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Bringing Clients the Freshest in Home Furnishings
A major benefit we bring to clients is our in-depth, direct relationship with leading home furnishings manufacturers and suppliers. They are part of our offering of luxury furniture and furnishings, custom window treatments, wall and floor coverings, accessories, and lighting. It’s also the place to meet vendors, new and old, and look at the quality of their pieces. It’s a time for designers to be excited!
One of the ways we strengthen these supplier relationships is our annual visit to the October International Home Furnishings Market in High Point NC. Roughly 100 joined Barbara Elliott and Jennifer Ward-Woods, owners of The Sisters and Company in Stone Mountain, GA were joined by over 100 Decorating Den Interiors owners. Everyone spent time looking at and sitting on high quality and distinctive home furnishings from vendors such as Universal, Caracole, and so many more top brands only available to designers.
What this means to our clients is that The Sisters and Company is part of a network of over 250 interior design businesses throughout North America. Our collective franchises represent a major source of revenue for our suppliers and when we tour the Market and enter one of the High Point showrooms, we make a real impact. The special attention we receive benefits our clients. We get details about what makes the products we bring to clients so special.
Staying Fresh
The High Point Market is the largest home furnishings industry trade show in the world, with over 11 million square feet and about 2000 exhibitors throughout about 180 buildings. It is daunting for small independent designers. Again, though, our clients benefit from a major advantage we have.
Breakfast in bed at Universal.
The Director of Design and Head of Merchandising, Sr. Vice President David Haseley, and his team, work directly with senior executives of our supplier firms, often the CEO, to ensure that our time at the Market is most effective. We are very efficiently shown the newest products in home furnishings, the newest in textiles, the newest in construction, the newest in styles, the newest in sustainability, the newest in color trends, and anything else that’s new in interior decor.
Craftsmanship
We also visit manufacturing plants to see first-hand the craftsmanship, attention to detail, and overall quality that is a feature of the products we offer to clients. And we get to meet employees so they can know we are a major customer.
Panelists for Universal’s panel discussing “Designing for Different Generations.” From left: Barbara Elliott, Jennifer Ward-Woods, Lynne Lawson and Laura Outland.
Even those of us who can’t attend Market still get the benefit. Our designers are each part of geographic region that meets frequently for camaraderie, continuing education and updates from our area supplier representatives. The first regional meeting after Market will involve in-depth discussion of what was fresh.
Leadership
Our clients even help us strengthen our supplier relationships by enabling us to serve as a resource for our suppliers. Because we do such a wide range of design projects company-wide, we are often asked to participate in educational panel discussions at home furnishings showrooms at High Point.
This year Universal Furniture invited Atlanta designers Barbara Elliott and Jennifer Ward-Woods and Lynne Lawson and Laura Outland of Columbia, MD to discuss “Designing for Different Generations.”
All of these design pros have achieved Designer of the Year status as judged by interior design journalists evaluating room makeovers in our annual International Dream Room competition.
Meeting up with Libby Langdon
It’s all about giving clients an edge in considering options for a new room design. We want our clients to be confident that they are getting solid knowledge from us on what is new, what the quality is like, and what is fresh and new.
Contact The Sisters and Company or call 770-498-7780
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