iDesign Lab
Welcome to the iDesign Lab a Podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style and design hosted by Tiffany Woolley an Interior Designer, a style enthusiast along with her serial entrepreneur husband Scott. A place where they explore the rich and vibrant world of interior design and it’s constant evolution in style. iDesign Lab is your ultimate Interior design podcast where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design and it’s 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 trend setters, designers, influences, fabricators and manufacturers as well as personal stories that inspire, motivate and excite. Join us on this elevated, informative and lively journey into the world of all things Design. For more information about iDesign Lab and Tiffany & Scott Woolley visit the website at www.twinteriors.com/podcast.
iDesign Lab
Keith Eichenblatt's Path in the Lighting and Decor Industry Illuminating Journeys
The podcast episode features Keith Eichenblatt, a renowned lighting designer with nearly five decades of experience, who shares insights into his vibrant career and the evolution of design. He discusses the impact of the internet on the industry, the importance of personal branding for reps, and the value of building relationships with designers and manufacturers.
• Keith's upbringing in a family lighting business
• Transition from retail to representation
• Influence of the internet on product distribution
• Importance of trade shows in the design industry
• Challenges smaller brands face in a competitive market
• Significance of personal branding for industry professionals
• Inspiring stories behind the brands Keith represents
• Vision for the future of the design industry
To learn more about iDesign Lab or TW Interiors, please visit twinteriors.com.
Learn more at:
https://twinteriors.com/podcast/
https://scottwoolley.com
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. And join us on this elevated, informative and lively journey into the world of all things design.
Voice Over:Today we have a very special guest who's been illuminating the world of design quite literally for nearly five decades, from his beginnings as a teenager working at his parents' lighting showroom in Sarasota, florida, purchased from none other than Pee Wee. Herman's dad, keith Eichenblatt, has been a pioneer in lighting and home decor. Keith's journey spans from designing stunning recessed lighting plans to representing some of the top brands in lighting, furniture and accessories. His passion for design led him to establish his own import company traveling the globe to discover unique pieces that inspire. Whether he's helping designers shine like superstars or bringing new trends to light, keith's expertise and story are nothing short of illuminating. Get ready for a bright conversation as we welcome Keith Eichenblatt to the iDesign Lab.
Speaker 2:Today we look forward to welcoming Keith Eichenblatt to the iDesign Lab podcast. Keith has a very colorful and illuminating life in the design industry and we're excited to welcome him here and hear about how he has designed and shaped a career in this industry.
Speaker 3:So welcome, Thank you. Thank you very much. I guess our first question is tell us a little about yourself.
Speaker 4:Well, I grew up in this industry, and so it's a family business. A family business and we moved down from Jersey and we wound up buying our lighting store from Pee Wee Herman's dad, that's where he came in.
Speaker 2:Wait, wait, wait. Pee Wee Herman, like Pee Wee's.
Speaker 4:Playhouse Pee Wee Herman.
Speaker 2:Really, and where was that?
Speaker 4:In Sarasota.
Speaker 2:In Sarasota Okay.
Speaker 4:And I loved it because it was always. You know my dad. I have six other brothers and sisters and my dad would always say it's a family business and because you know we're from New Jersey and we communicate with sarcasm and go, well, where's the rest of the family? It's just you and me. Where's everybody else? Right, but it was a great learning curve and it was a great business.
Speaker 3:So was the store known as the Pee Wee Herman Fight Dad store.
Speaker 4:No, no, pee Wee obviously grew up in Sarasota and you know he was known because he grew up there and you know Ringling and Barnum and Bailey right and stuff like that. But I would say the real hit of the show was his dad so he had a great personality.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he drove people in and built his brand probably that way.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and he was just as much of a character as Pee Wee, but I never had the opportunity to meet him, but to hear some of the stories from his mom and dad, oh my gosh, it's absolutely hysterical. So your family takes over the store. So the family takes over the store.
Speaker 2:And it was a lighting store. Lighting store Like your local Chandeliers table lamps.
Speaker 4:One of the lamps lines that we mentioned the natural light lamps Right Back in that day.
Speaker 2:We're talking about like 1976. Okay, okay.
Speaker 4:It's kind of cool where you're working in a showroom as a kid and next thing you know, some decades later you're also the rep now for the same lines that you were.
Speaker 2:Wow yeah it's like full circle.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so that was really fun.
