Please see the below videos from my walking tour of Paris’ Design District with Ludovic Darricau of Elitis and Jessica Romm of The Editor at Large. See exclusive footage of the most recent collections from Donghia, Bergamo and Elitis along with our favorite places to visit in Paris!
A Walking Tour of Paris’ Design District with Two Textile Titans (Part 1 of 2)
A Walking Tour of Paris’ Design District with Two Textile Titans (Part 2 of 2)
Spring Collections from Sahco & Rubelli at Donghia
It is 60 degrees outside as I sit in my office in Westchester. One year ago there was four feet of snow piled up and it was freezing. Myabe it’s not global warming, but it is certainly odd. Day lilies are trying to send up shoots, and crocus are tentatively appearing. Now that the Northeast is becoming more temperate, I will not complain. I just hope that February is not January’s cruel sister.
More interestingly, there is a renewed sense of optimism that is cropping up throughout the Donghia world, just like the tentative early signs of spring in my yard. Our booked order business in several showrooms set records in January, as did showroom traffic. Residential designers seem to have a lot of work, and are favoring us with their presence- thank you, thank you. Signs of spring are possibly signs of a strong 2012, something we fondly hope for on behalf of the design community, and in a larger sense the wider design industry (that includes Donghia and Bergamo!).
So, I thought I would sneak in a few pictures of new Sahco and Rubelli Textiles. Think of them as spring flowers emerging within our showrooms! Their respective spring collections are coming out over the next 60 days at a Donghia Showroom near you. The Donghia Collection is already out. Take a look, and enjoy!
Donghia in Paris
I have returned from Maison et Objet and Deco Off; two parallel luxury Home furnishings expositions; one in Paris and one outside of Paris. As our companies (Rubelli, Donghia, Sahco) all have beautiful showrooms in Paris, I was forced, forced to spend five days in Paris and did not attend the fair at Villepint, which I understand was extremely busy. Life can be difficult you see, but one has to adapt. It rained a bit, drizzled a bit, but ladies and gentlemen, rain in Paris seems somehow acceptable and appropriate, especially when accompanied by a chocolate croissant and a cup of coffee from Paul.
What matters is that the world was there and the world’s decorative business, while heavily impacted by the global recession to be sure, showed every sign of starting to thrive once again. It must be some sort of economic indicator that we worked with designers and home furnishing stores from literally dozens and dozens of cities and countries, even America! To travel to Paris from Boston, or New York, or Sao Paulo, or Sydney, Capetown, Moscow, Toronto, Singapore, Bangkok, Taipei, Hong Kong, Mumbai, and from so many other cities, all to see what’s new and shop for clients- an economic indicator indeed! It was exhilarating even as it was exhausting! Imagine working side by side listening to seven or eight languages at once, all people admiring the same designs and considering them for each market where that particular language is spoken. Serbia, Bulgaria, Kuwait, Lebanon, you name it; an intelligent and thoughtful cacophony of language; the language of interior design from all over the world.
The press were heavily in attendance, just like the good old days. I had wonderful talks with countless talented editors, publishers and bloggers. Ludovic Darricau of Elitis and I also had the privilege of working with Julia Noran and Jessica Rahm Perez from The Editor At Large, one of our industry’s very finest blogs. We toured Donghia and Rubelli, followed by a stroll down the Boulevard St. Germain to Elitis, all the while admiring the beautiful city we had the good fortune to be working in. Julia guided us through the videography process like the true professional she is, all with the hopes that we could capture some of the flavor of this exciting industry market in this magnificent city. If it doesn’t all end up on the cutting room floor I invite you to take a look!
If last week was a portent of things to come, then the year of the Dragon may indeed hold good fortune for the interior design business and those of us who support and supply the world’s designers with beautiful products.
So, next year, maybe you will come, and I will see you at Sahco, Rubelli, Donghia, or even strolling along the Seine. It beats High Point!
And, The Giants won! Sorry, a little New York pride. Go Giants!
Donghia & The Peak of Chic
I was thrilled to read this post by Jennifer Boles on Donghia’s NY flagship showroom. Included are images by renowned photographer Miguel Flores Viana and magical renderings by Donghia’s longtime designer, Masaru Suzuki. If you have not already, check out her fantastic blog at the link below.
http://thepeakofchic.blogspot.com/2012/01/donghia-and-its-flagship-showroom.html
Donghia Spring 2012 Textile Collection
Here we are in January 2012! The year of the dragon- the first year of the post-recession economy! The first year of whatever comes next! I am off to Deco-Off and Maison et Jardin, the exciting decorative interior shows in Paris, and I thought I would share with you some sneak previews of the new beautiful Donghia Spring Textile Collection being launched there! You can see these elegant textiles in Paris next week, or anywhere in America in February! Happy New Year!
Happy New Year!!
