Kristine Rzasa: Exploring Interior Design, Client Relationships, and Trendsetting

Today, we’re thrilled to introduce a true design dynamo, Kristine Rzasa! Currently rocking her role as the Outside Account Manager for Schumacher fabrics in the beautiful Greater Palm Beaches, Kristine is no stranger to the design scene. 

Her journey began in the bustling Boston Design Center, surrounded by all things design, thanks to her mom, an interior designer, and her dad, an architect! With a rich tapestry of experience in both residential and commercial design—from Robert Allen to Altro Floors—Kristine’s passion for design has only grown. 

Now, living it up in West Palm Beach and enjoying the sunny lifestyle while juggling pickleball, tennis, golf, and her adorable English Springer Spaniel, Chloe, Kristine is here to share her love for design and how Schumacher is making waves in the design community. So, let’s dive in and get inspired by Kristine's design journey!"

Learn more at:
https://twinteriors.com/podcast/

Learn more at:
https://twinteriors.com/podcast/

https://scottwoolley.com

Chapters

• 0:00 iDesign Lab Podcast Open
• 1:59 Welcome Kristine Rzasa

Transcript

iDesign Lab Podcast 17

"Designing with Fabrics: Kristine Rzasa’s Journey in the World of Design"

Guest: Kristine Rzasa

The following podcast, iDesign Lab, is an SW Group production in association with Five Star and TW Interiors. This is iDesign Lab, a podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style and design. Curator of interiors, furnishings, and lifestyles.

Hosted by Tiffany Woolley, an interior designer and a style enthusiast, along with her serial entrepreneur husband, Scott. iDesign Lab is your ultimate design podcast, where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design and its constant evolution in style and trends. iDesign Lab provides industry insight, discussing the latest trends, styles, and everything in between to better help you style your life through advice from trendsetters, designers, influencers, innovators, fabricators, and manufacturers, as well as personal stories that inspire, motivate, and excite.

So whether you're listening to iDesign Lab during your commute, or in a cozy nook in your home or office, grab a coffee or a chardonnay and join us on this elevated, informative, and lively journey into the world of all things design. Today we're thrilled to introduce the true design dynamo, Christine Raza. Currently rocking her role as the outside account manager for Schumacher Fabrics in the beautiful Greater Palm Beaches, Christine is no stranger to the design scene.

Her journey began in the bustling Boston Design Center, surrounded by all things design thanks to her mom, an interior designer, and her dad, an architect. With a rich tapestry of experience in both residential and commercial design, from Robert Allen to Altro floors, Christine's passion for design has only grown. Now living it up in West Palm Beach and enjoying the sunny lifestyle while juggling pickleball, tennis, golf, and her adorable English Springer Spaniel Chloe, Christine is here to share her love for design and how Schumacher is making waves in the design community.

So let's dive in and get inspired by Christine's design journey. Today I am excited to welcome Christine Raza to the iDesign Lab podcast. Christine is currently an outside account manager for Schumacher Fabrics.

She's our rep, and we live in this great area of Palm Beach County, so Schumacher is a favorite. So welcome, and we want you to start off by telling us a little bit about yourself. Thank you so much.

So yes, I am the Schumacher rep, and I cover a territory from Melbourne, Florida, down to Boca Raton. And so each area is a little bit different design-wise, so it's interesting when I travel to the different areas. But I've been with Schumacher just over a year now, and I'm sort of new to Florida.

I've been here about full-time five years. We purchased a home here about nine years ago, and I'm originally from Massachusetts. So I have New England roots, and most of my career has been up in New England.

But the cold weather sort of got to you, yeah, you kind of say to yourself. We were coming down here for long weekends and vacations, and then we said, let's just flip it. So now we're here full-time, my boyfriend and myself, and we go back up to Massachusetts for vacays and summer time.

Yeah, I have a cute little home in Falmouth, Cape Cod. Oh, it's so cute there. Yeah, I know.

I miss it. The more I'm away, I miss it more. So you go back for, like, Thanksgiving? Totally.

We'll be here for Thanksgiving, but then Christmas and Hanukkah, yeah. I love that. We'll go back up there.

We still have faith. Both of us are from Massachusetts, so we still have family and tons of friends still up there. So, how did you, which I know from, like, reading and talking and following up on the background in Massachusetts, you kind of come from a background of design roots.

I do, I do. And it's funny, my boyfriend now is also, he's an architect by trade. So he got his degree at the Boston Architectural College.

My father was an architect, and my mother worked for a big interior design firm out in Western Mass. They were Delray-based in Western Mass. Really? They're no longer in business.

Yeah. So at what age did you kind of realize that you were going to go into interior design? Well, you know, listen, my parents built their home that my mother's still in. My father's since passed, but my father designed and built their house.

And so I feel like from age 10 up, I was, you know, in the thick of it all with them. So, yeah, they were always designing or dragging me somewhere to go look at doors, you know, or like other Cape Cod-styled homes. Sounds like our kids are going to say the same thing one day.

Yeah, like we, I grew up in a classic Cape Cod-style home, and so I can remember trips to Cape Cod, and that's probably why I decided to buy a home there. I feel like I bought my second home first. I bought it like, I don't know how many years ago, 20 years ago, 25 years ago.

But I bought that first, and then I knew I was traveling for work a lot, so I would do overnights for work, but I would always have that home to come home to. So prior to Schumacher, were you in interior design? Yeah, so my first job out of college, I went to Northeastern in Boston, and I worked at the Boston Design Center right away, my mother. So my mother called in a favor, I think.

Did she call in a favor for that? I'm not sure. But that was my first job after college. It's such a cool facility there, too.

Yeah, yeah, it was great. But I was trapped there all day, right? So I was definitely the type that needed to be out and about and like moving and grooving, right? I couldn't be, I wasn't like, it was, you were trapped there all day. So that lasted for a couple years.

And then, and then I, you know, after a while, the big city gets to be too much, I think. So I moved back home. My grandmother was sick.

