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309 Cherry Street hosts the studio and gallery space for creators, founders, managers, partners, and business associates RJ Thornburg and Warren Muller, collectively known as bahdeebahdu. This six-year old interior design, lighting gallery, and work studio features the unique work of these two men who have come to make their personal artistic impressions a staple of the Philadelphia visual style.

After milling over variations on “Thornburg and Muller” the team opted on something less law firm sounding for something a little more musical. The name bahdeebahdu came from a memory of a Jamaican man calling his dog in Rittenhouse Square, an occurrence Muller remembers hearing repeatedly while a resident in the area. The Litmus test was a branding that was capable of being spicy when first answering the phone. “Hello bahdeebahdu” just seemed to have more pop than “Hello, Thornburg and Muller.” After a little internet research RJ settled on the spelling with some added “h’s” to avoid any karmic confusion by twice using the word “bad.”

The dynamic duo has worked in the Old City artistic community for decades, both having heavy retail experience. They met while owning neighboring gallery shops on 3rd street. They partnered up and began renting part of their current Cherry Street studio for a large commissioned work only to eventually take over the whole thing. This year the team expanded the studio help with the hire of Drexel grad and uwishunu design blogger Kevin Derrick.

Warren Muller’s title falls somewhere between sculptor, installation designer, lighting artist and luminary of the found object fixture. By tangling flea market finds and donated antiques, Muller creates sculptural light fixtures for both private and public spaces, typically with a fusion of rustic farm equipment with a Rococo opulence. Seeing a rack of fiber optic test tubes or a canoe oar spiked with incandescent bulbs, it may not be too surprising to learn that Warren as a long and extensive background and training in cinematography, production design, photography and performance art. Muller’s style is hard to miss and if you keep an eye out about town you will notice his pieces at Philly institutions like the Painted Bride Art Center, Bridget Foy’s, and upcoming South Street restaurant Supper as well as The Philadelphia Building (Juniper and Walnut).

Muller’s partner in crime and design is RJ Thornburg. Thornburg is one Philadelphia’s most sought after designers with a decade in the corporate design field and a resume including unique clients like Walt Disney. Though the remnants of The Magic Kingdom and Fantasia still reside in Thornburg’s design style, he has shifted his focus to interior design for private homes, art exhibitions, artistic furnishings, lighting design, and installations. RJ also has a unique stamp on the Philadelphia art scene and special relationship with uwishunu as a co-leader with Eileen Tognini for the design team that remodeled the Westin Hotel Room for uwishunu.com, which included local artist Meg Saligman (currently exhibiting her first gallery dedicated works at bahdeebahdu along with Philip Corey through December).

It is rare to find such a personalized yet still multi-faceted artistic entity so closely tied to a city but for bahdeebahdu it has remained an organic occurrence from the beginning. What’s next? It’s seems they want what any business or artist wants, to be bigger and better.

Bahdeebahdu
309 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 627-5003
www.bahdeebahdu.com

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