High Point Market Events

We are just a few weeks away from October High Point Market and we have an array of events this fall so we’re rolling them out in the next several posts. We hope to see you in our showroom in IHFC, Suite M110, at some point during the design extravaganza! If you haven’t signed up, there’s still time to register. First on our event list is a toast to our 35th anniversary on Friday, October 13, from 3 to 4 pm. Following from 4 to 5 pm will be our bonsai master Brownlee Currey, who will give everyone a tour of the amazing plants in the showroom and pass along his thoughts about how to maintain them.

High Point Market Events

On Saturday, October 14, from 3 to 5 pm, we welcome Vicente Wolf into our showroom for a book signing. His new release Vicente Wolf: Creative Interior Solutions showcases his remarkable design prowess and is filled with inspiring “Design Lessons” (and the photography is drool-worthy!). We will present an interview with Vicente on the blog next week so be sure to stop back by. On Sunday, October 15, at 10 am, Vicente will have an intimate conversation with Gary Inman at The Point, which is just around the block from our showroom at the corner of Commerce Avenue and Wrenn Street. A book signing and luncheon will follow the discussion. From 3 to 5 pm on Sunday, we will celebrate new additions to the Suzanne Duin Collection in our showroom.

We round out our events with a book signing for Debbe Daley, whose Interior Motives: Designing a Career with Passion is a true inspiration, on Monday, October 16, from 3 to 5 pm. The heartfelt narrative lays out her personal story as she struggled through the inevitable twists and turns that life brings, and stayed true to her quest to spend her work-life doing what she loves. “Sometimes the little things that hold our attention—the things we always find ourselves gravitating toward—can have the biggest effects on who we become over the course of a lifetime,” she so aptly said as she opened the introduction to the book. She goes on to explore her Greek heritage, her partnerships and marriages, and her determination to provide her daughter with the skills and support she needed in order to become her own well-rounded person.

Debbe speaks to the Design for Today Collaborative members at the Boston Design Center.

As DEBBE grew into her interior design career, she realized she was not the only one who was attempting to carve out a work-path that she could whole-heartedly embrace. That’s one of the most remarkable messages of this book and OF Debbe’s entire platform—for quite some time, she has dedicated her energies toward helping other women who find themselves wanting to transition to a more satisfying career. Before she could identify this as a quest, she had her own journey to take and it is spelled out beautifully between the covers of her book. Chapters include “What Drives Your Creativity?” “Find Your Path, and Get on It,” “Visualize Your Opportunities,” “Diversify to Find Your Niche,” “Managing Risk,” “Accentuate the Positive,” “Share What You Know,” and “Pivot,” each filled with savvy solutions to problems most career women face during their lifetimes.

Debbe and her pup Kalli during a photo shoot in her home.

Debbe shares the remarkable fact that she didn’t even know that interior design was a career option when it was time for her to apply for college. “Much later, it would become clear to me that ‘what we want to be when we grow up’ and what appeals to us career-wise is often less a reflection of what we wish for or enjoy and more about what we’re exposed to do,” she writes. After she entered the corporate world, she realized she hadn’t answered the question at the heart of tuning into her creative impulses: “What is going to make me happy?”

Debbe regularly taps Currey & Company products for her projects, like the Tidewater Silver Chandelier hanging above this diving room.

Fast forward several decades later and she has found the answer, which involves not only a thriving interior design business but a heavy dose of giving back through her interior design school that helps women who want to transition from other careers figure out how to do so. “Most of the women who find me are in their mid-fifties and up,” she says. “They’re leaving their jobs as nurses, lawyers, or accountants, or long-time participants in the healthcare industry or corporate entities. They want to experience their creative sides.” Debbe also sees quite a few mothers who are in their 40s and 50s, as well as empty nesters or women whose spouses have passed away. Her continuing education credits help them dip their toes into the water to see if a career in interior design would be a good fit for them.

A pair of our Florence Bronze Chandeliers illuminate this kitchen designed by Debbe Daley. Image credit: Emily O’Brien Photo.

“My courses are hands-on,” she explains. “We don’t just sit in a classroom and discuss theory—we go to job sites, meet contractors, go to the Boston Design Center to meet showroom managers, and spend time with the software programs that interior designers need to be full service firms in today’s market.” She cites several success stories that bring her an immense amount of pride—from the woman who attended her classes as someone wanting to leave corporate healthcare and succeeded as the owner of a design-centric retail shop to the high-school student who interned with her during the summers and who has been voted one of Interior Design Magazine’s 30 Under 30 elite. We asked her if transforming lives gives her satisfaction. “I love it,” she answers. “To help women has always been a passion for me so this really is a dream come true.” Please join us on Monday, October 16, from 3 to 5 pm, to meet this impressive woman and pick up a copy of her book. It truly is chock full of inspiration.