And I moved back to Western Mass. And I said, I've got to like focus. I was very, I was all over the place.

And I said, I've got to focus. I thought I would do my master's. I thought I would, you know, I took a couple of business classes for my MBA.

And I was like, but then after my grandmother got sick, I took a job in Connecticut at Traveler's Insurance. Oh, funny. So right in Harvard.

What a departure. Like so, right. But I thought that that was going to, like, I was like, I need a real job, right? I need a real focused job.

I know this. And like a big corporate world, Traveler's Insurance. And, but no, that was not good.

So then I, my first real rep job was Robert Allen Fabrics. Right. So that was like back in the day.

And. Did you travel for that? I did. I moved.

I packed up. I moved to Pennsylvania. Is that where they were based out of? They were based out of Long Island, New York.

That's what I remember. Oh, no, no. Sorry.

They're out of Mansfield, Mass. That's Cravett. Mansfield, Mass.

So they were in our backyard in Massachusetts. But I covered a territory in Eastern PA. So in my early, gosh, how old was I? So you took a new job, moved to a different state.

Did you know the state? Was it all brand new? All brand new. All brand new. And how do you dive in and design your route? Or how do you, do they give you a list of designers? These are the people you're going to check in with? Yeah.

Or do you do all that? No. I mean, listen, they have a list and you have it sorted in a thousand different ways. Back then we didn't have GPS's either.

So that was a little tricky. So it was like maps. Actually like.

Pull it out. Pull out a map and look at it. So that was really.

And I'm trying to remember if I even had a cell phone yet. Well, that's what I was thinking. I didn't have an iPhone until my daughter was born.

And she's 18. So that's when I start thinking back like. Right.

Oh my God. Like what did we do before then? I think I did. I think we would call in on a pay phone.

Is that right? And then. Yeah. And then you had an 800 number.

And you designers would leave us messages on the. I mean, things were slower. We're so fast.

An answering machine. It's so instant now, isn't it? It's so instant. An answering machine.

I had an answering machine. Yes. Now you think about back then.

Just had a conversation with a friend the other day. When we used to like. Hey, I want to hook up with my friend Paul.

I'd call his house. I'd leave a message with his mom. Hoping that his mom would give the message to him.

And he might call me back before the evening started. Oh my gosh. And today.

I mean, my kids don't understand that. He's explaining this to our children. Exactly.

No, they don't get it. And I think we could forward messages. Because I used to send all the like kooky phone messages to like my teammates.

And I'd be like, oh, listen to this person. Listen to what they want. And I would send all the kooky ones over.

But yeah, that was Eastern Pennsylvania. It was good. So how long did you stay in that territory with Robert Allen? Just a couple of years only.

My father got sick. My father had a stroke. Every move or every pivotal thing in my life is based around like family.

And I'm an only child. So like, it's, you know, you have to respond when your family's not well. So my father had had a stroke.

I think that's what happened. Yeah, my father had a stroke. And he was running a commercial design build firm.

And he had jobs. He had, you know, buildings being built. And I stepped in.

Moved back. Stepped in. And yeah.

Yeah. It was his. He was.

It was bad. He was. And talking about the old days.

So he drew all his. There was no pad yet. Right.

So he was hand drawing. And the stroke affected his right side, which affected his. He was left handed.

So he couldn't draw anymore. And just kind of like we finished up his projects. He was on for rehab for a while.

And then just sort of never really, you know, went back to it. So he took an early retirement. And then I moved on to another rep job at that point.

So did you stay in interior design? Yeah. From that point forward? So is there any one individual that inspired you just to get into it? To stay? Was it your parents or anyone else? It just fit my personality because I can make my own day. Right.

The whole day is up to me. It's like running a little business. It is.

It is a little bit. Yeah. So you had asked me originally, like, how do you tackle your, you know, your clients and your accountants, your leads.

Leads are so important. But no. I mean, listen, it's the 80-20 rule.

Right. You're getting, you know, 80 percent of your business from 20 percent of your clients. So those are the most important.

Yeah. Yep. And so you start right at the top.

So and then and then how with it being, I mean, in fabric, for example, obviously, because Robert Allen was mainly fabric. Right. Yeah.

Trim. Trim. Lots of trim.

Details. All that good stuff. They like they change.

It comes out seasonally. How does that like how do the releases go? And even tell us a little bit about how they in-house gear you guys up and, you know, support your efforts. Right.

So back then it was just seasonal. So you'd have a fall collection and spring collection and they had designers and they would give us presentations. So we'd have to actually physically show up for the presentations.

So every, you know, twice a year you're flying to headquarters and you're looking at all the new introductions. Right. Right.

There was no like nowadays it's we do everything by, you know, there's a video of someone showing you everything. And you're kind of, you know, a Zoom. Right.

And they're showing you what's the latest and greatest. But back then we had to physically show up. Yep.

And yeah. And then they would tell you what the trends are and they had their mood boards and mood boards were huge. So I don't even think we have mood.

I mean, they don't show us mood boards really now. It's basically like here's the collection. This is what's trending.

But yeah, I mean, you got a sense of I mean, they were this is the interior design high end world. So they were special. Yeah.

They were. They knew what was coming out. They knew what the trends were.

Schumacher does a great job anticipating trends. Schumacher goes above and beyond. Now we have we have monthly introductions.

I know. I feel like I can't ever keep up on Schumacher. It's a lot.

It's a lot. So, you know, you I gravitate toward what you guys want. So I will I will hone in on what I know that you guys are going to want to see.

So like we're coming off of arts and crafts movement and a country live, which is, you know, it's not really our design down here in Florida. So I've got to figure out I've got to scramble. Yeah.

Like, you know, I have a Springer Spaniel, so I love it. But like hunting tugs and that's that's not necessarily what we want here in the Palm Beach area or South Florida. So what is a rep in fabric and wallpaper? So what do I do? What do I do? So I push and drive sales for my company.

I'm very sales oriented and I'm I am a designer. So I have a good eye. You can tell that I want to help, you know, Tiffany with her project.

