Wow. It's nearly a month since Market and I haven't yet written about it. What a whirlwind that was. I went with a designer pal who was so wonderful about showing me the ropes. It was a fun and and also informative few days.
High Point is basically a small town devoted to the furniture trade. Many products are still made in factories in and around High Point, NC. Many manufacturers have showrooms there, opened 2 weeks a year during Spring and Fall Markets. What you can see in High Point covers the gamut from furniture to accessories to lighting. From the top of one of the buildings, it's trade showrooms for as far as the eye can see.
By the end of each day, we were completely bleary-eyed. The people, the products, the southern ladies with their high heels, dresses and make-up. Seriously we were on our feet ALL day walking from showroom to showroom. Some are at a distance from each other. And everywhere you went, there were "the ladies," all dolled-up.
There were some interesting products which I'll write about and also some interesting people I met. which is what makes it so much more than just a business trip. And even though there were something like 80K attendees, I managed to bump into some people I know — a former client looking to start an interior design product on the internet, some showroom owners from the Boston Design Center, and the head of the fabric division for one of the national showrooms. Yeah, it's a small world.
I'll write more about cool products and interesting people in the upcoming month.
