Profile

Jonathan Browning designs and manufactures the highest quality bronze work for clients, designers, and architects. “Our business is a combination of the proprietary line (bronze indoor and outdoor lighting, furniture and hardware) and custom work specific to clients’ projects. Parallel to the bronze work is JB Studios interior design projects. “Like the products I design, my interiors are always about the tension between classical detail and proportion, and the rigor of industrial design. Too much of one, and you have nothing. Combined and balanced, the result is refreshingly modern and elegant. A tailored and timeless beauty is the end result. I am a devoted student of design history, but I have no interest in reproductions, whether product or interiors.”

Hospitality is a large presence in Jonathan’s portfolio. Serving as Executive Vice President of Design for Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Jonathan is responsible for numerous St. Regis, Luxury Collection, W, Westin, and Sheraton projects seen around the globe. He has also designed flagship retail fashion stores on Michigan Avenue, Rodeo Drive, and Broadway. His retail work in Europe is also extensive.

Educated at the University of California at Berkeley and later earning his Master of Architecture degree at SCI-Arc (Southern California Institute of Architecture) Jonathan was the recipient of the prestigious A.I.A. Scholarship for work he designed as a student.

Current projects include interiors for an historic residential compound on Vallejo Street in San Francisco built by famed Bay Area architect Henry Gutterson in 1917, a pied-a-terre in a 40’s highrise tower on Russian Hill, and a floorthrough on Lombard Street. Also launched this year is a new collection of lighting from the archives of Kalmar of Austria, for whom Jonathan serves as Design Director.

Recently Jonathan Browning Studios purchased a former newspaper publishing factory built in 1924 in the SoMa district of San Francisco in order to consolidate the product and interiors businesses. It contains factory and warehouse space, a showroom, a bar, conference space, as well as offices and studio space.

Jonathan’s work has been published in all major design magazines, including Metropolitan Home, Western Interiors, Interior Design, Interiors, California Home and Design, Veranda, and most recently with an article profiling him in Architectural Digest in their March re-launch issue.