Business Of Home

When you don’t know the rules, it’s easier to break them. At least that’s the thinking of my guest this week, internationally renowned interior designer Clodagh. A self-taught designer who transitioned from fashion to interiors, the Ireland native is best known for her spiritual practices, minimalist style and some 20 product licenses, including partnerships with RH, Visual Comfort and Ann Sacks. In this week’s episode, Clodagh reveals the one trait that has made her most successful, the way she handles rude clients and how she finds zen—even in the back of a New York taxi cab. This episode is sponsored by Fuigo.

Making good design democratic has been at the core of modern furniture company Blu Dot since its founding in 1997. Co-founders John Christakos, Maurice Blanks and Charlie Lazor set out to create an American furniture company in an era when venture capital, attainable modern design and an assertive brand voice didn’t exist in the home industry. Twenty years later, Blu Dot’s forging efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. This year, the company celebrated its recognition as the Cooper Hewitt National Design Award winner for Product Design, as well the debut of a memoir chronicling the Minneapolis company’s pioneering journey. This episode is sponsored by Fuigo.

Jonathan Adler went from a potter teaching night classes to a retail mogul running seventeen retail locations, a wholesale and e-commerce business, and an ever-growing list of partnerships including a recent one with Amazon. “I went from being a dude [with] mud and a potter’s wheel to a dude with the world at my fingertips,” says Adler, who shares the defining moments of his career, the challenges that came with each, and what's next on his creative horizon. This episode is sponsored by Fuigo.

One of the few vertically integrated furniture companies remaining in the industry, Ethan Allen has waded the challenges of a manufacturer and retailer. Chairman, president and CEO Farooq Kathwari has spent decades reshaping the Danbury, Connecticut-based furniture company’s production, retail and management strategies to compete in the global economy. Kathwari’s advice for each sector? Stay relevant. This episode is sponsored by Fuigo.

It's an industry disruptor that’s been years in the making. Sample library Material Bank is one part digital platform, built to save designers time when searching and sampling materials, and one part robotic logistics and distribution facility. Founder and CEO Adam I. Sandow shares how the designer tool is setting new standards for lead time, accessibility and waste reduction that not even Amazon can compete with. This is the last episode of our first season. Episodes will resume in November. 

Growing up in small town Arkansas, Brad Ford did not think of interior design as a career path until after college. He moved to New York on the recommendation of the one professional designer in town “with an office.” After design school, under the tutelage of Jed Johnson and Thad Hayes, he was able to hone his now-characteristic aesthetic of editing rather than layering. Editing is more than a style for Ford, but a philosophy that defines all of his endeavors: FAIR, Field and Supply, and his design firm. In this episode, he discusses the evolution of his businesses, and how Field and Supply, a culmination of his life’s work, brings him full circle. 

Whether it’s digging clay for his tile collection, harvesting barley for his brewery, painting and weaving textiles for his clothing line, milling high-end furniture for his showroom, or assembling musicians for a metal band, Tyler Hays is as hands-on with each of his hobbies-turned-businesses as you’d expect from a master craftsman. As a small-town high-school dropout with above-average sewing skills, he never imagined himself a businessman, much less a manager of 100 employees, tens of millions in revenue, and a celebrity-studded customer base. In this week’s episode, Hays shares his circuitous journey from rural Oregon to BBDW in Manhattan, and the countless creative endeavors along the way. This episode is sponsored by Fuigo.

There are few, if any, retailers in the home category that haven’t been under the journalistic microscope of Warren Shoulberg. In this episode, the trade media veteran shares his findings, offering RH, Bed Bath & Beyond, The Home Depot and others as case studies for what is and isn’t working in the modern retail environment. Tune in as he reveals which retailer is “one of the greatest in the world right now and” why he’ll never bet against RH CEO Gary Friedman, and exposes the “dirty little secret” of the furniture industry. This episode is sponsored by Fuigo.

When it comes to furniture companies, commercial design favorite Industry West is an anomaly. Since its launch in 2009, the Jacksonville, Florida-based, direct-to-consumer brand has been profitable. Husband and wife co-founders Jordan and Anne England’s bootstrapped efforts have led to a growth of nearly 70 percent each year—a rate that, Jordan says, shows no signs of slowing down. Now, the couple reveals the challenges of being an e-commerce early adopter, why they’re opening a SoHo showroom, and how they’re working offline to acquire new customers. This episode is sponsored by Fuigo.

Detroit-born interior designer Nicole Gibbons has been chasing her business goals—be it a PR exec, design studio, or television series—long before the paint dried on her new startup. After building the business model for Clare, an e-commerce paint company, she had to convince venture capitalists of the potential that exists in today’s “sleepy” home industry. Gibbons shares how she conceived of the idea for Clare, and what the design trade could learn from the startup community. This episode is sponsored by Fuigo.

