Episode 64: Highpoint Market – Part 2
Highpoint Market – Part 2
1. THIS PODCAST SPONSORED BY DOWEL FURNITURE COMPANY
Dowel Furniture was created in 2015 by siblings, Joanne Lee and Ray Hallare. The company sources directly from their family factory in the Philippines, which has been manufacturing fine furniture for over 30 years. They collaborate with interior designers in creating licensed furniture collections, which showcase each designer’s unique point of view. Their approach to furniture design has led to thoughtful products that have been used in a variety of residential and commercial projects while also being featured in national publications. Designers can apply for their trade program on their website www.dowelfurniturecompany.com. Their trade program provides benefits like trade discounts, flat rate shipping and expedited customer service. All products can be customized with COM/COL fabric and finish color matching is also available with a reasonable lead time of 8-10 weeks. Trade program members are also given the extra benefit of custom sizing for select products in the catalog. Sign up today!
2. INTRO
There is so much to talk about regarding High Point Furniture Market that we broke up our discussion into 2 parts. If you didn’t listen to part 1, you might want to go back to Episode 58 and listen to that one first. First we will quickly reiterate a few important details:
1. High Point Market is the largest home furnishings trade show in the world. It brings more than 75,000 people to High Point, N.C., every six months to view product from more than 2,000 exhibitors.
2. Highpoint market is in the Spring and Fall so the upcoming show is coming up soon – October 19th-23rd.
3. If you haven’t registered yet, you can still do so at highpointmark.org/register.
3. OUR FAVORITES
On Episode 58 we talked a lot about the logistics of High Point – where to stay, where to eat and how to get around. On this show we’d like to dig deeper and let you know about some of our favorite showrooms, new news coming out from the Highpoint Market Authority and some great educational opportunities.
A. Cool Stuff to be Aware Of
i. Evening Programming – HMA is rebranding its popular evening concert series. In the area between Showplace the the Transportation Terminal, there will be new festivities dubbed “Eats and Beats” where there will be outdoor seating and firepits and (2) areas sponsored by Crate & Barrel and CB2 that will have music, giant outdoor games, cocktails, a dj and a whole lot more. There will still be (2) concerts by T Sisters and Mandolin Orange.
ii. Style Spotters – Keep your eye out for this years Style Spotters who are eight design and fashion leaders who showcase the top new styles for each market. Look for their black and white cards on products through out the market. We were Style Spotters for 2 years and it was a lot of fun and a lot of work. This years style spotters are Shayla Copas, Kara Cox, Cynthia Ferguson, Eric Haydel, Benjamin Johnston, Courtney McLeod, Laura Thurman and Erinn Valencich. This group will be hosting Trend Tours so look those up because some of them require reservations.
iii. Design Bloggers Tour Hosted by HPMA and Esteem Media – The Design Bloggers Tour will bring (1) leading design bloggers to HPA for a. 2-day tour of sponsoring showrooms. Those bloggers will then be featuring all that they learned on their individual blogs and social media accounts. This is just one of many ways that if you cannot attend market you can still be in the know. Watch out for this bloggers and all they have to share: Sara Malek Barney, Laurence Carr, Lori Dennis, Tim Green, Donna Mancini, Amy Mitchell, Rachel Moriarty, Lisa Peck, Sara Noble and Deborah von Donop.
iv. HPM Brand Ambassadors – Our friends Jacki Von Tobel and Deb Barrett are newly appointed HPMA Ambassadors. They will be hosting a new-buyer focused 5-day tour that will provide first time attendees a HPM immersion. If I was brand new to High Point, this is the very first thing I would sign up for.
v. Educational and Social Programming – Do NOT make the mistake of going to HPM and spending every minute of your day looking at product. Your feet and your brain will appreciate you changing gears. Look for events at The Point (https://www.highpointmarket.org/plan-your-trip/the-point), in Highpoint Theatre, Market Suites and in many showrooms. There are SO many good ones but I few we have our eyes on:
1. Friday at 8:30am – Breakfast with Tom Felicia at Pandora’s Manor to celebrate 25 years in business. Sponsored by Eastern Accents.
2. Saturday at 10am at Alden Parkes – “From Set Backs to Success: How to Manage and Grow your Design Firm in the Face of Diversity” with Traci O’Connell.
3. Saturday at 10am at Woodbridge – “Coffee with Creatives” with Tobi Fairley and Lauren Liess. Chatting about how they built brands, built collectives and more all while being busy moms.
4. Saturday at 11am at Fairfield Chair – “Libby Tells All: Product Design with Libby Langdon”. Sharing her experiences and advice for designing product for a target audience.
5. Saturday at 11am at New Growth Designs – Styling Secrets – “ Behind the Scenes Tips for Fabulous Photos” with Stacy Kunstel
6. Saturday at 12pm at Highpoint Theatre – DESIGN VIEWPOINTS SERIES – “Cultivating Industry Relationships to Build Your Brand panel” with Michele Smith Boyd, Amy Ferrer, Amy Flurry and Jane Dagmi.
7. Saturday at 1pm at Lexington – “On the Record” – an unfiltered discussion about the Interior Design Business with Jane Dagmi, Barclay Butera and Pamela Jaccarino.
8. Saturday at 3pm at Alden Parkes – “What’s the Price of Frame? Defining your Brand, Securing your Niche and Saving your Sanity” with Kimberly Wray, Shannon Ggem, Andre Hilton, Patti Johnson, Keita Turner, Philip Gulotta and Hanah Toney.
9. Sunday at 10am at Highpoint Theatre – “Duplicable Systems are the Foundation of your Design Firm” with Luann Nigara, Laura Umansky and Kate O’Hara.
10. Sunday at 10am at Highpoint Theatre – “Stop Giving Away your Profits” with Kristen Drohan, Veronica Solomon, Cheryl Klees Clendedon.
11. Sunday at 12pm at Highpoint Theatre – DESIGNER VIEWPOINT SERIES – “Translating Your Brand to Online Retail”- Sarah Walker, Julia Buckingham, Barlay Butera, Scott Meacham Wood
12. Sunday at 2pm at Alden Parkes – Out of the Box – Non conventional Ways to Grow your Design Business – Denise McGaha, Tish Mills, Joni Vanderslice, Beth Dempsey
13. Sunday at 2pm at the Red Egg (12 people only) – “Pitching with Purpose” by Amy Flurry
14. Sunday at 3:30pm at Market Sq. Seminar Room – “Building YOUR Brand with Private Label vs. Licensing” – Charlotte Lucas, Lynai Jones, Jennifer Mabley, Austin Handler, Ray Hallare and Jill Waage
15. Monday at 10am at Alden Parkes – “The Senses of Luxury” – Luxury is not defined in regards to how we live not necessarily by labels. Jeanne Chung, Erin Valencich, Traci Zeller, Krissa Rossbund.
16. Monday at 2pm at Universal: Don’t Sleep on Pinterest discussion with Adam Japko and Kyla Herbes of House of Hipster Blog. https://www.universalfurniture.com/events/dontsleeponpinterest
B. Showrooms we frequent (and why)
i. Vanguard
ii. Theodore Alexander
iii. Bernhardt
iv. Visual Comfort
v. Currey
vi. Lexington
vii. Phillips Collection
viii. Rowe
ix. The temporaries
4. REMINDERS
The Highpointmarket.org website is fantastic as is the app. It is SO easy to download your preferred showrooms and events and make yourself a schedule.
