Rosemary Burgher

Founder

A smiling Rosemary Burgher with shoulder-length blonde hair, wearing a blue and white striped blouse with the collar up, standing with her arms crossed in front of a wall.

Raised in Upstate New York, Rosemary Burgher was immersed in the domestic arts from an early age– a Southern mother, an Armenian grandmother, and a household where there was no shortage of thread, flour, or opinion. Sewing quickly became her passion, with Barbie clothes as the first canvas. By seven, she was confidently pinning and cutting tiny patterns; by eighth grade, she was designing breezy pinafores in Holly Hobbie prints that earned the admiration of classmates.

In high school, Rosemary would race home to stitch up new outfits to wear the very next day. When she exhausted the home economics curriculum at Shaker High School, she became a teacher’s assistant in the “Bachelor’s Only” class, and was later named the school’s Betty Crocker Homemaker of Tomorrow.

Despite this tactile, artistic upbringing, her academic path led elsewhere–to law school in the Midwest. After graduating, Rosemary began her legal career with a corporate firm in Tulsa, Oklahoma, It was also in Tulsa where she was introduced to the interior design world that would change everything. Through church she had met a wonderful couple, the wife being an interior designer, and a visit to their exquisitely layered home opened her eyes to the emotional and structural power of intentional interiors. She was instantly captivated–and quietly confident she could do it, too.

Through books and magazines, she became a devoted student of Charles Faudree, Mario Buatta, and Colefax & Fowler. She began making custom furnishings for her own home, then for friends, eventually launching a side business. When she returned to the Albany area in the late ’90s, she partnered to open Empire Antiques & Design, a Mayfair-inspired shop filled with antiques, furnishings, and a tucked-away design studio. That venture evolved into Bolt Designer Fabrics in 2006, a full-service design and fabrication studio serving both retail and trade clients.

As her relationship with the local design trade deepened, Rosemary noticed a gap: the Capital District lacked a centralized resource for designers–a place where they could access products, fabrication, and white-glove support all under one roof.

In 2024, Empire Design Lab was born: a pioneering à la carte studio dedicated exclusively to the interior design trade. Combining her lifelong love of craft with the precision and structure of her legal background, Rosemary now leads a team that thrives in the details–managing the moving parts so designers can stay inspired and focused on the creative.

At Empire Design Lab, she brings together product, process, and possibility– in service of helping others create beautiful, transformative spaces with clarity and care.