
Photos courtesy of Maiden Home
Direct-to-consumer luxury furniture brand Maiden Home has introduced a contract program. Known for the highest quality residential pieces, the company’s new initiative offers the same craftsmanship and bespoke customizations to commercial specifiers. Nidhi Kapur, founder and CEO at Maiden Home, launched the company in 2015, when she couldn’t find the unique pieces she wanted to furnish her residence.
“I was underserved by the market, and disillusioned by the brands out there” she said. “When you are spending that kind of money, you want something that everyone else doesn’t have. That’s the problem I set out to solve.” Furniture is designed in Maiden Home’s New York studio, and then made to order by artisans in North Carolina, who specialize in techniques like woodworking and tailoring, which sets the offerings apart from those sold by big-box retailers.
“At the beginning, Maiden Home was really known for custom upholstery, and we launched with a small collection of sofas and chairs. We have grown exponentially since then, and have continued to look for new opportunities,” Kapur noted. Contract clients can now access the core line of intentionally designed furniture, with options to customize fabric, finish, and size.

Kapur explained that because so many of their e-commerce customers are working on a range of projects, having a defined contract program was a logical next step. “Interior designers make up half of our customer base, and there is so much crossover between residential and commercial. They were familiar with our brand, and we had already built that trust with them. This contract work is part of our DNA.”
The same point-and-click sourcing via the website for an average consumer is available to designers, without the traditional headaches. “With custom work, prices can be high or there’s trouble tracking an order. But we’ve built in this great service, and so it is a seamless shopping experience. This is another avenue that’s changing how it’s done, and is much easier,” Kapur said.

Partners dispatch the domestically produced furnishings directly to the customers, which significantly reduces wait times, even for a custom contract product. For clients in the A&D community, speed is just as appealing as a well-made table or chair, particularly post-pandemic. “People are so fatigued by the delays,” Kapur said. “We really challenge ourselves to stay ahead of the curve and offer best-in-class lead times. Our custom upholstery ships in as little as two weeks.”
When the Maiden Home team moved into their Manhattan space, it influenced their own thinking about the workplace. Kapur noted that the experience highlighted the benefits of having one-of-a-kind furniture. “We designed our first office in New York City, and so we had a lot of internal conversations about a modern office in the post-COVID world,” she said. “We have a lot to say about why our products are a really good fit.”

While there is a continued emphasis on materials that can withstand multiple cleanings, Kapur noted that clients are looking for both performance and comfort in corporate environments, to counter the overly sterile settings of recent years. “Comfort has historically been lacking in the commercial world. We need to have a balance, with a product that is suited for a high-traffic location but still offers the warmth that you would expect from residential styles. We have that comfort profile to make people feel at home even when they are at the office.”
Lounge chairs, sofas, and ottomans add a relaxed, resimercial touch to the office, while still allowing employees to complete tasks without having to remain at a dedicated desk. Made-to-order cushions can add variety without stretching the budget. “We can do custom seating configurations, whether it is two or three seats, or however the client would like it to be laid out. For the pieces in our collection, we’re actually designing a custom cushion for every frame,” Kapur explained. “But if someone wants something different, or very specific for a contract setting, we can develop something new.”

While Maiden Home’s custom solutions are meant to help designers transform spaces, Kapur said furnishings are a representation of a company’s vision. “Projects are up on social media immediately, it’s all on a very large scale. I think there is a real opportunity for furniture to be part of telling the brand story, rather than just a group of props that sit on the side as an afterthought. It is what we have been doing for years, and it naturally resonates.”