My introduction to Pottery Barn, like most British people I've talked to, was via a particular episode of Friends — The One With the Apothecary Table — where Rachel has to trick Phoebe into shopping at the store as someone with, let's say, less mainstream design taste. What it did in the process was set up Pottery Barn, globally, as a shop that's associated with Rachel's undoubtedly very chic style. It might just have made it America's best known home decor stores at the same time, too.
However, in the time since that episode aired, we Brits haven't ever been able to shop from the store, apart from popping in when on our vacation (something of which I can admit I've done any time I've visited the States). Its website is even blocked to UK traffic, so we can't even live vicariously with a scroll through the site for inspiration.
That's possibly why the news that Pottery Barn is coming to the UK this autumn is so exciting. As an editor that's covered the US interiors market for several years, I have a bit more experience than most people on British soil of shopping Pottery Barn (with thanks to a VPN), so although we don't have a lot of details about the launch this side of the pond quite yet, here's what I can tell you about what to expect.
When Is Pottery Barn Launching in the UK?
So far, all we know is that Pottery Barn will be launching in autumn in the UK. However, a new Pottery Barn UK holding page is already live, so that's the best place to keep an eye on any updates.
What Will Be Launching?
Pottery Barn is part of the Williams-Sonoma Group, which does have a small presence in the UK through the West Elm store, which you can shop online and at a flagship store on Tottenham Court Road, and another store at Westfield White City. However, so far, it seems the news is that Pottery Barn's UK launch will be a website.
The site will offer a 'curated' selection of Pottery Barn's offering for the UK market, too — so I'm not expecting to see quite so deep and extensive a range as you'll find on the US website. "Our curated assortment for the UK market celebrates Pottery Barn’s commitment to helping customers inspire great style for spaces small and large that are beautiful and functional,” said Pottery Barn President Monica Bhargava. “Whether furnishing a new flat, refreshing a family home, or entertaining with family and friends or thoughtful gifting, we are proud to be providing the UK market with thoughtfully designed pieces that meet the needs of modern living.”
Pottery Barn's style, if you're unfamiliar, is timeless but contemporary — lots of beautiful textures, natural materials, and a tendency towards a softer color palette of neutrals. It's a healthy price point, though we don't know quite yet how that will translate to the UK, but you can get a bit of a sense of how your budget will stretch by checking out our US team's guide to Pottery Barn sofas.
It's not the very first outing of Pottery Barn in the UK — just the first one for grown-ups. Pottery Barn Kids has already been around for some time, offering bedroom and nursery furniture, toys, bed linen, and rugs. In fact, if you can't wait for Pottery Barn to launch, you might just find something on the Kids site: I'm pretty taken with this Catalina chest of drawers, for example.