Speaker 3:So you guys moved from New Jersey to Sarasota Right. How did that happen? Retiring, that's a big change from one part of the country to the other.
Speaker 4:If you had seven kids and you had to travel in the snow back and forth to New York to work, your health would also go crazy.
Speaker 2:That was the motivation.
Speaker 4:That was the reason why we moved down.
Speaker 3:So you worked in the store? What through high school college?
Speaker 4:Well, through high school and my dad, you know, again, again, this is a family business, but it was you and your dad. But but where's the family? Right? So when it, when, uh, it came down to it is that, uh, I mean, I still did, I didn't want to work there, but I had to help out and stuff like that that's what you do right and so he goes uh, yeah, I play high school sports.
Speaker 4:He says, well, if you're in, if you're in uh junior varsity, you got to come to work. I'm sorry, you got to come to work if you, if you, I was on a wrestling team. If you wrestled varsity all right well then you don't have to come in so I did.
Speaker 2:I did very well in wrestling. It was a way of motivating. You had to put in the hard work one way or the other.
Speaker 4:Right right.
Speaker 2:I love that.
Speaker 4:But I learned a lot of disciplines and he was a fantastic teacher and really got to know the industry from many, many perspectives, rather than just being a rep, where you know where I am today?
Speaker 2:Right, because you were on the sales side, I was on the sales side.
Speaker 4:I was on the buying side Side, yeah.
Speaker 2:What did that look like, the buying side for your dad? Like coming into an industry that he wasn't looking in before.
Speaker 4:He was a textile chemist, okay, oh my gosh, so it was totally different. But the thing that made him great was he understood that, although he had his opinion and he was the final word, he got his sales people involved. He got you know, uh well, what do you think about this, what do you think about that? Yeah, and uh, back in the days of catalogs, I know, okay, we would travel the markets. And here I am 14. You know, just like you know, traveling with the bag, you know acting like you know, junior buyer right, right.
Speaker 2:You know, probably had that on your tag, right right right.
Speaker 4:Actually my name wasn't keith, it was marvin eichenblatt Sunkeith. It was a long name.
Speaker 2:That's so cool.
Speaker 4:So when did you decide to take the transition from working in the store and facilitating a life in repping? So what happened was I decided that you can call it growth, right, just normal growth. Okay, and that if I'm going to see the world from my perspectives and my optics, I've got to do something different. Okay, and uh. So I quit working for my dad and I went to another lighting showroom from sarasota over to the Daytona Beach area and worked there. And then an opportunity came open. He says, keith, well, do you want to be a rep? I said, sure, why not? Let me do something a little bit different. And it was always weighing things back and forth and overanalyzing stuff. I said you know what, if I don't do it now, the opportunity will never come again. So from that point on, I just said you know what I'm going to go for it. I wasn't making any money there. I can make no money out of here too, right, you know so.
Speaker 3:So what did you start repping? What was your first line of product?
Speaker 4:Well, it was still lighting Still lighting. It was always lighting and I mean it's been a very, very good industry for me. I've made a very good life for it.
Speaker 3:So when you say it's a good industry, what do you mean by that?
Speaker 4:well, for one thing, it put a lot of coin in my pocket, so it wasn't. I didn't look at it as a job, never looked at it as a job always looked at it as a career.
Speaker 4:That's a beautiful way to look at it so you know, you're enjoying what you're doing, then oh gosh, meeting people, yeah and uh, and then, you know, uh, I grew the different lines that I decided to wrap. I also decided on working on different channels of distribution, and then it kind of came to the point of people who I wanted to call on, rather than this and that.
Speaker 3:So were you repping mainly in Florida? Did you go outside of Florida? How big, only Florida.
Speaker 4:Only Florida, so you stayed in.
Speaker 3:Florida, so you focused.
Speaker 2:And how did you transition from being obviously going to a place to work every day you know the lighting store to transitioning into kind of being your own?
Speaker 4:boss so.
Speaker 2:Did they ever explain it to you that way?
Speaker 4:Well, in a way, you said something that I was just telling a story about the other day. My brother goes to me, goes, everything that you do is on an individual basis rather than a you know a lot more people, like, although I worked in the store and the store had four or five people, but you know, going back to sports, it was always like wrestling or tennis or something like that, where it was a single sport okay. And then even like you know my job, I'm in my car by myself. You know, yeah, you know, you're counting on you right?
