Dear Alice | Design World 101
/In our blog and throughout our podcast, Dear Alice, we reference design terms, phrases, and concepts that aren’t always common knowledge. This week we are going to be defining two different concepts to help you understand the design world a little bit better. You can listen to this podcast episode on Apple Podcast, Spotify, or Google Podcast.
design by Jan Showers & Associates for Kips bay show house 2020 | photo by stephen karlisch
A market is where retailers and designers meet with wholesalers to buy products, build relationships and see what trends are going to be big within the next six months. Vendors from all over the world come to either show their products while buyers come to place orders. Buying at markets is only available to those within the trade (like interior designers, retail stores, etc.) One of the bigger markets is in High Point, North Carolina but of course, there are others happening all over the country. High Point Market is the furniture/interior designer version of New York or Paris Fashion Week and we try to go for a week to get the full experience. We get to vote with our money by purchasing pieces and showing demand for those items but there have definitely been times when we’ve fallen in love with something and it doesn’t end up getting produced so we have to beg the designers to sell us the floor sample. One of our favorite parts of the market is getting to meet with the designers behind the pieces who get to tell us their ideology behind how and why they’ve created certain pieces; it can be a very magical and romantic thing.
Photos from High Point Market Spring 2018
Next, let’s define what a showhouse is in the interior design world. Showhouses started in 1973 in New York by the Boys and Girls Club, as a way to bring in money for their incredible organization. It’s on our bucket list to participate in a showhouse! Designers apply and if selected, they get to take a room of a house to have fun with and go balls to the wall! After everything is designed and installed, people can buy tickets to tour the home and check out all the forward-thinking designs. It feels kind of like going through an exhibit! The rooms and floors are protected by having attendees wear booties and having rooms be roped off so no one is sitting on furniture or delicate designs. Besides feeling like you’re in an exhibit, people walk through showhouses with their builders and designers to see different styles, furniture options, etc, and to get ideas for their own project. The ticket money then gets donated to the B&G Club and Architectural Digest will publish a spread on each showhouse! Utah has something similar to this called the Parade of Homes - we’ll go every couple of years and we’ve had so much fun participating and really getting creative with the design for these projects. We’ve also won a few awards, too! You can see a few of our Parade of Home projects here and here.
View all of Kips Bay 2020 Show-house
Thank you so much for listening to this week’s show! We hope you’ve enjoyed learning more about some design lingo! If you have any questions or podcast suggestions for us, email us at dearalice@alicelanehome.com