So like I'm here as an assistant. I'm here as your your, you know, if you need help with fabric, with wallpaper, with trim, you guys are on deadlines a lot of times. And sometimes you will pick a scheme and, you know, anything can happen.

Right. It's backordered. It's discontinued.

The color just didn't work out. Your client rejected it. So I am here to sort of know my product line inside and out and be able to show you options and source it and source it.

Yeah, I know. When we're busy, we do call on you and yeah, try to send you a little bit of what we're looking for. And then we get these great boxes of all these goodies.

Right. And then, you know, listen, it is a lot. It's once a month.

And I, you know, I definitely think my style is I don't want to be I'm not here to just chit chat and say hi. I mean, I love getting to know my clients and be friends with them. And and that takes time.

It's I feel like it's organic coming from New England. You know, you can't I don't force myself on anybody. It's not.

No, but that is the fun of even what we look forward to. Yeah. So are you in the in an office? I'm in a car.

I'm in the car. I'm in the car. Just going from interior designer to interior.

Some of my day is like two and three hours with a client. And sometimes it's just a pop in and it's like, what's going on? You know, do you have anything you're working on? And, you know, a lot of times you guys will have all your schemes out and about. And I kind of poke my head in and see if I can fit in anywhere, you know, or if you're like, we're just starting a project or we're just finishing something right now.

Touch back. Touch base with us back in like a couple of weeks or a month. So I keep diligent calendars.

You know, there's a lot of sort of organizing your accounts. And so how do you go about organizing your accounts like in keeping in track? And how do you know when to check back in? And I'm sure there's a whole system. You have a lot of accounts.

A lot. A lot. Yes.

And I am not a routine person. So like, I'm not that person. I'm like a Gemini.

So I am like I'm generally all over the place, but somehow I'm my eye is on the ball. Right. So like if I kind of I kind of know who I haven't seen in a while and I go where the business is strictly where the business is.

Right. So who's ordering? Yeah. And and mind you, we have I have over a hundred new accounts just this year.

Just brand new accounts. Like, well, they could have just now moving to Florida like they're extending their business. So maybe some of their businesses up north and now they're going to open up an office or start business down here.

So they're familiar with Schumacher, but they're new to me. But a lot of new people moving, a lot of young designers, a lot of people just fresh out of school, a lot of people just reinventing their lives and want to start a new business. Do most people have offices you go visit? That's the question I was going to ask.

It's yes and no. Or there's a lot of people just going to their house. Yeah.

A lot of people are out of their homes. You know, listen, real estate's expensive in South Florida. So sometimes they're just tiptoeing in into the industry and and then they need a lot of handholding when they're brand new.

And a lot of them, some of them do have retail spaces. Really? Yeah. We were talking to someone the other day who was, I think, a rep.

Yeah, a rep. And he was telling us that he doesn't like going into people's houses. He's because of how the world has changed.

He stays away from houses. He says he's very like. Very concerned of going into a house.

He'll meet them at Starbucks. He'll meet them somewhere else. I'm like, how do you meet them? And he's like, well, he's like, I just I'm worried about going into someone's house.

Yeah. He's like an office. That's a different story.

I know. Is it the male female dynamic? Maybe sometimes. He's a guy.

So, yeah. I mean, listen, I take lots of appointments at a Starbucks or for lunch. Yes.

I will drag my bag and my little package of goodies anywhere. Yeah. Yeah.

So we do that. Do you see a difference if like an interior design firm has an office compared to just a house? There's more business volume wise. Does it matter? Or do you see? Yeah.

I mean, listen. Yes. Someone with a huge, large studio is obviously doing more business than someone out of their home, in my opinion, like based on what I see.

Yeah. And does Schumacher have any qualification to actually buy into the Schumacher line or is it? It's not necessarily. It's just that you have to be a legitimate business.

You know, I think that I'm not sure what they do for credentials. I don't know if they require a website. I don't think they do.

But it's a weed out process. I weed them out as well. And, you know, I feel like these days, like no one's.

I mean, is someone opening an account just to get a discount, a design discount? I don't know. I don't know if people have that much time. I mean, it is happening a little bit.

I would think so. But we've experienced people like that. But that's why you have a rep, too.

And I kind of feel them out. And, you know, if they don't want to see me and they are ordering or they're asking for a personal use discount or, you know, you kind of figure it out. We can close them right away.

What's the benefit of having a rep? The benefit is that I'm showing you the latest and greatest right away. And I'm going to weed you through the process quicker as far as like getting a sample overnighted. You know, like there's times when we have issues with some of the mills overseas.

Like we're a global company, right? So we're like international. Our mills are everywhere. And, you know, if there's an issue, I'm the first to hear about it.

So I know if you've got something in the hopper that you've specced for a project and, yeah, I'm going to be like, hey, like heads up, we have to find another fabric or another trim or another wallpaper. Yeah. So tell us about Schumacher.

I don't know a lot about it. Well, it's really cool. It is cool.

And I would even say if there was. Schumacher junkies. She loves it.

Right. And if there was one rep of any brand, I would say I would want a moonlight would be Schumacher. Yeah.

As a personal, you know, affinity. Yeah, no. I mean, it's just seeped in history.

Right. It's it's it was started in 1889 and it's still freely owned to this day. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Started in the United States or in France? They're French based and New York based.

Mm hmm. Yeah. Wow.

I know that's pretty cool. The headquarters still there. Yeah.

They're in like Soho. They just moved their headquarters to a new location last year. Yeah.

So like Broadway in New York. And they have just evolved. I mean, somebody was very, you know, well versed at the helm that actually.

Yeah. In the near in the recent. Right.

Recently. Yeah. Yeah.

Derek Campanigro is our creative director and she she's got quite the keen eye for interior design. And she came from print. I think she came from Veranda magazine and she heads up all of our all of our art.

Everybody. So when Schumacher like when you just brought up she's in Veranda magazine, you guys send out a. We do. So we own Frederick magazine, which is a quarterly publication that comes out.