Speaker 4:so, uh, so, so that's, that was not the bad, that was an easy transition. Um, although it gets lonely out there, you know when you, when you're, when you're driving along, you're not making any sales. You're a truck driver, you're not, okay?
Speaker 3:yeah but when you're starting out and you get this position and you're now a rep for a lighting company Right, Are they telling you where to go? Are they giving you a list of like here's all your accounts that you need to go call upon and sell, or is that all up to you to find new accounts or find the accounts or?
Speaker 4:well, a lot of. It is a lot of.
Speaker 2:It is like it will provide an account list, but you still have to go out there and develop the territory and service those accounts right one thing I find in these podcasts too, that when we're talking to people in your position, that the the way the industry kind of shifted to where back. You know, 20 years ago, 30 years ago, people were mainly calling on retail right where now the design industry has such a huge component of that as well?
Speaker 4:well, there's this other thing called the internet, yeah, I've heard about something like that and one of the lines I used to represent is called murrayFice lighting. Right yeah, so I consider that an A-line, and not only that. I'm not familiar with it no.
Speaker 2:What's unique about it? Yeah, it's still around.
Speaker 4:It got absorbed by another company Like another company, but Mr Murray-Fice.
Speaker 4:One of the things that he had said is that with the Internet coming out, it basically leveled the playing field for a lot of people. So before it was like, oh well, you're going to have this, one store is going to carry this line, giving them an exclusive, or something like that. Now it's like your competitor isn't the next lighting store, it was Denny's, because they basically took pictures. They went over to Denny's and said you know, I'll order a hamburger and also see where else can.
Speaker 2:I buy this or what kind of pricing can I get it at so?
Speaker 3:does that help you or hinder you in terms of being more successful or selling more hinder?
Speaker 4:you in terms of being more successful or selling more Well, if I don't have access to the commissions that an internet company has a lot of manufacturers, hold that as a house account Right right. So if they go to a store and they say, oh, I like this, and they go buy it elsewhere, then the store loses, I lose, and stuff like that, right?
Speaker 3:So the lines you represent a number of different lines. Do all of those lines also allow others to sell it on the internet, or are a lot of them kind of keeping it?
Speaker 4:more exclusive to the designers and to the stores. The majority of a lot of the lighting stores today will sell online, and you can't blame them either. The number of lighting stores, my gosh, I don't know how to put the number together, but more than 50% from when I started, Wow. And then you have other manufacturers who are getting bigger and bigger and the smaller ones are kind of the owners are getting older and there's no succession plan.
Speaker 2:Which is so crazy to think about all those big names through the years. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, I mean.
Speaker 4:But the other point that you uh brought up, that I thought was interesting, was okay. So we're selling to retail stores now, right now. Again, the internet is another huge channel, but the other one is is the designer base. In fact, when you saw me sitting there in the parking lot, I was coaching another sales rep about you.
Speaker 4:You know, if you don't recognize the designer, you're behind the game. You're behind the game because if you ever got an account or an attendee list from places like High Point, you would see that the number of designers on that list are by far the majority of names that have registered for the show, right?
Speaker 2:majority of names that have registered for the for the show, right so so there's a good correlation between who is kind of well. I feel like designers are constantly trying to find, you know, be in the know of what's new, what's being represented right now, and you know it's not as easy to get like. We were spoiled in south florida with dak Dakota and the design center and the resources.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:But that has since shifted. Also, and even though there's still great resources, even now, palm Beach is growing its own little designer hub. But at the end of the day, the best place to see anything and everything is at market and through our reps, who you know know we do count on and rely on in the industry too the the high point show.
Speaker 4:uh, I was at a little meeting whenever you call it and, uh, I don't remember the lady's name, but she was one of the first people who started either the show or a group or whatever. But the thing was she says that back in the day, when it first started, you had to be retail If you were a designer. Sorry, you can't. You know this isn't for you. You know you have to buy through distribution. Wow, this isn't for you. You have to buy through distribution. Wow. Now it's like I mentioned, it's a whole different game. It's a whole different game.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we keep hearing in people that we talk to, that individuals who are, like yourself, reps and repping brands and so forth. The designer side is so important to their business. Oh, yeah, and unfortunately, we're hearing and seeing that some of these retailers are disappearing.
Speaker 4:I find that's so good. If I may, mention names.
Speaker 3:Yeah, of course.
