What started out as his father’s garage hobby to generate college funds for his growing sons has made a full circle. It is with fond memories that Kyle remembers selling framed, Texas-shaped wall hangings constructed in hide patchwork with his father Jim Bunting at rodeos in the 1970’s. Now retired and 80, Jim is the proud De Facto chairman of Kyle Bunting Co., and Kyle has taken his dad’s leatherworking skills, entrepreneurial spirit and work ethic to a level of bespoke luxury that decorates stylish residential and commercial interiors worldwide.
With more than a half million square feet sold, decorative Bunting handmade, Italian hide rugs have graced the floors of celebrities and clients with exceptional taste for 18 years, quickly becoming a favorite of notable decorators and designers. Feedback lead to new applications. “I heard from many designers that the rugs were the trophy in the room. They were used as an art material. Being so dramatic in such an expressive way lead to the vertical story,” he says of using hide on walls. “Seeing it at eye level revolutionized my thinking. We were confident in our work and design and while talking with designer David Rockwall we thought to create a hide paper, to accent walls. Our Hide Paper transforms ordinary walls into extraordinary art pieces.” Sold in rolls or panels and priced by the square foot, all the patterns in the collection effortlessly convert for vertical use. Custom designs made into hide art are backed in canvas and ready for framing.
Giving walls and floors depth and dimension, hide is an exceptional medium, says Bunting. “There’s a warmth and juxtaposition particularly suited to modern interiors. It brings something soft, organic and ethereal that’s a perfect contrast to lofty environments. This type of leather is very tactile and catches light in a certain way, a sheen and dynamic you can’t replicate in a synthetic wool or silk.” The hair-on-hide is available in 100 signature colors and 100 designed patterns or can be customized.
Other creative wall accents include Hide Murals and Hide Art. The handcrafted collections span from the emotion-evoking Marc Thee collaboration with Marc Michaels Interior Design, the rustic and linear Airstream, sensuous Coronation blooms and even fun, pop-art-styled Cowboy Hats. Bunting draws his design inspiration often from collaboration as he says, “the eyes of thousands.”
Multiple new partnerships are in effect including an artist collective with Brooklyn-based, abstract painter and printmaker, Matt Neuman, and a European-inspired and creatively colored series with AD 100 Designer Timothy Corrigan. In conjunction with New York City designer Sara Story, a chic Town and Country collection is in development for the fall of 2020. A new collection created with photographer Douglas Friedman is scheduled to launch early next year, promising to take the collection in a dynamic new direction.
Kyle Bunting
866-488-8574 | www.kylebunting.com