Leonard Bessemer is tired of beige furniture. Instead, the Los Angeles–based founder of Objects for Objects is committed to crafting pieces with character and emotional resonance. “My mission is to rid the world of lame furniture that people buy out of necessity, not love,” he tells Business of Home. “I want to instill personality and meaning in the objects we surround ourselves with through material, color and form.”
Art has been a form of escapism for Bessemer since his childhood in a small rural community in California’s San Joaquin Valley, where he took sculpture classes throughout high school. After earning a degree in fine arts at California Polytechnic State University, he moved abroad to Berlin on a whim and landed gigs working for experimental artists including David Thorpe and Max Frisinger. “This is when I really honed my craft,” he says. “We were building large sculptures with no real blueprint, so we had to figure it out as we went.”
After moving to Los Angeles in 2017, Bessemer began hand-making and selling his boldly hued, Memphis Milano–esque pieces, using the proceeds to build a studio and woodworking shop. The following year, Urban Outfitters approached him about participating in its Artist Editions program, which allows up-and-coming makers to sell a limited number of their pieces through the brand’s site; the resulting collection, including a lavender iteration of his wildly popular Wavy bench, sold out almost immediately. “I focused on bright colors and pastels because most of the furniture out there at the time was gray, black and white,” he says of his strategy for the launch.
Bessemer draws inspiration from pop culture when dreaming up his whimsical designs, which reference everything from food and fashion to cartoons and toys. His Rubble kids collection, for instance, pays tribute to Barney Rubble of The Flintstones and features a child-size mirror, table, and chairs with glossy gingerbread-hued finishes and spiky, tooth-like outlines modeled after the animated character’s jagged-edged brown frock. “Since I have a full shop and the ability to build my own things, I don’t have to spend a lot of time or money trying to convey [my idea] to someone else to convince them to make it,” he says.
He debuted his latest series, Trophy, at Alcova Miami in 2023, with an assortment of water-jetted, honed marble pieces showcasing pillar-like legs made from vintage trophies. “My goal was to give new life and meaning to these often neglected and kitschy items that are supposed to hold special meaning to us,” he explains. “I made a table, shelf and lamp using trophy columns and Carrara marble, and also did a version of my Barney chair upholstered in mirrored gold vinyl [to mimic] a trophy topper.”
Looking ahead, Bessemer plans to launch a budget-friendly sister brand to Objects for Objects sometime this spring. “I’m working with a lot of different craftspeople to produce pieces in a wide array of materials that are more consumer-friendly,” he says. “I want to continue to make furniture with character and meaning, but that is also affordable.”
For more information on Leonard Bessemer, check out Objects for Object’s website or Instagram.
