THIS IS A DESIGNER’S SHOPPING DIARY. WITH VERDICTS.
I’m Mr Call. For twenty-five years, I have specified more than $41 million in furniture for private residences, film, television, and large-scale student housing projects. I was the creative director of HGTV’s The High Low Project, and Elle Decor and The New York Times have turned to me for furniture expertise.
Now I’m applying that knowledge to retail furniture.
In SHOP, I grade every piece on Design, Comfort, Craft, Wear, and Value: what is worth considering, what is merely acceptable, and what should be avoided.
In READ, I examine how brands sell, where quality slips, and what buyers should know before they spend.
We are starting with the piece almost everyone needs and few know how to judge before it arrives:
the sofa.
25 years. $41M+ specified. Private residences, television, film, and large-scale housing. Furniture judged by someone who has had to live with the consequences.
Mr Call Approved is the seal of the practice. When you see it on a review, the piece has passed the five-criteria SHOP system — Design, Comfort, Craft, Wear, and Value — at the level the practice will publicly stand behind.
The seal is binary. A piece earns it or it does not. There are no tiers, no qualifications, and no way to buy it.
A reviewed piece without the seal is a piece that did not pass. That is the answer too.