Speaker 4:You can take a lot of these furniture companies like Bears Furniture is doing a great job, scan Design is doing a great job, clive Daniel Home is doing a great job. Okay, because they're big enough and they hire enough people to do this. Now, what do they have in there? They have salespeople, but they also have designers in there Right.
Speaker 4:So they're really doing a great job with bringing it better to the people. Okay, the smaller ones, the smaller accounts and stuff like that the mom and pops it's harder to get that going because you know it's, you know. Designer component yeah, you know, it's the two of them who are selling.
Speaker 2:You know, you know, I know that's kind of always been my thing too of like you don't want a salesperson helping you decorate your house right you know. So I do understand that design component being, you know, a pivotal situation. So, as you have this career spanning now we've mentioned a few decades in this industry what do you think is the most important component to date? The most important component or exciting component, like is it the growth of the Internet, Is it the you know, the design business, or say the shows or the relationship?
Speaker 4:So gosh, the part that I would say that makes my job so exciting is that it's very fluid. Okay, nothing is the same, and one of the things I get the the biggest kick out of is you know, everybody is putting out great product. I mean my gosh, you go to you, you go to market.
Speaker 4:It's like you know, oh, you think, oh well, this guy's a, it's a great brand or whatever. Yeah, but the smaller guy, you know, the smaller manufacturer, you might be able to find the same exact thing, maybe a different twist, maybe a different element that's off of it hits a different price point, or something like that. But nothing about this industry is boring, because I just find that everyone's coming out with great product Constantly, evolving Constantly. And as far as bringing back as a design into my own agency is, I'm hiring people to do different aspects of the job that are different than I used to do before, like more on email blasts. I make up my own literature to hand out and such like that. I find that manufacturers, they don't print catalogs anymore, but if a rep comes by and they don't have a catalog, well you know. So it's all internet.
Speaker 4:That's the catalog, yeah well, what you need to do is go onto the internet and it's like, yeah, but then as soon as you leave, then you forget.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, what are some of those ideas that people in your, in the rep industry or the rep world how do you trigger, like designers to recommend, because I even myself somebody will pop in, I might be out right at a meeting and they leave some things I'm like, oh my god, these are all gorgeous right but like, what is a good trigger to remember? Like, oh, I gotta remember that when it gets put back on the shelf, those email blasts, I guess.
Speaker 4:Well, the email blasts. But I got complimented on by another manufacturer saying, like I'm branding myself, right, we have a Rather than trying to brand the manufacturer Because you know, what's going to happen is one day I may lose the line, they may close, they may get another rep or whatever. But it's like my gosh. I've got to go to Keith Eichelblatt for this resource, for a table lamp, a mirror, a light or something like that.
Speaker 3:Well, you're so closer to those items because you're seeing them from the manufacturers, Like from a designer. You're a great resource to bounce off of.
Speaker 2:Totally Like. Even the email blast could just simply be photos from market, I mean to be able to see them in different lights. I mean, I refer to things all the time like that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but the other thing is that. So what I leave behind is that I'll leave behind a postcard, and it will have a picture of me on it in those suits that I was telling you about. But you've got to make something memorable. You've got to grab the attention and the such in order to be memorable, because there's a lot of reps out there. There's a lot of reps out there, correct? There's a lot of reps out there, and sometimes the rep makes the line and sometimes the line makes the rep.
Speaker 3:Right, so you know, but you stand out and you just said because of the way in which you dress the way in which you present yourself. Let's talk about that for a little.
Speaker 2:How did that evolve? Like to be able to set yourself apart. Tell us, talk about that for a little. How did that evolve to be able to set yourself apart?
Speaker 4:Well, when I'm off, I'm in front of the TV just relaxing. My wife one time came in and goes well, what are you doing? I said well, I'm watching TV, she goes. Well, how about turning on the TV then? The whole idea was that I'm just zoning out. I'm just, you know I'm on. So I, as mentioned before, was I take being a rep as a career so much. Like a doctor or anybody else, they're always going to go back and try to learn more and learn more, and learn more.
Speaker 3:So I look at it differently when I hear in our conversation before we started the podcast today, we were talking a little about this, we were talking about acting and so forth because you've done some acting and I kind of think about it from your standpoint and seeing you at market and what not that you're a performer. It's like Elvis getting on stage.
Speaker 4:It's like you've got your I don't want to call it costume, but you're beautifully dressed well, do you know that when Walt Disney World hires somebody, they're not hiring employees, they're hiring actors?
