Steelyard, the premier business platform for professional interior designers, took their successful Steelyard Designers Lounge to the Las Vegas Market, bringing top-tier business sessions, collaborative networking and gathering opportunities, and support for home furnishings and decor associations to attendees at the January show.
Full-house crowds packed the Designers Lounge on the 5th floor of Building C, to hear and learn from business leaders, provide feedback on the state of designer/brand relationships, and to participate in events created by Las Vegas Market and supported by Steelyard.
“We couldn’t be more pleased with how engaged the professional design community is and how they expressed that through their strong use of the Steelyard Designers Lounge and the programming we developed for them in collaboration with key industry figures,” says Shawn Hughes, Steelyard’s CEO. “Designers came away with outstanding business education, we learned more than we could have imagined from our discussion sessions, our brands will find some of those findings incredibly relevant, and designers found a great place to work, recharge, connect and collaborate. Plus, we shared the good news from several industry trade and design associations that we wholeheartedly support, and everyone had a great time.”
Steelyard partnered with Soft Design Lab and Las Vegas Market for a red-carpet experience created and hosted by Deb Barrett and Jackie Von Tobel. As part of that event, dozens of designers participated in an in-depth discussion labeled, “Designers Unfiltered: The Good, The Bad, The Unexpected,” allowing participants to share their experiences working with manufacturers, sales reps, and other product vendors. The results from that focus group-style conversation will be aggregated into proprietary data that Steelyard shares with its more than 125 brand partners allowing those companies to better understand and work with the interior design trade.
More than 200 designers took part in events in the Steelyard Designers Lounge including professional education programming such as:
- Gail Doby, co-founder and chief vision officer of Gail Doby Coaching & Consulting’s presentation, entitled “Creating An Amazing Year,” a step-by-step guide to creating business and personal success.
- “Protecting Your Intellectual Property: What Every Creative Should Know,” presented by international furniture design and intellectual property attorney, Jack Hicks, and co-sponsored by the International Furnishings & Design Association (IFDA) and the International Society of Furniture Designers (ISFD).
- From famed publication, Luxe Interiors + Design, National Home Furnishings Director, Blaire Rzempoluch shared “Setting Yourself Up for Success with Luxe.”
The Steelyard Designers Lounge was also a hub for design and industry organization meet-ups and for the industry to learn more about several important associations and organizations. Hughes notes, “We believe in the power of collaboration. There are some really valuable groups that help uplift our entire industry and we are proud to highlight and partner with them.”
For April High Point Market, Steelyard will bring back their eye-catching Steelyard Airstream for designers and others to use. Parked on Commerce Avenue adjacent to The Point, the Airstream is the go-to backdrop for market-goers’ Instagram posts and stories; the host location for live and filmed interviews with top designers; a spot for designers to relax, work or meet with friends; find information on the brands that work closely in support of designers; and, as always, it’s the exclusive locale for the limited-edition Steelyard nail polishes.
“The reason we do everything we do is to bring about stronger relationships between professional designers and brands that want to serve them,” Hughes notes. “When we give brands and designers the ability to meet and work efficiently and without barriers, they win, and our entire industry wins.”