And it is it's really everything. It's not just Schumacher. It's everything high lux industry, you know, from gardening to travel to accessories to everything chic fashion.

So Schumacher isn't just wallpaper and fabric. So Schumacher is Schumacher, which is they have antiques, they have furniture, they have fabric, wallpaper, trim. We custom make pillows.

We have ready made pillows and we have area rugs. It's really a home decor, you know, company. So and they do a lot of collaborations.

They do a ton. Yeah. Which I feel like is really so important for growth today.

Yeah. I mean, really, like between with Matuk and, you know, like the lamps, you know, the lampshades. I had no idea about the lampshades and visual comforts.

And our rep came in and I was just like, I love it. Yeah. They're all over with collaborators, artists and makers and interior designers.

And they feature them often. Like every month we have a new designer or maker that we're featuring. That's an area that I'm pushing Tiffany to explore.

Oh, yeah. To do her own line because she's been doing custom furniture and designing custom furniture. She's got two different places, one in California and one in North Carolina.

Wow. That's been making it and going to market this year. And, you know, and seeing and meeting some of the different, you know, I'll say well known designers who were there, you know, signed their books and whatnot.

Yes. And looking at everything. And a lot of them have their own.

Yeah. Yeah. You should be doing this.

And then we came back from market. We did this big installation a couple of days ago at this house that Tiffany's doing. That's a lot of Schumacher.

Oh, thank you. Oh, the whole house is Schumacher wallpaper. I can't wait to see it.

It's unbelievable what this house looks like. I love our wallpaper. It's historic.

It's like a little cottage, but it's like. I'm going to love that. Unbelievable.

It's so cute. And then Tiffany brought the woman in who owns the house after everything was installed. And the lady was just ecstatic, like nuts.

And there was a custom, there were a couple of custom made beds that Tiffany designed and had done. But then they decided, I guess, about halfway through the project that one of the bedrooms they're going to turn into an office. So the bed now had to go back to our receiving warehouse.

And I. She is going to use that, by the way. She is going to use it. But when I saw these custom made beds, I said to Tiffany, really, we need to focus on this.

I can't believe these beds that you made that are designed and then the fabrics and stuff. See, this is what's great about this conversation. So I do dabble a little bit in interior design, right? So I do have a few projects here and there, but I need a custom bed for a client.

Oh, we'll give you the name. So I can't wait to. Yeah.

Yeah, she has the. Well, the one guy in North Carolina. He's great.

He's. And then he actually. Yeah, no, I'll go right through you.

He personally drives the beds, brings them here to deliver them. Just so old school. I need a king.

I need a king. Yeah, no. I mean, like, I mean, literally the whole.

These were fully upholstered. Like even the feet. They were fabulous.

Wonderful. Yeah. And that's.

There's a lot of that here in South Florida, isn't there? There is. Yeah. There really is.

More than New England. A lot of what? Like fully upholstered beds and that look. So when you say more than New England, it's more like a wood.

Yeah. Mm hmm. Yeah.

I think. I think Tiffany likes upholstered beds. Yeah.

Yeah. I know we have so many great performance fabrics now, too, which is awesome. So it's like you can upholster everything now.

It's true. Yeah. And when you say upholstered, I mean, performance fabric.

Can you explain to us what is a performance? So stain and soil resistant. Water resistant. So it's just, you know, listen, we have active families now, right? Everyone does.

You know, I have a dog at home. So, you know, whether you have children, you know, I have a dog. You have children, you have pets, whatever.

It's just forgiving. What do they do? Scotch water or something? I mean, it's inherent in the fabric. Fibers, right? Really? It's inherent in the fabric.

Yes. Right. But you can, we can also, if there's, if it's not a deemed performance fabric, we can also apply something to a fabric to make it or a wall covering or a trim to make it more friendly in your home and stain resistant.

So there's two ways to go about it. But it's, it's, I mean, I just did a powder room with a wallpaper and I had a ProSeal application put on it. I don't know.

So that if water splashes. Yeah, like splashes on the wall. That's actually a good idea too.

Do you do that after it's installed? I did it. We do it before, before we send it out through Schumacher. So Schumacher does all kinds of residential finishes.

So I mean, as we just, we were talking about Schumacher, tell me more about Schumacher because it really is such an iconic brand. I mean, it's. Yeah, we own, so we also own, so we have sister companies.

So we own Patterson Flynn. So Patterson Flynn has just these sumptuous, beautiful rugs. So area rugs and broad loom, and they're just the top of the list.

They're just wonderful. And they are creative in our department for Patterson Flynn, right? We're based in Dania, the Schumacher, and we share a space with Patterson Flynn in the Dakota building. And they just, they're really do a knockout job on their rugs.

And then we own the Frederick Magazine that comes out quarterly. So it's free if you're doing some business with Schumacher to the people who have accounts. Otherwise you can, anybody can subscribe to the magazine.

And then we own Backdrop, which is a paint company. They're known for paint. So it's a very saturated, beautiful paint line, inexpensive for what it is.

It's very high valued paint. And they also have wallpaper and fabric now. Okay, so tell us about the wallpaper.

So the wallpaper is, it tends to be a little bit more contemporary. It's a little bit more graphic. It's a little more fun.

So the idea is that you might do a feature wall in one of these cool wallpapers, and then maybe paint the rest of the room. So they coordinate. And they coordinate.

So there'll be a paint color to match, you know, whatever color is in your wallpaper. And Schumacher is like known for that too, that they do match the fabric with the- I love that look. Me too.

Don't you love that? I just think it's just, I don't know, it's just, just walk in a room and when the fabric- It's seamless. It's cozy. It's like a hug.

It's, it is. It really is. So yeah.

And our website's fantastic, because if you do find a fabric that you like, we'll say also available as a wallpaper. So you can do that. Is the website just for the general public, or- It is, but there's no pricing on there, right? So you have to have a trade account, and then the designers can see pricing.

And then- Once you log in, if you have a trade account. Once you log in, yeah. Once you have a trade account.

