I am so enjoying my features this week relating to re-de-sign, the new book by Cathy Whitlock. Today’s post…the role of the residential interior designer. Cathy has done a great job giving an authentic look at what a Residential Designer actually does and what skills and experiences one needs to succeed in the business.

I love the quote by Mark Hampton that leads off Cathy’s chapter on Residential Design. “We all know that interior decoration is seen by many as a frivolous career full of ruffles and flourishes and preposterous fashion statements. Yet to transform the bleak and the barren into welcoming places where one can live seems to me an important and worthwhile goal in life. Sometimes this transformation can stun the eye, sometimes simply gladden it, but these are not frivolous pursuits.”

Those of us who labor in similar pursuits at creating this type of transformation, fully understand that their is nothing frivoulous about what we do. It is a great deal of hard work and passion that goes into each of our projects and Cathy uses her book re-de-sign, to help the public and the profession truly understand the level of skill, education and experience needed to serve the public and make a living.

One designer that is doing just that and doing it very well it Mark’s daughter, Alexa Hampton.  Cathy’s book tells of how Alexa began working in design with her father at the age of 13 learning the ropes of the business.  Alexa paired that experience with a bachelor’s of arts degree from Brown University, followed by studies in art and architecture in New York, and Florence, Italy. Upon her father’s death in 1998, she took over the business under much skepticism.

Well, Alexa soon put those skeptics to rest by becoming a very accomplished interior designer of her own right and soon progressed into product design. I recently had the pleasure of spending the morning with Alexa at a bloggers event at the High Point Market hosted by Hickory Chair and I was blown away by Alexa and her new introductions to her Hickory Chair collection.

Alexa and I are the same age and have a lot in common being designers who own firms and are trying to balance that with raising families. We shared ideas and she was so gracious and supportive offering advice to me from her experiences. She is totally down to earth and pleasure to be around.

I think it is Alexa’s great personality paired with her outstanding product designs that make her such a huge success in the home furnishings business. It really makes you want to buy her product after meeting her. And Just a few moments with Alexa and you think, “this is someone that I can relate to, someone I would like to have a glass of wine with.” It is apparent that she is designing for real families, people with children and pets and friends and social lives. This gives her products and her work so much credibility with the public.

Several of Alexa’s new pieces for Hickory Chair really stood out to me at market. Here are some of my favorites…

 

The coffe table is a stunner. The size is impressive and you can customize it by removing the hardware to make it more contemporary.

 

This barrel back chair is amazing with the veneer on the back. And it is surprisingly as comfortable as beautiful.

 

Alexa’s new dining tables, available in round or rectangular with a choice of reeded or figure 8 frieze are available in all the Hickory Chair finishes. They were definitely on the top of my list of favorite market finds. With so much versatility, where can you not use these peices?

 

There is also a coordinating dining chair that has the option of reeded insert, figure 8 insert or none at all. And the great thing is it comes in a bar and counter height as well.

 

Possibly the show-stopper is this desk with roll out file drawers underneath.  So functional,yet so beautiful, this desk can also come sans file drawers and work as just a console as seen below.

 

 

Alexa’s daybed is gorgeous and traditional, but the scale is great for extra sleeping space if used in a spare room or office.

 

And Alexa introduced several new fabrics from Kravet including the floral shown on this bed. These fabrics will be exclusively sold through Hickory Chair for a period of time which makes it easy to use them on any of Hickory Chairs vast selection of upholstery.

 

To see more of Alexa’s new introductions, stay tuned to the Hickory Chair website and blog. And to learn more about Alexa, her career, and the role of the Residential Interior Designer, be sure to check out Cathy Whitlock’s new book, re-de-sign and Alexa’s website.

To register to win an autographed copy, send an email with “Cathy Whitlock Book Giveaway” to me at tobifairley@gmail.com . The drawing will be held at noon central time this Friday, November 20th. Only one entry per person please.

Good luck!