Work, style, and a serendipitous “hello” propelled Kyle Barrett into a global design business
By Ellen Orr

“My style is rich, like a big piece of chocolate cake,” said Kyle Barrett, Texarkana/De Kalb native and president/cofounder of Barrett Bergmann Home. “I love the word ‘rich,’ but not in the form of money. I love for you to walk into a space, and it absolutely consumes you with good feelings. It makes you want to sit down with a glass of wine or an old fashioned. I love the richness of sitting in my wine room with six close friends, soaking up that fellowship—and I want everyone to have that feeling in their home. When you burn a candle or crawl into bed, I want you to feel like a piece of chocolate cake is being served in front of you. I want you to think, ‘Oh my, this is so rich.’”

Kyle’s richness has influenced countless homes and businesses throughout the Ark-La-Tex. For 25 years, he worked as a real estate agent and interior designer in Texarkana. He eventually launched Sticks and Stones in 2006, a floral, interiors, and gift shop that was located on Texas Boulevard. A hometown man through and through, Kyle never anticipated leaving the community that he had spent so long helping to make beautiful. However, one Saturday in October 2022, fate intervened.

Kyle was in New Orleans, working on a destination wedding for the daughter of a dear friend. He was standing at the corner of Race and Religious Streets in the Lower Garden District, waiting for an Uber, “looking like a total mess,” he said. “I had on a long-sleeve T-shirt, with flower snot all over me, a ball cap, tennis shoes, and shorts.” A man “dressed to the nines,” also waiting for a ride, struck up a conversation. The two quickly established that they were both designers, and they became fast friends. Dwayne Bergmann, an award-winning designer from Florida, was in New Orleans that day by a total fluke, and he was flying out early the next morning. Kyle would be working the wedding that night. They exchanged information, but Kyle assumed they would never meet again. However, at 10 p.m., as the wedding was winding down, Dwayne texted Kyle. Reluctantly, at Kyle’s insistence and with the bride’s permission, he “crashed” the wedding, and the two talked design for hours. A meant-to-be business partnership had been born.

A year later, Kyle relocated part-time to Southwest Florida to cofound Barrett Bergmann Home. (Two years after that, he moved longtime employee and friend Lee Ann Mangham to Florida as well, and she continues to work as Kyle’s right-hand person. “Lee Ann has a talent that is unmatched. She’s brilliant,” he said. “I couldn’t make it without her.”)

photos courtesy of barrett bergmann home

BBH is “by designers, for designers.” They sell custom vanities, bedding, accessories, fragrance products, and luxe faux-floral arrangements to designers, upscale hotels, and retail businesses. All of the products are personally and meticulously curated by Kyle and Dwayne. “Everything we offer, our hands touched,” Kyle said.

“I went to Peru and sat for two weeks with an 82-year-old [leather] artisan, Mr. Pedro, who’d started sweeping in that factory when he was 7 years old; he’s been there all these years,” he continued. “We slept on 112 sets of sheets before we decided on the fabric; then, we went directly to the mills in Italy and Spain and met with the weavers, and they constructed our products solely for us. All of the florals I touch. I never liked artificial florals in the past, but we ordered 3,000 stems, and out of those, I approved about 90.” It took 38 tries before Kyle finally approved his signature scent for the fragrance line. (That persistence paid off; the Barrett scent, which Kyle described as “masculine with some floral notes and oud,” is BBH’s bestselling fragrance.)

A chance meeting with designer Dwayne Bergmann turned into a meant-to-be business partnership for Kyle. photo courtesy of barrett bergmann home

In addition to his work with BBH, Kyle is also the vice president of design for Dwayne Bergmann Interiors, one of the largest design firms in Florida.

Even as the hands-on executive and artist he is, Kyle still makes time each month to return to Texarkana and nurture his other passion: cattle ranching. Across 1400 acres of land, he has a large cow-calf operation. Two employed ranchhands maintain daily operations, and Kyle has daily morning and afternoon calls with them. Named The Hideaway Ranch, it serves as both a well of inspiration for Kyle as well as a creative outlet and home.

“I tell people that the ranch house is extremely rustic, but then they visit and are like, ‘This isn’t rustic,’” Kyle laughed. “But it’s very woodsy and dark and real rich and real livable. It’s got barn wood from a 170-year-old barn that was here on the property that I reclaimed. It’s been a labor of love.” Kyle has poured into his ranch home for five years.

After a lifetime in Texarkana, Kyle found that reestablishing himself professionally and socially in a new community was both challenging and rewarding.

“I can tell you, from the depths of my soul, that the hardest thing about moving was also the best thing about moving,” he said. “I had a really hard time because, when I moved, I didn’t know anybody. I had no friends. I left the town where, every night of the week, I’d had friends who wanted to come over and have a glass of wine, or they wanted to meet out. I didn’t know anybody [in Florida], and part of that was wonderful, and part of that was very, very, very lonely and very hard for me, because I’m a people person, and I love my friends. But it was also a blessing because I could breathe in a new way. And, in the last few months, it’s changed, and now I’ve got a handful of really good new friends, and that’s neat.”

Kyle has an amazing eye for floral designs. His pieces are artfully composed to create tasteful accents for nightstands, bathroom counters, dining tables, and any other space you want to have a touch of elegance. photos courtesy of barrett bergmann home

Kyle and Dwayne regularly travel for work, whether to sit with South American leather artisans, source textiles from France and Spain, or bring home oils and marble from Italy. Soon, they will visit the president and first lady of the Phillipines, having been invited with two other designers to tour factories, meet artisans, and dine with the head of state at his home.

Soon, BBH will launch a new line—Ranch, Range & Mountain—with Kyle at the helm. He described the vibe as “high-end Ralph Lauren with a lot of Barrett.” “I told Dwayne, ‘Many of our clients have three houses. They have a house up north, they have a house in Florida, and then, guess what? They have a ranch house or a home in the mountains. We should service that market.’ So, that’s where I come in.”

A fantasy come to life, Kyle’s new normal was forged from years of hard work, as well as a dose of divine intervention. On his happenstance introduction to Dwaye and everything that has followed, Kyle said, “It was God.” He went on to express deep gratitude for how his life has unfolded, saying, “Everything is absolutely fantastic. I’m getting older and rolling downhill like a ball to tall weeds, but I’m doing good. I’m as happy as I could be.”

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