The term ‘retail store’ isn’t in Ariel Kaye’s vocabulary. The founder and CEO of Parachute Home prefers to use “community centers” when referencing the digital-first bedding and bath brand’s physical locations. In true clicks-to-bricks fashion, Parachute is focused on cultivating its consumer community and providing value outside of just its European-made product. In this interview, Kaye shares how she built Parachute and its cult-like following, while also acknowledging the challenges of running a startup and the isolation that can come with being a sole founder. This episode is sponsored by Fuigo.

It’s a coming-of-age business tale that reads more tech startup than furniture manufacturer. More than two decades ago, Lovesac began as a zealous idea in Shawn Nelson’s parents’ basement. As of June, the company filed an IPO with a company market capitalization of more than $250 million. In this interview, Nelson revisits the merchandising mistakes, bankruptcy filing, and painful lessons learned along the way. This episode is sponsored by Fuigo.

Whether it’s preserving his iconic mannequin label or curating his next gallery exhibition, Ralph Pucci leads by one rule: “If everyone’s going left, I’m going right.” It worked in 1985, when Pucci successfully debuted the collection of designer Andrée Putman with no industry experience, and it continues to work today, as the company now boasts galleries in New York, Los Angeles and Miami. In this week’s episode, Pucci takes us through the remarkable timeline of Ralph Pucci International and reveals his visual merchandising secrets. This episode is sponsored by Fuigo.

Driven by KPIs and constant product launches, Schumacher operates more like a 128-year-old startup than a legacy brand. That’s no coincidence, explains Schumacher CEO Timur Yumusaklar and Creative Director Dara Caponigro in this week’s episode. The venerated fabric brand, which houses greats from Frank Lloyd Wright and Josef Frank to Miles Redd in its archive, remains confident in it’s identity yet understands that moving with the times is essential. This episode is sponsored by Fuigo.

Before becoming CEO of 1stdibs, David Rosenblatt spent more than a decade heading up an internet company that, in 2008, sold to Google for $3.2 billion. It’s no surprise that one of his first moves as CEO of 1stdibs was to upgrade the technology platforms. In 2016, he overhauled the business model to a commission one (from a monthly fee) and grew the offerings to include more new and custom, which he says represents the biggest opportunity. In this episode, he shares how he uses data to inform his decisions and why it’s working. This episode is sponsored by Fuigo.

Campion Platt believes China is the land of opportunity for interior designers and furniture manufacturers—but only for the next 10 years. In an exclusive story in the summer issue of Business of Home, the designer unveiled his collaboration with a major Chinese developer on a 10.7-million-square-foot complex comprised of a luxury design center, accredited design school, performing arts center, and more. Tune in as Platt reveals how he got involved—and why it may be in other best interest to follow suit.

Rob Royer launched Interior Define online in 2014, offering direct-to-consumer, customizable sofas at a middle-market price point. Veteran insight and early investment capital from Bonobos founder (and Royer’s brother-in-law) Andy Dunn helped the Chicago-based company gain early momentum among consumers and designers. Today, Interior Define, which has since expanded its custom offerings to multiple product furnishing categories, is on track to triple its sales for the third year in a row. The growth has some industry players questioning: Can this model work at the higher end? This episode is sponsored by Fuigo. 

Fashion in the 1960s was not unlike the interior design scene is today. When Oscar de la Renta moved to the big apple from Paris, most clothing labels carried the names of manufacturers. “The designers were doing all the work in the back but getting no credit ... it was a very important transition time when the designers, the creators​,​ came into their own,” he said in an interview with Bunny Williams at the Design Leadership Network Summit in 2014. In this archival episode, the two iconic figures discuss what it takes to build a legacy brand, how to channel panic into creativity and the why collaboration is critical. This episode is sponsored by Fuigo.

IKEA is the only furniture brand that is truly global, notes Petrus Palmér, founder of modern furniture brand Hem. The designer-turned-entrepreneur sees white space for high-end brands to reach global scale, and is growing Hem with that in mind. Hem was among the first to sell direct to consumer, disrupting the traditional structure for furniture distribution and catching the attention of Fab.com, which acquired it in 2014. Palmér bought it back in 2016, and took investment from Vitra in 2016. This year, he grew the business by 135%, to $6 million in revenue. In this episode he shares how “resimercial” has become a sweet spot for Hem and why companies like Facebook, Uber and Pinterest offices are outfitted with his furniture. This episode is sponsored by Fuigo.

Architect-turned entrepreneur Jean Brownhill has raised more than $8 million in venture capital to grow Sweeten, a general contractor match-making service that facilitated nearly a billion dollars in services this year. As one of 26 African-American female entrepreneurs in the U.S. to raise more than $1 million in VC funding, she emphasizes that raising venture capital doesn’t equal success. The goal is to build a big company that scales, and helps millions of people. This episode is sponsored by Fuigo.