To-The-Trade Episode Summary Maria Khouri grew up in Beirut during Lebanon’s 15-year civil war, moving 12 times in 10 years. She has spent her career making homes in San Francisco that feel like exactly that: home. Her boutique firm handles high-end residential work across the US and into Europe, and her commercial clients hire her
To-The-Trade Episode Summary Kelly Collier-Clark didn’t come to interior design through the traditional route. Before founding House of Clark Interiors, she spent nearly 20 years climbing the corporate ladder in the energy industry, managing high-profile accounts and running complex client relationships. She held a real estate license. She briefly left the workforce to raise her
To-The-Trade Episode Summary Laura Hildebrandt, owner of Interiors by LH in the Washington, DC area, joins Laurie Laizure for a conversation about what it really takes to build a design business when the stakes are personal, the resources are thin, and the learning curve is steep. Laura’s path into interior design started after a divorce
To-The-Trade Episode Summary 25 Years in the Trade, and One Clear Lesson Ann Feldstein has spent more than 25 years in the interior design industry. She started at Kravet, Inc. in 2000, spent 15 years there rising to vice president, and in 2015 launched Moxie Marketing, a firm built on the idea that women in
To-The-Trade Episode Summary This episode of To-The-Trade is brought to you by AJ Madison Pro, the industry’s trusted appliance resource for interior design professionals. What does it actually take to build a vendor relationship that lasts? Not a transactional one where you place an order and hope for the best, but the kind where a
To-The-Trade Episode Summary Laurie sits down with 26-year wall covering veteran PJ Delaye to talk industry shifts, the tech behind today’s wallpaper, and why specifying wall covering is one of the smartest business moves a designer can make. When PJ Delaye joined the wall-covering industry in 1997, his first message was a fax announcing that
To-The-Trade S3E05 PJ Delaye on Why Wall Covering Is a Designer’s Secret Profit Center Read More »
To-The-Trade Episode Summary Heather Cleveland of Heather Cleveland Design joins Laurie Laizure and Nile Johnson to talk about what really separates a mature design firm from the pack: not talent, but process. Heather shares her creative roots, her love of textiles, and the practical path that sharpened her technical confidence, then goes deep on the
To-The-Trade Episode Summary To-The-Trade host Laurie Laizure sits down with Phil Hotarek, a plumbing and HVAC contractor and decorative showroom owner in San Francisco, who also serves as president of Decorative Plumbing & Hardware Association (DPHA). Phil explains that DPHA was created to connect the industry’s key segments, manufacturers/brands, independent reps, and showrooms, in a
To-The-Trade S3E03 Inside DPHA, Roundtables That Build Real Trust with Phil Hotarek Read More »
To-The-Trade Episode Summary Marsha Sefcik joins Laurie Laizure and Nile Johnson for a wide-ranging conversation about running a design business with more clarity, stronger margins, and fewer “chaos leaks,” while still respecting the realities of life outside the studio. Laurie begins by sharing that they were introduced through Sarah from Mydoma, one of IDC’s longtime
To-The-Trade S3E02 Reverse Engineer Your Design Income with Marsha Sefcik Read More »
To-The-Trade Episode Summary In this episode of To-The-Trade, Laurie Laizure talks with Boston-based interior designer Dane Austin about the long game of building a design career, the quiet power of community, and why comfort and quality should drive nearly every major furnishing decision. Dane shares that he’s known he wanted to be a designer since