Speaker 2:Correct Actors, they call them Okay.
Speaker 4:And so that way they can get around a lot of stuff, I guess. But the idea is I can be whoever I want to be. If I want to walk into a showroom here, you'll do one, I think you need to have this light.
Speaker 2:Bring your jersey back or something Right.
Speaker 4:I know where you live. Are you going to buy this lamp or what, so it is. But the progression of trying to learn more about sales, learn more about people, learn more about acting I did acting because I thought that that could bring out a different element. Yeah, yeah, and basically it's just. I learned how to have fun at my job, right.
Speaker 2:Which is what we all want to eventually achieve.
Speaker 3:Most people don't have fun with what they're doing. No, it's a shame.
Speaker 4:Yeah, and so that's the reason why I call it more of that career rather than that job, because I do like what I'm doing and the amount of people that I call on. Oh my gosh, it's like if you ever saw my account list, it's way too many.
Speaker 2:Right, well, I guess that's a good thing then, not enough way too many.
Speaker 4:Okay, you know that's a good thing, then not enough. Yeah, I mean not that I take a day off, but I mean it's like like what was it like a year ago, or something like that. It was like the first time I took a vacation, and I don't know how long so you're, so you're in your car, then a lot driving every day.
Speaker 2:Yes, a lot of windshield time a lot of windshield time it's one of the good questions we like to ask when you're a rep. What does the day-to-day look like? Obviously a lot of windshield time, but is there certain days that you set aside for managing accounts, or certain days you set aside for replenishing accounts, or how does the day get set up?
Speaker 4:so. So, as the years have gone on, a lot of, I think, the responsibilities have also changed, like, for instance, when I first started, the big thing was going back into the warehouses and counting the boxes and making sure there's inventory, is it on the floor, and hanging it on the floor, and stuff like that. Nowadays, these things called computers I think that's how you pronounce it are actually you know, you don't even need to go in the back. And even if you did and you got the information, they're like all right, thank you, and I don't know what to do with your information because I'm going to go buy my computer anyway. Okay, so the day-to-day is still trying to plan it, but end of the year, at the end of December, whatever I was planning, 2025.
Speaker 4:Okay, and the first thing I did was I got out three months of the calendar and I marked down you know here's where I'm going to be in this date, this date, this date, this date, by January 15th. It was done. It was garbage, okay.
Speaker 2:You were already.
Speaker 4:Because you know the best you can do is that. You know you can still try to plan for it, but so many different things come up, correct, and it doesn't work out that way, like if you get into a car accident. It really screws up your day, right, you know so.
Speaker 2:Like a flat tire I had yesterday so. But how does one manage your accounts like? So you know you have an income coming in right how, in this business, would you explain, you know, for somebody getting into this type of career? Right how do you manage what's coming in every month, what you want to, how you want to grow, how you want to scale, how you want to scale.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 2:You know when is it time to take on a new line, when is a line no longer serving you Right, or how does that all work?
Speaker 4:Well, I find that sometimes, when it comes down to the development of the line, okay, I found that there's a lot of people who have a lot of lines, to the point where they don't even remember how many lines they have or what they have. So, a lot of things that I try to do is I try not to pick up too many and just keep developing it and keep developing it. And, as I said, everybody has good product. Well, at some point it's going to be too much of a crossover, and then which one do you pull out first? Well, at some point it's going to be too much of a crossover, and then which one do you pull out first?
Speaker 4:I find that there's always programs that different manufacturers have that may appeal to you but not for you, that kind of thing. So you've got to think ahead of the game and see what will work. You go into a lighting store. They may not be that much interested in table lamps, but you go into a furniture store and they're not that much interested in channel leaders.
Speaker 4:So then you're shifting gears and one of the talents that I think a lot of people have lost was back in the day, you know, before a lot of the you know again, we had handwritten purchase orders and stuff like that. Reps used to be able to add columns up, upside down, which I thought was always the greatest thing, because I was like, going now you need more, you know, but now it's kind of like, oh man, I wish you guys would stop relying on computers. You know, because you know how much inventory you have now. It's true, because you know how much inventory you have now. It's true. Do most lines or the lines that you represent, are you the exclusive for that? For your territory or your area? There may be different other reps in it, like, for instance, you may have a commercial rep versus a residential rep and again, as I I mentioned before, like the internet rep. So there's so much business still out there. There's plenty to go around.