And then we're getting better and better on that website. I think it's so easy. You can filter all kinds of ways.

You can filter by price. You can filter by color. You can filter by style.

You can put in a collaborator's name. You mentioned Matouk. Yes.

We collaborate with Matouk for bedding. You can just type in Matouk, and then all the Matouk bedding will come up. Cool.

Yeah. So do you know, does Schumacher have like a big creative staff that's- They do. And it's- Selecting and finding the new- Yup.

Because Tiffany tells me all the time that they're kind of on the cusp of most trends. They are. New things that are coming out.

They anticipate what's in the pipe. And they anticipate and they know what's coming. And I feel like they're the ones dictating a lot of it.

You know what I mean? They're the ones that are saying- Setting the stage. They're setting the stage. This is what's happening.

Yeah. They have a keen eye on that. Right now for next quarter, we're coming out with a leather line and I think a faux fur line.

And there's a lot of talk about the younger generation moving out west. This is not great for Florida. So like the Montana.

The Montana. And that. Yes.

Yellowstone inspired. And that the younger generation's moving out there. They just want that open air.

They want that easy lifestyle. They want that indoor, outdoor. You know- Living.

Homesteading. They call it whatever. Yeah.

Exactly. So a lot of the design and decor coming in the pipeline is going to be geared toward that. Plaids.

Think plaids. I've seen a lot of plaids coming through. Animals on your fabric.

Which I, I mean I'm New England so I get all that too. A lot of like even the Ralph Lauren look. But there's a modern, there's a modern twist to it all.

So it's going to cover like, you know, your classic Ralph Lauren look and then there'll be like a very modern chic like- And they all can interplay together. I love that. So let's talk about wallpaper.

Yes. Tiffany is a wallpaper junkie. Me too.

Me too. And I thought that wallpaper was kind of old and passe. Wallpapers from like when I was a kid or my parents.

I think I walk into every project and just start thinking what wallpapers. But the more- I agree. Like some of the houses Tiffany's doing it's- There's no wallpaper.

It's no fun. I know. My mother used to say something off color.

And she picks out wallpapers. My mother used to say something off color. This is off color.

But she'd say like paints for people who can't afford wallpaper. But she used to say that back in the day. But there's a lot of wallpaper from what I see that's very reasonable.

It is so reasonable. We have a line called Barastapeter from Sweden. And it's, you know, it's inexpensive.

I mean- It's whimsical too. It's really whimsical and fun and organic looking. But yeah, wallpaper is a big deal now.

And I know if I look for spaces to just put wallpaper. Me too. Every minute I can.

And I love our wallpaper with Schumacher. Which one's your favorite? I just did Arisimo. So I did do a touch of the Palm Beachy look in a powder room.

I did do that. And then, I mean, back to the hunting scene. We do have a wallpaper now that has hunting dogs on it.

That's cute. So it's cute. I have- Yeah, it's cute.

But it's not for- I mean, that's not for everybody. But I love it. But wallpaper, I know.

So it's- You know what I tell everybody? I don't know. I think the general public is still afraid of it. Like to commit to it.

And it's not like the old days where, I mean, we talked about- When you say commit to it. Oh, that's the first thing. Because you put the wallpaper up and you can't take it down.

Exactly. That's what they think. They think they're stuck with it.

Yeah, they do. They're like, I'm going to tire of that. I'm like, nobody tires of a finished product.

Or here's what? Take it off in five years. What's the big deal? It comes right off. It comes off easily.

Right. So we were talking about growing up. When I grew up as a child and being dragged.

And my parents first told me, my gosh, I had to be four or five years old. But I can remember them taking the layers off. Right.

And they had all those toxic adhesives back then. So it was never coming off the wall. We don't have that now.

Everything is very green and organic. And it comes right off your wall. Yeah, there's really no mold issues or ever.

I've never had one client have a mold issue. 25 years. I mean, that's the first thing people are like in a bathroom.

Like, well, isn't it going to get moldy? I have a story about that. But yes, as long as it's climate acclimated, there's no issues. It's breathable.

It'll breathe. Unless there's no air conditioning in full South Florida. Then you have a problem.

Do you find that designers spec a lot of the murals? Murals are so hot right now. Yeah. And it's such a cool look, isn't it? And we have a mural company that we collab with.

Schumacher has their own murals. But you could do one mural. Or you could do your entire room, your ceiling, your wall.

Every single wall. We have a collaborator called Ixl. Yeah, we've done them.

Yeah, they're very scenic looks. Like, you know, the south of France or the Bosphorus River. They are dreamy.

The countryside of Italy. It's so cool. It's funny.

We had a client. We did two walls of Ixl wallpaper. Yeah.

And, you know, we just designed it. Picked all the panels cohesively where we wanted it to start. Which had the butterflies.

Blah, blah, blah. Right. And, you know, we had a really great budget for that job.

But we still had a budget. And so we were like, all right, we'll just do two walls. And then, you know, and that was the two that you focus on.

I bet you it was spectacular. She put two walls up. The client saw it.

Well, no. I sent her. It was the same.

I know where we're going. I know where we're going with this. It was the same one that was used by Stacey Bendetz in her apartment in Manhattan.

And it was photographed in Architectural Digest. I sent it to my client. And it had all four walls.

She's like, I need to do the other two walls. Send me the proposal. But the husband was against it.

He was totally. But then after he saw it up, he was like, oh my God, why didn't we do the whole room? So we did the whole room. At the end of the day, we got it all.

Yeah. And this is why it's so important for you designers to publish, you know, and photograph your projects. Because, like, they see it.

And they're like, oh, it's worth its weight in gold. I know it's a lot of work to photograph and stage your jobs. But, ugh.

It really is. I mean, that's something that I need to make it. It's the one thing we really don't do enough of at all.

Yeah. Because we go from one project to another. Yeah, we do.

And the other thing that I find very difficult in the industry is that we don't, a lot of my projects are, they just keep going on. It's not like. Yes, you're not finished.

