Cautious...or risk taker?

Our ad. in Luxe Interiors+Design and in Rolls Royce Bi-Centenial book

When budgets are tight, it is really a tough decision to either go forward and invest in marketing and advertising, or sit tight and be cautious. I guess, I am more of a risk taker in my personal and professional life, and I chose at a time when business is the most challenging and tough, to expand the brand, invest in advertising, marketing, added an experienced  sales and marketing director to our team, who will be calling on architects, designers and  project specifiers for the hospitality industry.

The process of expanding the Interieurs brand, which is known for its industrial chic furniture and style,  was first to relocate  our New York hip Tribeca location to a contemporary 2 story space with outdoor terrace in the heart of the design District, on 58th by the D and D building. That was quite a risk and our clientele espressed really strong reactions to the move. However, I felt the brand was getting too locked into a specific look.

Did I make the right decision? ... I will find out. All I know is that I am more scared of inertia than being bold.

To describe Interieurs in 3 words...Modern...Global...Eclectic. 

I took a gamble and played our ad campaign (as seen above) on the modern luxurious side of Interieurs. We will also participate in Designing Greenwhich in early November and our booth  will be curated with furniture and lighting reflecting my vision of modern  eclectic.

I also display our antique and industrial pieces on  First Dibs, as seen above. We are actually in the process of changing our store front . I put together an advertising plan to give our first Dibs store front more visibility. I chose a mix of our latest lighting collection , the Simon Collection (introduced in my previous post) and my newest designs, contemporary Wave bench, the Xander sofa and the Ethiopia inspired Kamara buffet

Below is the ad campaign currently running on First Dibs. I would love to hear your opinion..

A Bientôt,

Francine

Clarity...

Light defines human existence. Everything we see is in fact no more and no less than either projected or reflected light.

I am thrilled to introduce our latest lighting collection of handblown glass creations by artist Simon Peleg. The artist has captured the subtlety and intrinsic beauty of light. In his work, light is transformed and the space it occupies glows in infinite reflections. 

We recently installed this custom light in one of our on going project in TriBeCa, New York

We designed this chandelier for the same client

As seen above the dining table (project in progress, whereas the unfinished look)

Our Storefront window

A Bientôt,

Francine

Reflections on October....

October, beautifully colorful as it is in these parts, is often a challenging month for me. Although the temperatures are often still quite warm, I can't pretend that it is still summer  the way I can in September. October is a usually a month of introspection and adjustment for me as I gear up for the long winter and I willfully redirect myself back into a creative mindset. That is a good thing, much as I love summer, I tend to be a bit lazier with my creative energy.

Last night Luke and I went to see "The Fountainhead" which made me think on some of Ayn Rand's themes, particularly as regards to the importance of not allowing the reactions of others to negatively impact my creative process. While I work with my client's to accomplish their dream environment, and I do "compromise" with THEM on how to implement that environment, I don't think at all about what people outside that client relationship might think of my work, and that has worked well for me for years. I please my clients, but in a perhaps more important sense, I please myself with the end result. It seems to me to be a wonderfully positive symbiotic relationship. As I try to convey to my clients at the outset of our relationships, ultimately, they are a creating an environment in which THEY are happy with the results; if others don't like it or appreciate it, why care?

The film, made in 1949, was shot in black and white to both stress the architectural elements of the story line as well as to draw a sharp contrast between the heroic individualist vision of the architect character Howard Roark and the pedestrian lowest common denominator negativism of the architectural critic Ellsworth Toohey (perfectly portrayed in the film as a pasty miserable fatuous  naysayer).

As we left the theatre after the film,  I saw the full moon rising over the railroad tracks and power lines near the theatre. It was an amazing sight, and a perfect reflection of my thoughts on October...a little Noir, am afraid, just as the movie

A Bientot,

Francine