Wearing his signature porkpie hat and sporting stylish oversized glasses, Paul Jeffrey traces the arc of his career as a furniture designer in the airy conference room of a downtown Phoenix high-rise where he has his studio. “I believe I have a higher purpose than design,” he says, choosing his words carefully. “My journey, I have realized, has nothing to do with furniture.”
But more about the purpose later. In the meantime, Jeffrey highlights his newest work and talks about the path that has led him to become one of the most
sought-after custom furniture designers in the Valley. The new works include custom cabinets for a client’s pottery collection in a house done by interior designer Jim Felter, pieces for a home office and shelving and a desk for a corporate office. Though most of his work in the past has been custom pieces, Jeffrey recently launched The Kallos Collection, his furniture line that includes shelving, desks, buffets, benches and even a sofa—now available through TOWNhouse at the Scottsdale Design Center.
“I think this recent work has helped me evolve from a designer to an artist,” Jeffrey reflects. “A designer is concerned with function and practicality. An artist puts meaning into the work. The Kallos pieces have motion, inspiration and a story behind them.”
Jeffrey’s story began in suburban Detroit where he grew up and studied industrial design. He landed a job as a designer in the concept car division of Ford, an elite position. “I was one of only maybe five Black car designers in the world,” he remembers. “I had a good salary and all the perks.”
Feeling something was missing, he decided he wanted to teach inner-city children about design and manufacturing. Jeffrey and his then-wife headed to Los Angeles, which turned out to be disastrous. “I lost all of our savings,” he admits, “and, in 2003, we moved to Phoenix, where my father-in-law bailed us out.” A stint as an assistant manager at Walgreens followed as Jeffrey inched his way out of a low point, then he began working for California Closets as a designer and joined ASID.
Custom work followed, and Jeffrey met a craftsman named Rene, giving birth to Paul Rene custom furniture. “We had a little shop on the west side of Phoenix,” Jeffrey recalls. “Rene didn’t speak English much, and I didn’t speak Spanish, so it was a lot of Google Translate.”
But somehow, it worked, and Jeffrey began getting work directly with
homeowners and other clients. His designs soon caught the eyes of media types,
winning him awards and press. It even landed him on Ellen DeGeneres’ “Next Great
Designer” HBO series and garnered an article in the New York Times. “I got
booted off the DeGeneres show, but it was a win for me,” he says. “It put my name out around the world.” Jeffrey was also invited to speak at The Royal Academy of Arts in the Hague, Netherlands. “I had to explain to the students there how my designs revealed my inner self,” he recalls. “It was a nerve-wracking experience, but I did it.”
During COVID, Jeffrey moved his studio from the front of the Phoenix production facility to the present high-rise, sending drawings to his ten-member production team electronically. In 2022, he traveled to Guadalajara, Mexico to find an efficient production team there as well, specifically to make his Kallos line of furniture. That led Jeffrey into the maker business, meaning he gets designers’ own pieces efficiently manufactured in Mexico.
But back to that higher purpose. Jeffrey always had a desire to mentor young people but hadn’t had much time to do so. “On a hot August day in 2020, I was filling up my car with gas on the west side of Phoenix when a young man approached me,” Jeffrey recalls. “He told me he had just gotten out of prison and asked me for $25. I was in a mood, so I ignored him at first.” Soon, he felt sympathy for the young man. Jeffrey reached into his car and pulled out a Paul Rene brochure and explained his own journey to success, hoping to be an inspiration. “The man said, ‘I know you! I saw your picture in a magazine,’” Jeffrey remembers. “He said I wasn’t wearing shoes, and, indeed, I did an ad where I wasn’t wearing shoes.” It turns out the young man taped that picture on his cell wall, wanting to be like Jeffrey when he got out. “What are the chances of that happening and us meeting?” asks Jeffrey.
The encounter inspired Jeffrey to say yes to speaking to school and community groups, sharing his story and his climb out of loss. “My ultimate goal is to teach young people about life,” he says. “We are like furniture, really. A raw board has to be cut, hammered, nailed and sanded. That is the process of taking a piece of wood and turning it into a beautiful piece of furniture, a piece of art.”