These days, fame has a tendency to metastasize, producing strange outgrowths that are often called “collaborations.” Is it a surprise, then, that Justin Timberlake — who has already ventured into fashion and Memphis-style barbecue — would follow in Lenny Kravitz’s footsteps and design a home collection? Probably not. But it is refreshing that the entertainer’s enthusiasm for home décor appears to be rather genuine. “I do love a stripe,” he confessed to The Moment on Wednesday, while showing off the first parts of his HomeMint collection: a series of rather anodyne throw pillows.

Timberlake was sitting on a sofa in a suite in the Mercer Hotel, surrounded by his variously patterned puffs: paisleys, stripes and mazes. He designed them all with his partner in this venture, Estee Stanley, a fashion stylist and interior designer. Each month, more products designed by the duo will roll out; dishes, bedding and towels are among the categories to go on sale next. “Honestly,” Timberlake said, “what excites me the most is to get to the point of designing rugs.”

HomeMint is the fifth “Mint,” following similar collaborations in the realms of fashion (with Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen) and jewelry (with Kate Bosworth and Cher Coulter). The parent company, BeachMint, was founded in 2010 and is run by Josh Berman, who was a co-founder of MySpace. Each Mint includes unique objects designed by the site’s creative minds, not to mention a host of other sellable stuff that is “curated” by them. In Timberlake and Stanley’s case, that includes dishes by Canvas and assorted artworks, including a $600 signed photograph of the Brooklyn Bridge that Timberlake took himself.

Stanley and Timberlake first intersected when she was styling ‘N Sync music videos in the 1990s. “It was so much fun,” she said of her boy band days. “It was the most fun of my life, probably.”

“That makes one of us,” he added.

The pair made their more significant aesthetic bond after Timberlake hired Stanley to design the interiors of his houses in Los Angeles and New York. “I think I was the only client she ever had — I know, out of the males, but probably out of the female clients, too — that literally wanted to know every detail,” he said. “I’m really into the bare bones of things. I care about hardware. If you come to my houses, every single piece of hardware I picked out.”

Still, Timberlake required a bit of convincing before embarking on this project. “You gave me half a bottle of wine before you asked me,” he said to Stanley. “And then I wanted to do everything. To go to Disney World. Immediately.”

Naturally, Timberlake said, he expects skepticism from those already inclined to view this move into home decorations as little more than dilettantish dabbling. “I think people love to hate,” he said. “You know, there’s so many closet rock stars in the movie industry. And there’s so many closet actors in the music industry. And I just chose not to be either.”

Asked then if he considers himself a closeted interior designer, Timberlake said: “No. And I wouldn’t have done this if it wasn’t for Estee. But I know what I like, and I know when I have an eye for something.”

source: nytimes