It's not like a turnkey model style. Yeah. Like, you know, second home, here it is.

Come visit. Right. These are more long term users.

Yeah. And they stay around. And we, you know, really perfect.

Well, that also says a lot about you as a designer, too. Right? Well, I'm willing to. I'm willing to work that way.

Yeah. No, that's awesome. They want you.

Yeah. Yeah. You just keep going.

You know, you really do. You don't ever stop. I know.

It's kind of a pain. No, you don't ever stop. But you know what? Is a house ever finished? No.

No, that's what I'm saying. You never stop. Yeah.

It's like, let's get it done and move on. Yeah. She's got clients that just never, they just, every two months they're back in.

Yeah. And that's, back to the wallpaper. I mean, that's the, just change your wallpaper.

Yeah. And you change the whole look. Yeah.

So we live in, obviously, this information age where everybody's on social media and everybody is kind of forming their own brand in this digital society. How does Schumacher, you know, either promote that, coordinate that, push you at all as a rep? How does all that, you know, where does that fall within the industry? So I do have my own Instagram through Schumacher and then Schumacher 1889 has their own Instagram. And then regionally, we, you know, everyone has their own Instagram, but yeah, it's huge.

And they want it pushed. I mean, it's time for everybody, right? It is. It's hard.

It's a full-time job, but it's so important. I mean, I wake up in the morning and look to see what you guys are all up to. Right? I look to you guys in the morning.

Well, Schumacher, like if we were posting. Please send it to me and I can tag you and post all over so I can post. Right.

It's important to send it to your rep. Absolutely. I know.

And, you know, I was thinking it's like we're all so I think we're all so if it's not the perfect picture, we're reluctant to send it. I'm completely guilty of that. Yeah.

And I think that we're overthinking it. I think it's like just send it. So guilty of that.

Right? It's not the perfect angle or it's not the perfect. Or you still see a cord or a piece of paper or blue paint tape that it wasn't like there was a mistake. Yeah.

I think we overthink it and we just kind of push it out because if we don't do it, then we kind of forget about it. Right. And it gets it's back in our photo reel and we're not revisiting it.

No. And it doesn't get to be appreciated. Yeah.

That's it. It doesn't get to be appreciated. I guess that's what you're kind of talking about.

But how important is that picture to be like a finished picture? It's like the house that we just did the installation. We took a bunch of pictures and I said to Tiffany, we can't do anything for these pictures because they haven't bought accessories yet. It's not like looking like it's... She can't technically live there either.

Because she doesn't have her CO yet. Yeah. Because of the historic.

But the house is just magnificent, but it doesn't have the little knickknacks. I know. Maybe we zoom in on one little... That's right.

The vignette type of thing. On your custom Tiffany beds and maybe we're just showing the bed or maybe you just show the rug that you did or you know what I mean? Yeah, there's ways. There's ways to sort of... I think it's the repetitiveness of seeing your design work online.

Is important. Is important, yeah. I've been telling you that.

So we should go back over there tomorrow or the next day. I've been telling you that. Because there's probably 200 different little... Yeah, you can zoom in on and just feature this and then... I mean, this house, it's a small house.

It's three bedrooms and living room and a couple of little rooms. But I think that you probably had four dozen pillows made. Right, just the pillows.

Our pillows are such a big deal. And I didn't think about it, but when the client came in and she was looking at every pillow, I'm like, oh my God, look at this pillow, look at the fabric on this. Yeah, I know.

That's a good idea. So we're going to go do that. We're going to take a bunch of pictures.

Yeah, we did it. Schumacher launched... I was saying we have ready-made pillows and all of our fabrics and then we have... I need to refer to that more often. It's a time saver for you guys.

It is. I need to really... And one of them was a needlepoint pillow. It's more than a time saver because when we were at market, I forget what showroom we were in and they had a huge display of pillows and I was looking at the prices and I'm like, Tiffany, this is... It's a lot, I know.

Oh, they were inexpensive? Well, they were so much less than what... They weren't anywhere near like a Schumacher pillow store. Right, right, right. Custom ones.

But they're good fillers. Yeah, but the pillows that you do, they're... But you need those at that level. Some people can't understand the cost of one pillow, right? I don't sometimes understand how one pillow... Yeah.

She'll do like a dozen pillows and it's like a $6,000 bill with the fabric and then the freight taking the fabric to the fabricator and then the fabricator... That's it. That's always the big one for people to swallow. But everyone loves them.

But what you just said, right? Then you're sending the fabric to the fabricator and then the... Yes. And we take the... We do all that, right? They drive it. So it's like one PO from you guys.

It's like a time saver. Well, it saves a lot of time then. For you.

Yeah. I need to really refer to that. But I think I posted a pillow that we did a needlepoint pillow.

It was like designers do it better. Just post one. I posted one pillow and I got some orders from it, right? People wanted that pillow.

It's the cutest pillow. Wow. Yeah.

Social media is truly like it is where it's at. Yeah. What would you give to a young person or just somebody new in this industry? What would be... Advice.

Advice. To get into it. As a rep or as a designer? Well, let's talk about a rep.

If they wanted to be a rep... Yeah, I know. I say DM me. I'll tell you all the secrets.

I've been doing it a long time. I think I always go back to a Woody Allen quote, which is showing up is 80% of life and that's it. Show up, right? Show up.

Yeah. I like that. Just show up and business will follow your way.

Is it tough to get a job as a rep? Face to face is an important thing, right? You can hide at home and do all the emails. I mean, we're inundated with emails these days and all kinds of communication. But showing up is the best.

But is it tough to become a rep? I don't know. Not for me, but I don't know nowadays. It's not for everybody because you have to be... It's like running your own business.

Self-starter. Yeah. You have to push yourself.

So if you're not motivated by pushing yourself, it can be tricky. And I've got to show up. I've got to show up to places I've never been.

I've got to find places I've never been. I've got to meet people I've never met before. So that's not for everybody.

