MILAN — Enchanted by the French pastoral motifs of the 1700s, Harlem, N.Y.-based interior designer Sheila Bridges created her own Harlem toile de jouy when she concluded a disappointing search for her own home.

The award-winning creative told WWD that her vision — recognized for weaving the African American experience into high-end decor — will now be available in a new outdoor collection for Walmart.

Monday marks the online debut of the Philadelphia Collection, a 14-piece entertaining line available only at walmart.com/sheilabridges. The collection marks her most accessible price point for her creations to date, with each piece priced below $20.

In the campaign video, the Philadelphia native reminisces about the joys of her convivial upbringing.

“I’ve lived in New York City for a long time, but I am a proud Philly girl and always have been. It was an amazing city to grow up in. It’s beautiful, lovable, but also gritty and very diverse with a lot of rich history and culture,” she mused.

For the occasion, Bridges intertwined the 250-year history of the U.S., and included cake stands, oven mitts, placemats, pitchers, platters, plates, tumblers and ice buckets. With a splash of gingham and stripes, the array is designed for picnics, backyard barbecues, porch dinners and poolside parties.

The collection combines her signature Harlem toile scenes built on her own visual language with reflections of Black life and Harlem-centered vignettes, like basketball, girls playing double dutch and picnic scenes. She also incorporated figures like Benjamin Franklin and symbols like the Liberty Bell with her own artful flair.

Bridges said it was time to open up her designs to an even wider public, making her creativity more accessible.

“I feel like I’m moving away from that model in the design industry…that sort of exclusivity. So for me, this feels a little bit more inclusive and kind of democratized,” she commented.

Joey Huerta, Walmart’s vice president of home merchandising, said collaborations with creatives like Bridges are in-line with its strategy to afford its consumers the opportunity to tap into unique design pieces.

“Bringing Sheila Bridges’ distinctive perspective to this collection, which is exclusive to Walmart customers, reflects our ongoing commitment to offering stylish and coveted home products at incredible prices. The Philadelphia Collection is everything we love about a great design collaboration: It makes the unique and collectible entertaining pieces that Sheila is known for accessible to everyone,” Huerta said.

Bridges grew up in Philadelphia and attended Brown University, Parsons School of Design and studied decorative arts at Polimoda in Florence, Italy. Her work has been featured in The Studio Museum in Harlem, the Museum of Art and Design in New York City and Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum, among others.

After moving to Harlem in 1993, she opened Sheila Bridges Design and today boasts a high-profile roster of clients including former President Bill Clinton, for whom she designed his Harlem offices. She redecorated One Observatory Circle, the official residence of Vice President Kamala Harris and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff. In 2023, she joined forces with cookware company Le Creuset for a line of pitchers, mugs and dutch ovens and has also worked with Williams Sonoma Inc. and Wedgewood. With this collection for Walmart, Bridges joins a roster of international designers making high-end design more accessible to the design-curious.

Flemish architect and designer Vincent Van Duysen, whose zen-inspired designs for major luxury players like Molteni &C sell for well in the five figures, made headlines with his first collection with Zara Home+, the upscale line of Zara Home in 2022. Dutch-New Zealander artist and designer Sabine Marcelis, who has worked with German design firm Vitra, unveiled the Varmblixt collection of donut-shaped lighting in 2022.