Just a quick note to wish everyone a happy, healthy, profitable, and successful 2012! I wish each of you joy and peace in your life as we end 2011 and start 2012. Happy New Year!
Ideas for Designers
The above headline was the original intent of this blog during the worst of the recession. Lots of ideas and suggestions, from one designer to another, were shared using this medium as the messenger, and I am grateful to have heard from many designers that they read this blog, tried a new idea for their business, and it worked!
One of the best is the idea of adding services to your existing business. What do I mean?
If, for example, your design business has moved from regular interior design into assisted-living, ageing-in-place design services for wealthy baby boomers (smart you!!), then consider offering more than design services. Often this client is at a very delicate time in their lives and needs to rely on someone they really can trust, ie you! For instance:
- Why not help with the entire downsizing process? Provide an expert (billed through your firm, or with your firm getting a fee for service to set this up and manage it) to appraise their posessions and work with you and the client to decide what to keep for the new home, what to sell, and what to give away. Often, clients think certain posessions are of great value when in fact they are not. An appraiser can take the sting out of this discovery, and help you remove the items from the inventory.
- Provide a service to discreetly sell off unwanted furnishings, again through your firm. Suddenly those antiques they inherited might not work for them any more, but might produce revenue both for them and for your company! You can find, approve and bring in a re-seller (E-Bay seller?) to handle this sort of thing for them.
- Help them with their real estate decisions. Often, the interior designer is their most trusted business relationship. Unlike their attorney, you have the keys to their house! If that is the case, people, as they age, rely more and more heavily on those they truly trust. So, you can really help them by vetting a real estate professional ahead of time who can work with your clients as they make one of the most difficult transitions in their lives. This is also true of insurance brokers and companies (Long Term Health Care?). These may not directly reward you, but word will get out that you really help with a wide assortment of services and come through for your clients in many more ways than just design, and that will bring more business, guaranteed! You might end up with a consulting portion of your business that is tangentially related to interior design, and an additional profit center. Why not?
- Provide reliable moving/storage and other services, all billed through you, or all billed directly but with your firm getting a fee for service.
This sort of service expansion can work in any business. For regular design services bring in architects, landscape architects, appraisers, movers, etc, again all under your auspices and all vetted and approved by you and your firm. Providing more comprehensive service to existing clients is one way of expanding your business in a flat environment. In this case, the expansion comes through developing a trusted network of service providers that you can bring into the client relationship as required. It helps the client, it helps you, and word-of-mouth praise for your firm, a designer’s primary marketing tool, becomes even more positive and powerful.
It’s and idea. Try it!
Donghia Flagship Showroom in NY
In October, Donghia opened its finest showroom in New York to rave reviews! Below are a few images of the lifestyle section of the showroom, which comprises 50% of the total showroom space. The second half is devoted to an extraordinary collection of textiles and wall coverings featuring some of the most exquisite fabrics woven in the world.
I urge everyone who reads this blog to come visit this inspirational showroom! This space is so magnificent that it has changed what designers expect when going to a trade showroom. Come take a look!
Maison de Luxe – Greystone
Check out this exciting photograph from Jamie Drake’s room using Donghia furniture and textiles at the Greystone Doheny Mansion in Beverly Hills, CA.
This was not an ordinary showhouse, but a showplace. I urge you to visit it! Other beautiful rooms include designs by Barry Dixon, Timothy Corrigan and many others.
The Original Intent of This Blog
When A Glass Half Full was started, things looked particularly bleak for the interior design industry! Starting in 2008, and continuing through today, we have experienced four years of belt-tightening, and many of the members of our ranks have left the business. Hundreds of showrooms have closed, and thousands of interior designers have merged, quit, or gone into new professions. And yet-
There are hundreds of new design firms sprouting up all over the country! Many of the very top firms are busier than they have been in a very long time. A lot of domestic hospitality work is coming back to American design firms across this country. Health Care, Aging In Place and Assisted Living interior design projects are exploding and creating jobs everywhere. Our showrooms are far busier than they were (thank you all), and the supply chain that supports the merchandise we sell is starting to strain at the increase in volume in our industry. That glass is going to have more water in it!
So, for 2012, we just might have a good year! I know that sounds strange, after four years of this “stay-cession”. But if you are an interior designer reading this right now, go to the section called “Ideas for Designers”, because many of these are working for designers and all came from designers as suggestions. Try some new ideas. Adapt your business and, for instance, expand the services you offer- you may not need more clients if you can provide more for your existing clients!
Recently ASID came out with a terrific book on just this subject, and I urge you to get it. It is called “Interior Design in the New Economy”. It is very much worth using as a guideline. It is also gratifying that many of the ideas in that book match the ideas that came from the design audiences across America that attended my talks in 2009-2010! So all of you, and ASID must be on the right track.
Good luck to all in 2012. Let’s keep filling that glass so that half full becomes overflowing for our wonderful industry.
To all of you I wish a wonderful holiday season!
Crans Baldwin