You've got to be a little social, I think. But a good rep has always got their head about sales, too. So it's not just having, like I said, chit-chat and come in and chit-chat.

It's about how... Because you're in business for a reason, right? You need to make money. And my company that I work for needs to make money. So as long as we all understand that... And everybody works together.

Yeah. That's the name of the game, right? So what are two important things you've learned along the way that you feel like would be important to share with them? Just in general? Yeah. Take every travel opportunity.

I love that. Yeah. If someone's like, do you want to go blah, blah, blah? Yes, I do.

When are we going? So have you traveled a lot? I do. I love to travel. Yeah.

I feel like there's so much inspiration in travel. It is. I know.

I've talked to a couple of people who've done like Marrakesh and Morocco lately. And design-wise, I'm just chomping at the bit to do that. Yeah, the tiling and the layers and the colors are so rich.

Yeah, Marrakesh is definitely on my list too. But yeah, I've gone to some cool places like Turkey and Lebanon. That would be amazing.

And have those been through the industry at all? Any travel through the industry? Nope, just personal travel. Cool. Yeah.

And what else? What else would I say? And listen, I have a lot of my friends, same friends, for 40 to 45 years. So I have those core people in my life. So I think that that's important to kind of nourish those relationships.

Nourish your relationships and friendships. Yeah. And we're all far away and apart at times.

But we always make a point to get together. So that part's important. Right? I've been in South Florida now full time for five years.

So I live in a gated community where it's just hard not to make friends. Right, especially when you have a dog. Yes, dog, pickleball, golf.

So that's been really cool to just make new friends while I've been here. Yeah. And clients too, which is great.

It is. I love doing the industry events with you guys. There's so many cool industry events.

How important? I know. And I'm not great at attending. I need to get more involved.

What kind of industry events? So like we do, well, there's the Georgia Ave holiday stroll, you know? And Georgia Ave up in West Palm Beach is where like there's a lot of like... Pretty shops and everything. Yeah, antique dealers. Dealers.

And then we do Palm Beach Design Days is coming up. What is that? That's in January. So that's just like a whole, I think it's like three or four days.

I think they might have extended it. But there are design events like on the hour for those three days packed. And they'll be at different venues out between Palm Beach and West Palm Beach area.

Like so designer speaking. Are you familiar with it? Yeah. Yeah.

So you got to attend those. I know. I do.

And it's coming up, you said when? January. January, okay. I think it's like the 13th.

I'll get the dates to you. But yeah, that's fun. And it's just fun.

There's a lot of pop-ups. I know. That's a whole new thing.

Pop-ups. Yeah. I was... I love that idea.

Yeah. I think the pop-up thing is fun. And yeah, so that's it.

Lots of design events are fun. So where do you see your future? Right here at Schumacher. I love that.

I do. I do like it. It is a great company.

Yeah. Yeah. It's just... Yeah.

You know what makes it special? Is that there's a story behind every fabric, every trim. And it's very... It's deep. You know? Like it's not just on a cotton duck cloth.

There's a story behind it. There's a story behind why is that fabric $1,500 a yard? Well, there's an incredible story behind it, you know? When you say story, what do you mean by story? Like one particular fabric we have is silk. And it's loomed in one of Europe's oldest mills.

And it's such a dense silk that they use. They can only loom six meters a day, you know? And it's just this intricately like woven, beautiful fabric, right? So it's... And that can be true of like even like a paperweave wallpaper that we make, you know? We're coming out with a lot of these natural fiber wallpapers. And it's really a craft.

It's like... It is. It's an art. It's an art.

It's a lost art. It's a maker movement, you know? And so, yeah. So there's always like a cute story.

Well, and so many of the fabrics too are inspired by fabrics that have been found and... Exactly. Like hundreds of years ago and... Yeah, they will pull from our archives. We don't just continue that much.

You're right, Tiffany. We will pull from our archives and sometimes tweak it or add another color. Right, do it the color way.

And just reintroduce it. Right. Different backgrounds.

And even on different textures makes such a fun... Like it can actually take an old print and make it more modern looking by just changing the actual... I know. I was showing some pre-World War II era fabrics recently. So that's pretty cool, right? It's so cool.

Yeah. Pre-World War II. Yeah.

They're still around. Like art deco-y. Yeah, they still... Yep.

Mm-hmm. You can imagine what our archives are like a hundred years later. So where are their archives? I guess it's at the headquarters.

I mean, we're all... I mean, our warehouse, our shipping hub is in South Carolina. We print all of our goods at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. It's a real state.

And then everything that's milled or woven is everywhere. So how many fabrics do they typically have at one... Thousands? Thousands. Hundreds of thousands.

I'm sure. I wouldn't even know exactly how many. And the amount of trims.

I know that the amount of SKUs has to be... I know. And we're known for our tapes. Yes.

So we have gorgeous tapes. Tape trim. Tape trim.

Mm-hmm. Yeah. Which I love that all that's coming back, too.

Yeah. Tape has always kind of still been around, but I love now, like, all the trims and the bullions. Yeah.

It's funny. Some designers don't do trim. They don't want to do trim.

It's a very clean, easy look. But it is back. I love trim.

I know. I love it, too. I can't imagine not using it on something.

No, I know. I still... You seem to use it on certain projects. On certain projects.

On certain clients. You use a lot of trims on... Certain clients allow you to... Budget-wise, too, it can dictate, right? Right. You know? It does, because it just is another layer that adds another layer of cost.

Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yep.

And more time just to coordinate it all being put together, that the right trim goes with the right fabric... I know. ...for the right window. And... Absolutely.

Yeah. It's a lot of note-taking that needs to be... A lot of layers. A lot of details.

Yes. And that's why you have an interior designer. Exactly.

So that we take care of all those little details. Yeah. So, we always like to ask a couple of questions towards the end of the podcast.

All having to do with design. Okay. You want to ask the first one? What is your favorite restaurant, design-wise? I know.

I can't see it. Like, you go in, and it's just... There's a lot of fun ones now in Palm Beach, too, but... I know. There is.

