergized Target, Kemper was also responsible for launching Sean John’s fragrance line at Estee Lauder, rebranding Coach, and revitalizing brands like Cole Haan, Express, and Kohl’s, to name a few.

Since September, he’s been crafting a vision for the future of Ethan Allen…and he didn’t have to look far for inspiration. “Immediately after I started here in September, the company was preparing for a huge conference of our retailers and designers. We had to think, What are we going to focus on? What matters today? What will matter tomorrow? There are the Ethan Allen pillars, you know: the craftsmanship and the quality, the variety of styles, the level of service, the personalization, the environmental sustainability – the details that make Ethan Allen Ethan Allen. The details are what matters. Every detail matters.” And so a tagline was born.

Chief marketing officer Bridget O’Brien walks by as Kemper shares his story and leans into the recorder. “It’s more than a tagline, even. It’s not a message, it’s the DNA of our brand. We’ve always been innovators – we changed the way furniture was sold in stores. We’ve always cared about craftsmanship and quality. We’re going to keep the tradition of making beautiful things and making them well – and we’re evolving, expanding, making room to delight an even larger audience.”

Once every detail matters came into focus, things really got rolling. “I’m a big Stephen Sondheim fan, and there’s a song that I’ve carried with me for years, just looking for the place it belonged,” Kemper confides. The song, “Putting it Together,” from Sunday in the Park with George, couldn’t have been a more perfect fit.

“It all started to come together in my mind: putting it together, bit by bit, piece by piece – the lyrics from the song, which is about the art of making art and seeing your vision come true. From there we got to the idea of The Art of Making Home, which is also all about the details, all about letting your personality shine.”

After getting the go-ahead for a major national TV commercial, Kemper turned to Joe Wright of Sibling Rivalry, who Kemper describes as “one of the A+ directors in the industry. He does, oddly enough, a lot of car commercials. He’s brilliant at bringing life to inanimate objects. So I presented the concept to him – I had boarded it in a way that it was basically about details.” [Boarding = storyboarding, a way to visually present a concept for video production.]

Joe had thoughts on it almost immediately. “I always get excited when someone comes to you with a brief and you … can create something with it that no one would have expected,” he shared.  “For me, it just felt like a very exciting project to get involved in, because I knew I could do something really interesting with it.”

See what else Joe had to say about the vision and the execution of our gorgeous collaboration in this behind-the-scenes chat!

Humans spend roughly one-third of their lives in dreamland. Yet according to the World Sleep Society, sponsors of World Sleep Day, 35 percent of people say they don’t get enough sleep, and poor sleep quality is seriously impacting their physical and mental health.

When you don’t snooze, you lose, especially during the daylight hours. In the U.S. alone, the annual cost of insomnia is estimated to be between $92.5 billion and $107.5 billion. What those figures don’t show you, however, is the personal cost exacted by restless nights. Forty-six percent of people say sleep disturbance causes them to miss work or events or to make errors they wouldn’t otherwise make.

Quality sleep has three elements: duration, continuity, and depth. In other words, good sleep lasts, it’s uninterrupted, and it’s deep enough to be restorative. When we develop Ethan Allen bedding and mattresses, we’re always thinking about how to create the best conditions for a good night’s sleep. World Sleep Day, which is March 16 this year, is a good time to take stock of how well you’re sleeping—and to do something about it if the answer is, “not so well.”

Start with a Great Mattress

A lot of details go into crafting an Ethan Allen mattress. All of our mattresses are made by hand, and we’ve developed multiple mattress options with specific features personalized to different body types and sleep preferences.

The key to a good night’s sleep starts with choosing a mattress that meets your unique sleep requirements. When you sleep with proper postural alignment, you experience fewer pressure points, you get better sleep quality throughout the night, and you can wake up feeling refreshed and alert. A mattress doesn’t necessarily have to be firm to provide a good night’s sleep; let the proper support guide you.

So how do you know when you need a new mattress? According to the National Sleep Foundation, if your current mattress is worn or sagging in the middle or at the edges, if you’re feeling every turn your partner makes, or if you’re waking up feeling achy and stiff, it’s probably time to shop for something new. We recommend starting with our exclusive Sleep by Design^TM survey to choose the right mattress type for your needs.

>>Take our sleep survey

Don’t Forget the Foundation!

We craft our flat foundations from kiln-dried Canadian spruce in both standard and low-profile options, depending on the height you prefer. In the U.S., we also offer TEMPUR-Ergo^TM adjustable motion bases, which you can control with a wireless remote or a smartphone app—think endless head and foot positions and multiple massage settings for crazy-good comfort.

Our sleep survey makes proper support recommendations, but it’s always a good idea to test out mattress and foundation combos before making a purchase.

• Head into a Design Center to test out your Sleep by Design^TM survey recommendations. Find your nearest Design Center.
• Chat with a designer online if you have more in-depth questions, so you can purchase your mattress with confidence. Visit our website and click the Chat Live button at the top of the home page to connect with a designer.

Create a Relaxing Environment

Seventy-five percent of people surveyed by the National Sleep Foundation said that comfortable sheets and bedding are essential for great sleep. Choose pillows that support your neck and head so that they line up in a neutral position. If your pillow has lumps or sags, it’s time to replace it with something better.

A great sleep environment isn’t just about sheets and pillows. It’s also about choosing beautiful bedcoverings and a soothing palette. A bedroom that speaks to your style sensibilities becomes a much easier place to relax and unwind.

• If you like rich colors, paint your walls a lush blue, emerald green, or blue-based purple.
• Some people find neutrals calming. If that sounds like you, go with a light tan or gray on your walls, or choose a pastel hue of a strong color, like a pale sage green or light lavender.
• Others like a bedroom that reminds them of a special place; in this context, even bold colors can feel soothing. Transport yourself to your favorite island getaway with bold turquoise, bright coral, or sunny yellow wall color.

Once your wall color is in place, choose bedcoverings and decorative pillows that set the right mood. If you prefer solid or neutral colors, make them special with a beautiful pattern or texture. In a blue or neutral room, our Lorelle paisley duvet cover offers a soft paisley pattern, while our Gresham coverlet gives you the chance to dress your bed in sumptuous blue velvet.

>>Check out this look

Make Your Bed

A National Sleep Foundation poll found that many people say a neat, clean bedroom is critical to a good night’s sleep. People who make their bed are 19 percent more likely to report fewer sleep problems. We recently published a post on how to make your bed like a design pro. It includes can’t-miss, step-by-step instructions for inserting a coverlet into a duvet cover quickly and easily—not wrestling with a duvet cover sounds mighty relaxing!

If you’re not getting the rest you need, the right mattresses and bedding can mean less time counting sheep and more time getting quality Zzzs.  And if you like expert tips like these, don’t miss out! Subscribe to our blog by adding your email address in the box to the right.

Get a behind-the-scenes peek at the “Details” behind our biggest ad ever.

Get a behind-the-scenes peek at the “Details” behind our biggest ad ever. And if you haven’t seen the commercial yet, click the link below! Does the music sound familiar? It’s Stephen Sondheim’s catchy tune from his musical “Sunday in the Park with George.”  We are working on a story about this award winning American composer and lyricist- so stay tuned! We hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed creating it.

When we last met up with Jonathan Parks, he was packing for a month-long trip to China, Shanghai, Thailand and India. As Ethan Allen’s Senior Director of Hard/Soft Accents & Outdoor Living, Jonathan takes two to three trips a year, to meet with the artisans and vendors who supply the unique products we offer. As always, he was looking forward to his travels because he loves exploring, meeting people – and most of all, seeing how things are made. Here are just a few photos from his trip – enjoy!