Fall is my favorite time of the year...and I love reconnecting with all the local design activities when I return from summers in Switzerland.
This past Tuesday was the Fall Design Market
at the Houston Design Center
To get the events started, Leslie Sinclair of Segreto Designs unveiled
her latest business savvy design venture...a hand-painted fabric line with Coleman Taylor Textiles
represented by the Ken Kehoe & Co. showroom.
Leslie Sinclair (left) and me in front of the fabric wings of her new fabric designs
The new fabric line is really beautiful. I anticipate seeing the new fabrics incorporated into spaces with Segreto's custom wall finishes to coordinate with the fabrics. All the designs and colorways are timeless...but it was the dark, dramatic fabric grounds that really drew me in right now. Maybe it's just that time of year!
I really admire and respect Leslie. She is an amazing business woman...and the talent that comes from her and her staff is endless! I wish her the best of luck with the new line.
I have made it easy for you to go directly to Segreto's fabrics at the Coleman Taylor Textiles website to see all the different and interchangeable color selections...
just click on the tag line under each photo below.
The keynote program of the Design Market featured Phoebe Howard of the Mr. and Mrs. Howard duet from Atlanta and Interior Designer Timothy Whealon.
Most people are familiar with the two speakers and know of their successes and talents...
but, speaking for myself, the experience was rather strange...almost as if something behind the scenes was going on.
This was especially true with Phoebe, who appeared to be thinking that she would rather have been somewhere else. The biggest take away from her story and her comments during the Q&A was that she began her career because she was a bored housewife and that she attributed most of her success to dumb luck. She claimed to have no knowledge on how designers should approach licensing of products...because she herself had a failed QVC experience and a failed rug product line. She really had little to offer to the attending designers in way of tips or suggestions. She, however, is obviously excellent at merchandising for her stores and surrounds herself with young talent that she has given a lot of free reign. Her honesty in what she wasn't able to share was...well, interesting. She obviously did not feel the need to impress.
Equally straight forward was Tim Whealon. He is very talented and his eye for design is natural and enhanced with his background and interest in the fine and decorative arts. He maintains a small staff in order to keep his overhead more manageable. His "intimate" discussion after the main event was much more interesting where designers had the opportunity to discuss some of the nitty-gritty of having a design business...like billing...and when or if a bad client is worth the time...
I bought a copy of Tim's new book as an addition to my library, which is nicely done with beautiful project photos.
The last program of the day was a panel discussing "Branding"...a much talked about topic these days...something that keeps evolving as a business continues and requires much attention. I appreciate the time that was given by each of the attendees, but my perception was that
the collective knowledge and experience was running a little short.
The whole discussion lacked energy and enthusiasm.
Oh well...there's always the Spring market to look forward to...!
You are so sweet to post!! Thank you so much for that! Love your profile pic!! xo
ReplyDeleteThanks Leslie. As a designer, I feel that the most useful information I received from my day there at Market was your new fabric line...the rest fell into the entertainment category...
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