Getting to Market--Before & After

Okay, full disclosure, I started this post months before April's High Point market and got a bit sidetracked by press releases and market preparations so never finished it! The idea was to show our design process, start to finish, for our showroom here in High Point. If you are anything like me, the task of outfitting your own home is daunting, much less 80,000 square feet twice a year! Often I get asked, "How do you do that? I can't imagine recreating this space for each market." So I thought I would show some of the behind the scenes process.

2 MONTHS BEFORE MARKETA sea of folding tables hold brand new fabrics samples that our Creative Director, Laurie Reed, and Vice President of Upholstery Fashion, Anne Hood, hunt through in order to find just the right one to tell our spring story. This is what this Century Signature Upholstery gallery looked like in February.

OPENING DAY APRIL MARKET 2010 It is hard to even recognize this as the same room! All tables put aside and we are dressed up and ready for company. Here the dramatic Oscar de la Renta shell benches in a chalk white finish start to tell the tale of Century Signature Upholstery with a new sofa from this market positioned directly behind. This market gray was our neutral for this gallery, livened up with celery greens.

BEFORE MARKETIn this room Laurie and Anne literally map out each room in our showroom in fabric. The walls are lined with cardboard. Fabric memos and showroom renderings are pinned up by room and product line. You can see on the back wall the Pagoda fabric which was the beginning of our lobby plans.

APRIL MARKET 2010

Here all the cardboard has been tucked away to showcase another Century Signature Upholstery room. Laurie and Anne mixed metallics in a dramatic and sophisticated way. Note the stainless steel chair in a metallic floral!

While I did not get around to posting this when intended, it is the design cycle that we go through before each High Point market. I leave you with this shot that I took this morning on my phone, walking back to my office. As you can see, the process has already started for October 2010! Full circle. ~~~