Speaker 2:There's plenty to go around so one thing that I, one of the reasons I loved starting a podcast was because I just love everybody's stories that they have to tell, and I feel like there's so much to learn and grow from everybody's story, and something that I've always been intrigued by in the industry is love, like you just mentioned, murray Feist. Like you know he's a real person.
Speaker 2:And I just love hearing the history of so many of these iconic brands that we do use every day, like howard elliott. Like what are some of the background stories of the or your favorite stories?
Speaker 4:the background and you represent howard elliott which is a great brand howard elliott has got a great story behind a real person well, yes, yes, ish. Okay, the way that that started started was the family was in a big rental Like party, rental Party rentals, tents. One of the biggest ones in the nation, if I'm not mistaken.
Voice Over:Wow.
Speaker 4:And the owner of the company, brian Burke, went to his dad and said hey, I want to start my own Mira company. Miras, yeah, mirors.
Voice Over:That's my, my own mirror company.
Speaker 4:Okay, Mirrors, yeah, mirrors, that's my New Jersey.
Voice Over:Yeah.
Speaker 4:Mirrors.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 4:And so you know there was like okay, son, you know you don't know enough, whatever, and you know it's that always. Son father's like, no, I'm going to do this, okay. So he says okay, the dad's saying, okay, well, we'll name it Elliot, howard, which is both of their middle names. And so Brian goes no, I want to name it Howard, elliot. Okay, so he's their middle names. Right, so it was their middle names. And so they're off and running. He's importing his own stuff, came out with some beautiful, beautiful stuff, he's got the support from his family and stuff like everything's going great. And then 9-11 came, oh no.
Speaker 4:So if you remember back, then shut down uh, high point might have been the safest place in the world at that point, because there was, you know guard dogs walking all over arm, you know guards on the roofs and stuff like that. But it's like what a time to open up a new showroom.
Speaker 3:Because that's when they opened, so Howard Elliott's only been around that just a short period of time.
Speaker 4:Yeah, something like that 20-something years. But even with that one. It's really developed into something strong and got into different categories.
Speaker 2:Totally. A lot of categories, a lot of accessories, a lot of lighting, even.
Speaker 4:They never got it. Brian never really wanted to get into anything that I can plug in.
Speaker 2:That's true. That's because of a new set of problems or something, right, so he goes.
Speaker 4:I don't want to deal with that kind of stuff and I'm like going yeah, well, shipping mirrors could be an issue.
Speaker 2:There you go. No kidding.
Speaker 4:But one of the other lines is the natural light lamps. As I mentioned, I started selling them on the retail side back when I was like 14. And it's a mom and pop and you want to talk about two lovely people. And you want to talk about two lovely people. Okay, the wife does a lot of the designing. You know the uh. Harvey does the uh uh. You know runs. You know runs a show, if you will, but they do it together natural light lamps.
Speaker 4:I'm not familiar with it yeah, definitely is, but it's, yeah, what's? What's unique about their product or well, one of the things is that if you go online and go to natural light, you'll come up with a beer, okay, okay, I always refer to it as the Natural Light, so you know if anyone.
Speaker 4:You have to type the in yeah, that way it'll come up and they've got it's table lamps, okay, and they also have art, and all their art is original work, okay, and it is very good and it's overscaled. It is just beautiful stuff. Now, when it comes to their lamps, the majority of it is domestic and they ship out of Florida.
Speaker 2:Wow, yeah, up in the panhandle, is that where they do the manufacturing?
Speaker 4:Right, wow, I mean, when you go there you'll actually see people putting the things together rather than box in, box out from containers.
Speaker 2:Is that the company that has the color options?
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 2:So you can customize their colors.
Speaker 4:Yes, so you could say to an extent that they are made in the USA.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 4:And the nice thing about that is, whereas a lot of other manufacturers bring everything in from China, so you have to put a certain amount to fit into a cube, which will fit into a container. We've got lamps that are just very, very tall.
Speaker 2:I know, your scale is great.
Speaker 4:The scale is great. Scale is great, joanne knows color, she knows design. We use different mediums and in my opinion, it's the greatest lamp line in the world. Really, and you know, the shades are the best. I'm biased but I still think I always, whenever I present it, I always say this is the greatest you know lampline in the world.
Speaker 2:Tell us what other lines do you rep?