I am... I'm such a foodie. Like, I love to cook. I love to eat.

Like, I love food. I am... It's probably, like, eight out of 10. about food.

So, restaurant, I mean, I can think of, like, La Sponda was in Positano. Ooh. Like, the Serenuse Hotel.

Like, that was... So, like, I think once I'm in a restaurant, then the food takes over for me. Right. I think that's how it always is.

But that's such a special place. And it's that... Anything that's indoor-outdoor, that biophilia design... Oh, I love that, too. ...where, like, you feel like the outdoors is in.

So, I think, like, with the lemon trees, and then they have the beautiful tile, and the view, and, you know... Yes. So, any of that where you can kind of indoor-outdoor, I love restaurants like that. That's a really good one.

Have you been to... I happen to like Restoration Hardware in Palm Beach upstairs on the roof. Yeah. You know, I recently went back to Boston.

I was taking my girlfriend... They have the best restoration there. But there's no restaurant. I know.

There was no restaurant there. And when it was Louis Boston, it used to have a restaurant. Exactly.

And I used to go there all the time. Exactly. So, what happened? I don't know.

I don't know why they... Why they didn't put one in there? They said, we were one of the first footprints. Huge building, too. Interesting.

It is. I know that building's cool. So cool.

I feel like that almost inspired their whole thing that they've been building, really. I think so. It kind of started there.

There. Exactly. But that restaurant in Palm Beach makes me feel like I'm in L.A. It's so cool, isn't it? Yeah.

What makes you feel like you're in Chicago? Vacation? I feel like that. It feels like you got out of town for a day. I want to feel like that all the time.

Any hotel that comes to mind from a design standpoint? I know. So, I have not traveled as much as of late because I had a mom who was ill and I have her dog now. And she's lovely and she's our love right now.

So, that I don't want to... Has hindered you. Yeah. She's got a little of an eye issue.

So, she's got a little disability going on. She's young. She's only like two.

So, I'm navigating that and kind of separating sometimes. I can't though. She's so yummy.

Her name's Chloe. But the last hotel was The Maker in Hudson, New York. So, that's a really cool hotel.

It's a boutique hotel. There's 19 rooms. Each room is designed differently.

And it's very sexy, very moody, very like... What is it? The Maker? The Maker. What a great name. And so, the people that own it, the guy, he owns... I think he still owns Fresh, the... I don't know.

Fresh. Is it a makeup line or is it perfume? So, they're known for their custom perfumes there and fragrances. Cool.

So, and then I think Louis... I'm not Louis. Louis Vuitton bought out Fresh. But he and his partner, I think, did this hotel.

And everything is sourced locally. And then each room is like... We stayed in the architect and the writer room. So, I was an English major.

Stephen's an architect by choice. So, like that was fun. That is so fun.

And the bedding, you guys, there is the best bedding I've ever slept on. Really? The bed, the mattress, the... Do they sell it from there, of course? And I know where to get it like wholesale. So, the best I've ever slept on.

I know. That's like the best part of traveling. Oh.

I know. And I'm pretty particular about my bedding. So, delicious.

It was so good. And the food's good. They have a little cute bakery and... I love the layers of all that.

Like just that everything evokes a feeling and it, you know, all of your senses are heightened. I like that. They have a great bar.

Their bar is so amazing. Just very... Let's go. Moody and velvety and, you know, old pictures, new pictures.

They're really cool stuff. Yeah. I love that.

Yeah. You can look it up. Yeah.

Okay. Last... Okay. Favorite design element, I'm sure.

I know. I have to say fabric. I do feel like I'm... I feel like I collected.

I have piles and piles from over the years like that I haven't even done anything with. And every time I kind of go through, I'm like, oh, I got to make something with this fabric. But the other thing is glass element.

I like glass. Glass tile. Drinking glasses.

Like a very... Just how the light reflects. Colored glass. Colored glass.

I just adore. So we've been on a glass hunt. We want to redo all the glassware in our house.

So when we were in market, that's something that I was looking at. Yeah. Some of the glass.

But Tiffany knows is... I don't have any more room. Well, that's what the deal is. We have to get rid of some of all the stuff we've layered and collected.

I told her everything has to go. And then we can get... So we've been looking. Yeah.

Tiffany has some very unique tastes that's really wild. I know. Oh, I can't wait to hear about that.

I know. Even like antiquing. I mean... Yes.

And I do pull stuff and I keep all that. But I feel like I don't use that as much as I should too. So it's... Shereme is like Martha Stewart's like on her property.

She has all these sheds, right? Yes. Archive sheds. So like a basket shed.

Like she has her glass... I mean... I mean, that would be my dream, right? What a dream. What a dream. Truly.

Do you imagine? And organized by color, right? I mean... I mean... I need more space. That's... Yeah. That's Tiffany.

That would be my dream too. I said, no, we just need one set of glass. He's talking about everyday stuff.

Glass. Yeah. Right.

But she's like, well, I want to get a green in it. I want to get this color. I love green glass.

She has all these colors for it. She's like, well, you know, on nights when we have like X amount of people over, that's what we bring out. And if we go outside and we're going to eat during the day, there's this color.

And I'm like... I know. What? It evokes like... It's all a sensory passion and makes you feel happy. Right.

And centered around food too, right? Yes. I still have... I'm the one who cooks in the house a lot. I mean, we still have in our home, we renovated ours and we still kept some of the eight by eight glass block.

I just... So cool. Even the clear glass block from... What was that? From the 40s? 40s. I know.

Which I still... I don't mind it. And people think I look so dated. Well, especially if it's the old good stuff and not like, yeah, from the 80s put in there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love any of those old details too. It's good.

It is. Well, thank you. Thank you so much.

Thank you for coming and enjoying a little bit of conversation with us on iDesignLab. Thank you. Thank you so much.

iDesignLab's podcast is an SW Group production in association with the Five Star and TW Interiors. To learn more about iDesignLab or TW Interiors, please visit twinteriors.com.