High Point Spring 2018 Preview
The stats
The High Point Market is the largest furnishings industry trade show in the world, bringing more than 75,000 people to High Point, North Carolina, every six months. Serious retail home furnishings buyers, interior designers, architects, and others in the home furnishings industry can be found in High Point twice a year because if you can’t find it in High Point…it probably doesn’t exist.
Current Demographics
180 Buildings
11.5 Million Square Feet of Showspace
75,000 Attendees Each Market
More Than 2000 Exhibitors
100+ Countries Represented
Tens of Thousands of New Product Introductions
Approximately 10% of Attendees Are International
If you are in the world of interior design for residential interiors High Point Market is one of the biggest markets for seeing new line introductions, sourcing and buying furniture, lighting, fabrics, rugs, and accessories and discovering new liens to the industry. You will never get to see everything, but having a good plan is everything.I decided to do a HP Market Authority sponsored tour and got connected with embellishment expert Jana Phipps who is a gem of a person and designs trim for fashion, décor and luxury DIY. She is a long time HP Market attendee and hooked us up with an incredible array of vendors, that were know and unknown to me.
This was only my second time to High Point market and my goals of going on a tour were twofold:
to get to see some vendors that I was either unaware of, or had very little knowledge about them
to get more comfortable navigating the High Point Market buildings.
Jana was super organized and focused, but she was also very simply, fun to hang out with. She very quickly showed us the ropes of the best way to get around this mammoth market. I cannot recommend a tour enough.Jana selected a great mix of vendors ranging from more traditional to modern. I especially loved the visit to the Mill Building, where there were multiple unexpected smaller lines to explore. It was off the beaten track, but these are the gems that exist outside of the larger buildings or more well-known streets. The day wound down with a visit to Red Egg, which has a magical porch where we got to have a few sips of wine and talk design with Amy Flurry and some of the other designers on the tour. I have devoured Amy Flurry’s book by the way (Recipe for Press). If you are a designer looking at the ins and outs of getting published you have to own this book!Now for the fun stuff, what I saw!
Day One: Tour with HP Market and Jana Phipps
Big shout out to Adam Japko of Esteem Media who got us hooked up and also sponsored the program!Meet the TQxHPMKT Insiders: Anne DeCocco & Meagan Fesperman of DeCocco Design, designer Vincenza Dimuro, Jaclyn Isaac of Downtown Decorators, Carole Marcotte of Form and Function Raleigh, Beth of Beth Simon Interiors, Justine of Justine Sterling Design, Virginia Toledo of Toledo Geller, and Mary Leonard TQ intern extraordinaire via Withit and recent grad from NC State.)Also A BIG THANK YOU to: Trisha Yearwood,Chapter 3, Madcap Cottage, Jane Dagmi of Designers Today, Selamat, Wildcat Territory, Norwalk Furniture, Wesley Hall, Mill Village Collective, Jiti Home, Nalesso Interiors, Deco Tours, Erica Gimson Design, Zaar Design Center,Dunes & Duchess, Eleanor Rigby Leather, House of Cindy, Cotton & Quill,Gina Julian Art, Jill Seale Design Studio, High Point Antique & Design Center, Ladonna Antiques, Amy Flurry-Recipe for Press, and Red Egg.See the speed tour of our day here and all of the fabulous designers that I met!
