Education Is Why Designers Attend The Luxury Home Design Summit
What Is The Luxury Home Design Summit, And Why Should You Attend
While working in the interior design field for 30-plus years and seeing interiors and trends change throughout that time, gaining more experience is a given. Exploring various industry conferences and markets offers an interior designer knowledge on keeping up with their industry. By gaining this experience, an interior designer can educate their clients about products and services that are out of the ordinary and trending today.
The term luxury home design is misleading to the consumer. Think of flashy, wealth, cars, and money. However, that is not the case, as quiet luxury is the wave of the future. Collaborating is necessary to learn about new vendors who offer fine finishes and products and professionals to do our job and do it right. The Luxury Home Design Summit is not only an educational summit. It is a networking event like no other. Where architects, builders, designers, and product vendors gather to meet, collaborate, and share professional knowledge. The Luxury Home Design Summit is produced by Esteem Media and New England Home Magazine, and what an event. Various panels and speakers shared their projects and expertise during this two-day summit. Held annually in Cape Cod at The Chatham Bars Inn in Chatham, Massachusetts, is the perfect setting for this event. Private dinners with vendors, lunch breakout sessions, and cocktail parties made it easy to meet any one of these professionals.
My Second Year At The Luxury Home Design Summit
I had the unique pleasure of meeting a few of the speakers. First and foremost, international interior design legend Nina Campbell shared her belief that each house should be personally tailored to each client and reflect their particular needs and lifestyle. Nina also incorporates into her beautiful designs, antiques, heirloom pieces from her client’s family, and lots of colors. Not only was I inspired by Nina’s discussion, but I also had the pleasure of being introduced to her by my good friend Bethanne Matari of Currey and Company and a summit sponsor. Enjoying a private lunch with Nina was fascinating, and sharing private conversation during after-lunch coffee with her and Bethanne was a real treat and pinch-me moment. I am not the type of person who get’s star-struck, but Nina Campbell! Such a treasure and asset to our industry. Her new book, A Maine House, shouldn’t be passed up. It is beautiful, gorgeous, and full of design inspiration for any interior design enthusiast to enjoy.
A private dinner with Splash of Newton, Massachusetts, was also another fantastic collaboration for me. This is where I met Sam Kachmar of SKA Architects. I work with architects, and of course, to collaborate with them, there has to be the right fit. We chatted at dinner, sharing a little about our firms. Later that night, via a LinkedIn connection request from Sam, I noticed he also was the new owner of the Corner House Restaurant in Sandwich, NH. I messaged him back and told him we have a house in Sandwich we were restoring. Meeting for breakfast the next day, we shared more. A random meet-up at the Corner House the following Friday evening solidified that networking at events is so important. We are now working with Sam and SKA Architects, collaborating on a project at our Sandwich house on the new enclosed veranda.
There was another interesting panel discussion named, Luxury and Sustainable Design: Yes, You Can Have it all!
This session was about learning how professionals across the design and construction spectrum actively incorporate sustainable practices into creating luxury properties.
After the discussion, my interest was sparked by Eric Groft’s presentation and his new book Beyond Bold Inspiration /Collaboration / Evolution. Eric, a landscape architect, CEO, and Director of Oehme Van Sweden & Associates has a unique way of designing and incorporating native plants, creating masterpiece gardens and landscapes. I had the opportunity to meet and speak with Eric after the panel and share some time during breakfast. We are now in collaboration on the Sandwich House property and can’t wait for our first meeting together. His book is absolutely stunning and full of collaborative landscape designs: another coffee table book I have acquired and a recommended must-read.
This panel was moderated by Allison Iantosca, Owner and President of F.H. Perry Builder, with panelists Mark Doughty, President of Thoughtforms; Eric Groft, CEO, and Director, Oehme Van Sweden & Associates; Kimberly Jamerson, Co-founder of K Studios & Company, Steven P. Siegel, P.E., President, Siegel Structural Engineers, George Watt, Principal Designer, and Founder, Watt Architecture.
I Recommend Attending The Luxury Home Design Summit
Having attended the Luxury Home Design Summit, I can confirm that for anyone in the industry who wants to uplevel their offerings in their business, adding luxury design to your service menu, you must network, which leads to project collaboration. Adding industry professionals to your business that you can offer to your clients is paramount. This is why I attend the Luxury Home Design Summit, to always become more educated on luxury design for my clients.
A charming guest bedroom gets transformed into a home office with a murphy bed creating extra storage space and a more productive workspace.