Social Media Diary 4 Year 1:SNUGging

As we feverishly prepare for High Point Market, I have flashbacks of our introductory  SNUG launch at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair last spring. 5 months just flew by and now we're on our second show and debuting this Friday at Interhall IH611. InterHall at the IHFC Building has earned a reputation for housing what's new, what's hot, and what will be the next big trend. We are extremely excited to be in this premium hotspot amidst twelve million square feet of endless showrooms. For our Spring show, Tracy Hiner of Black Crow Studios, collaborated with us by showing some snug love with her wallpaper artistry. We met on Twitter and didn't meet in real life until the day before the show! A testament to how social media can work for any of us. Here is her ahhmaazing work!

And here is her blog post on our collaboration process

 

Here is Tracy with the wallpaper Alex and I chose. It was her favorite too and we didn't even ask her to do anything specific. Voila, the colors matched! I am happy to say that because of our collaboration, she is also doing something with another Twitter friend soon for the holidays and I look forward to seeing it come together.

 The Queen of Social Media in the home and furniture industry, 

Leslie Carothers,

looking resplendent on the Pugella sofa.

 caught their first meeting in real life or as we say in Twitlingo, IRL

Leslie and Marcy Feld of Irwin Feld Design

 Another IRL moment for us with Carmen Natschke of

The Decorating Diva

 The ICFF party at the MoMA Garden

 It couldn't have been more exquisite!

Jackie's sister and daughter, Jackie Von Tobel, Tracy

While in the city, I also got to catch Michele Keith's 

book signing for Designers Here and There at Rizzoli

 Eric Cohler, one of the featured designers, 

signing my book.

 Rizzoli Bookstore

 Its interiors are as venerable as its tomes.

Then I got invited by Tamara Stephenson

to Dominique Browning's Slow Love 

book signing at Barnes and Noble

It was a wonderful reading and parts of the Q & A were thought provoking. I bought the book and had it signed for a dear friend who was in a similar situation. It was the perfect token for her when we met for brunch the next day. I read a few chapters and will definitely buy another copy.

Dominique Browning, widely known as the former editor of House & Garden 

though she wears many hats and blogs at  Slow Love Life

The lovely Tamara and her son, Myles. We also met on Twitter and have shared a lovely conversation over  coffee at Via Quadronno. I am enamored with this little gem  on the Upper East Side and have been back since. Thanks T for bringing me there. Tamara's blog Nest Nest Nest showcases not only her interior design talents but also gives a peek into her philosophical perspective. Design, gardening, entertaining, antiques, and history, with beautiful photography (by daughter Gaby) are interwoven beautifully. As I rush about my marathon week, I try to channel all the sensations that embody the slow life to balance me.

High Point Furniture Market Highlights

The first time I set foot in High Point, North Carolina was in 1994. My father took me on a working trip before I started freshman year at the University of the Philippines hoping that  I will imbibe the furniture culture. Growing up in the industry inhaling sawdust and chemicals, I took some of it for granted. The HP landscape left a lot to be desired  too that some of us jokingly called it Low Point. Over the years,  it proved to be my training ground as much as the factory floors. I still recall the times I would pick a suit to wear so I would look like I fit in with the men and dress it up with stilettos , tag along while lugging material swatches and sketches, listen, absorb and cram everything while fighting the jetlag. It seems eons ago now. Various experiences have shaped me and I've come to take on furniture market more confidently, curate it to my focus and priorities and make it more fun. Thankfully, the lodging, amenities and restaurant options have improved some after being suspended in its own time warp.

Joining the dynamic Withit (Women in the Home Industries Today) organization enabled me to meet amazing women in the industry and attend educational events too.  A week ago, Tobi Fairley, discussed about Building Your Celebrity Design Brand through Social Media. Being business | design | tech savvy, Tobi, was the perfect personality to enlighten the packed room about all the different social media outlets.

Tobi Fairley's Top Tips for Social Media

 put yourself out there

like anything in life, take the risk

avoid taboo topics you avoid in real life

transparency and authenticity are cherished online

become the expert and find your niche

you must give your followers a reason to want more

style and substance are no longer separate

practice what you preach

I started following Tobi, one of  2009's Top 20 Young Designers in America, on Twitter months ago so it was truly a charm to finally meet her and put a voice to the face. She cohosted the Tweetup with Ed Marin and Jennifer Balest of Soicher Marin at their new showroom. Friends who came were interior designer and adjunct professor of visual arts @nyycarl07 , @johnstrauss who also showed his fine furniture at Interhall, Charlotte interior designers @StarrMiller @WandaSHorton  with sweet husband Roger, design, licensing and patent lawyer  @jerry_cohen, and social media mentor and interior designer @ProsperbyDesign   We all marvel about how Twitter has brought us like minded individuals together and feel like we've known each other longer than we actually have.

Withit cohosted their Competitive Intelligence event with  Leif Petersen, Inc. showroom  and presented one of my biggest design crushes (evah!) Karim Rashid! Stephanie Lowder, Withit president aka @RareBirdCreativ, interviewed him and it was as real as can be. Before I knew there was a  KarimSpace book signing after, I got an autograph as he drank a capuccino. I know I'm so cheesy but just had to! He so rocks his signature all white and pink ensemble and wore a diamond and pink sapphire band that just made it even sweeter.

 

Random Notes from Karim Rashid's Interview

design emotional experiences instead of physical

designing is shaping our evolution

contemporary shapes the future

nothing lasts forever

world is more ethereal and visceral

technology has empowered us to become creative

design is about denoting how we live

we live in the casual age mentally & physically

furniture will be softer and lower

excited about bioplastics

he envisions an all plastic chair in sugarcane or corn

the US consumes 30 million H20 bottles a day

1 out of 20 people write a letter

Adorno mortality

never checks a bag when travelling

he never reads fiction and would rather see a film

retail will die eventually due to the Internet

being inspired to create is in his DNA

innovate or die

People ask me why he is my Design Crush?

I just love his philosophy!
And of course, I had to have our photo taken together!

High Point is never the same without hanging out with my Cebu posse Richard Stolzman and @cornelchiriac. Casa di Cornel has been my home in High Point for awhile now and it is made even sweeter that he just married his sweet @rodikamk. I've encouraged them to get more active on Twitter and they are having fun with it. These two spoil me with healthy delish meals and algae pills which has been keeping me flu free and uber healthy for 2 years now. No one believes this until they see it but the princess&thepea mattress of choice at la Casa is this  fashionable oversized bean bag! It comforms to my back like no other and I do my yoga stretches on it. No one can ever replace dear Adele, the in house masseuse at my Dad's home, who puts me to sleep faster than a pill but this Paris Mon Amour kept me recharged during Market!