How a skate punk built a furniture empire with Edgar Blazona

Edgar Blazona is a modernist American furniture designer and founder of wildly popular DTC sofa brand BenchMade Modern. A high school dropout, turned graffiti artist, turned serial entrepreneur, Edgar got his start in the furniture industry because of need: he was young and broke, and his first apartment didn’t have any furniture. And, necessity became invention. Along with starting several (!) of his own companies, including Modular Dwellings – a prefab backyard shelter company, Edgar also sharpened his skills in the corporate world at Pottery Barn and Restoration Hardware. As he saw customers accustomed to waiting three months (and more!) for sofas and sectionals that realistically take only a few weeks to make, he realized there must be a better way and founded BenchMade Modern in 2015 to disrupt this norm. BenchMade Modern offers sofas and sectionals in 5” increments and custom configurations, depths, fabrics and more. Custom furniture arrives at your doorstep within weeks, not months.