Looking Back On High Point Market

This April marked another bi-annual pilgrimage to High Point Market – this time with the full team along for the ride! Over two and a half days, we made our way through 25 different showrooms to explore all the beautiful lighting, rugs, upholstery, case goods, art and décor our trade vendors have to offer.

Every High Point Market presents our team with ample opportunity to find inspiration, grow our expertise, and curate the essential assortment of fantastic furniture, rugs and lighting to adorn our projects with over the coming year.

These trips also give us the chance to get invaluable facetime with our dedicated reps from our trusted trade vendors. Supply chain issues are still a present hurdle, but these relationships let us get the inside scoop on what unique challenges vendors are currently working to overcome and how together we can strategize the best results for our clients.

At each showroom, we dive deep into the vendor’s assortment – sitting on every chair, sofa and chaise, opening each drawer and testing every mechanism, feeling upholstery and rugs for their softness and durability, and examining light fixtures for their unique details and nuance. When we recommend something to a client, it is our personal, first-hand account of the item based off these exact interactions.

Our primary goal for this trip was to find a new upholstery vendor to partner with. Ideally, this unicorn of a vendor would hit all our criteria:

  • A wide variety of frame shapes and styles
  • Fantastic stocked fabrics, especially velvets
  • The ability to use our own artisan fabrics
  • Domestically-made products
  • A great vendor relationship
  • Technology to support our design efforts

As we wrapped up our final day, we returned to the one showroom we were hopeful fit the bill. After chatting with the rep and discussing the best ways to introduce their line into our client projects – we made the partnership official. Their samples have already begun arriving at our studio, providing us plenty of chances to play and design.

The legwork was more than worth it to find our “unicorn” vendor that encapsulates the Michelle Gage Interiors aesthetic – whimsical, colorful, and patterned furnishings of the highest quality. We look forward to infusing our projects with their funky shapes, colorful fabrics and luxe finishes for months to come!

After a long day of sitting on things (it’s tougher than it sounds!), our team enjoyed kicking back with our industry peers and designer friends. It was a treat to return to socializing and networking after a long time behind masks. Until next time, High Point! 

We’d love to know which High Point highlights caught your eye. Our 2022 calendar is quickly filling up with a few spots remaining for late Summer and early Fall. Contact us to get your project started today!

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