Speaker 4:I rep Craftmade lighting and fans. And they've got, you know, great, great designs on ceiling fans, high-end ceiling fans. You know, to builders uh ceiling fans, it's a across the board lighting chandeliers, indoor lighting, outdoor lighting and even uh lighted mirrors. So that's that's one of their new categories, uh concept lighting, which uh is spelled with a k of the-.
Speaker 2:But they gave you some tough ones for the internet, right.
Speaker 4:So they said, yeah, let's make it difficult for all of us. So it's concept and that gets into nice, streamlined, contemporary LED lighting. And they have won awards after awards after awards on design. That's a really nice company.
Speaker 3:Are they US based as well?
Speaker 4:No, it's abroad. But I mean, it's hard to find lighting anywhere in the world except for China, correct, you know?
Speaker 2:So has it always been like that.
Speaker 4:No, back in the day, I've been to Spain, to a trade show there, which is very cool. There's other trade shows throughout the world, but you know, I remember that, you know well. This product's from Italy, this product's from Spain, this product's from so-and-so, but now a lot of it is coming out of China. But they're also bringing in the Chinese companies, are bringing in Italian people to do the Right.
Speaker 2:We had that conversation yesterday here. Because of a wood floor that we're selecting, the pricing came in Our rep came in he was like, oh, that's a good price, I don't, that's great. You know, our rep came in. He was like, oh, that's a good price, I don't like that's great. And he like looked at the board and it's, like you know, made in the People's Republic and I was like, what do you mean? Like it's just. I feel like it is everything's getting taken over.
Speaker 2:And he's like well, it doesn't mean that every product is bad, but what we've dealt with since I've been in this business is I truly never had damaged goods. And now I feel like half of our day, which even John who's helped us sometimes like half of our day is monitoring and managing damaged goods.
Speaker 4:And that's where the rep comes in, right? So how do?
Speaker 2:you deal with like such. I mean, there's a waste factor, there's so much like a cost situation like where does that fit in our industry?
Speaker 4:now I think I mean going back to the natural light lamps. I, I I laugh at that because again, I see them building it, I see them putting in the box, I see them doing this and that and I think that uh ups can throw it off their truck and nothing's going to happen to it. I'm really impressed with the way that they have it. You have some other manufacturers who will ship it over to the United States in boxes made for trucking but not for UPS. So if they don't redesign their boxes then you're going to get that damage damage. But everyone's trying to limit it because freight is so high right now well, the damaged goods.
Speaker 2:I feel like too, like what happens to all those damaged goods. I mean they tell us, donate them. You go to like our receiving warehouse. I mean there's just stuff for days that like has no end use. How, how do the reps get involved at all in combating?
Voice Over:where all?
Speaker 2:that ends up. Or how does it work? Well?
Speaker 4:what I try to do is my job is to make you money, right, okay, ultimately, we're all trying to sell the same thing. Right and if you make money, I make money.
Voice Over:Right, and that's the bottom line.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's a really good way of looking at the business when you're, when you come from the retail end of it and you see a pile of garbage that's sitting there and you know you're waiting for the rep to take care of something and that's a that's, that's money, that's in the bank, that's just sitting back, it's true. So that's how I look at it, okay, okay, I embrace the situation, if you will. And so you go on and keep the ball of damages, I should say the sale of the product going. That part is figured in Somehow or another. It's figured in because there's no sense in shipping back something that's broken that's going to go back by truck, only for them to throw it away in their garbage can.
Speaker 2:Correct and if they can donate it.
Speaker 4:I'm sure somewhere along the line they have insurance policies that say you know, I'm not an accountant, but I'm sure there's a line there for someone.
Speaker 2:It's such a wild thing for me to like, just because of how much we deal with in the damaged situation.
Voice Over:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Especially, like you say, we recognize the value of what reps bring to the table, especially as an interior design firm. Right, and it's not just damaged things. I think that's kind of the minor part of all the business. It's just something you have to deal with. But I think the fact what reps bring to the table from a design firm and helping with selections and helping with colors and alternatives to items that are sold that we may not know or the consumer may not know, come in 50 other different colors, shades Well, if you ever go to market and when you go through every single showroom and you saw every single product.
Speaker 4:It's mind-boggling.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it is mind-boggling you can't do that.
Speaker 4:I mean so when you do go to market and you find out oh my gosh, check this out. You know, one of the things that Dad and I used to do was we would go to the lines that we would typically buy for, but the last mission was always to find something that's new, that's in a small building that can't afford a big showroom.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's cool, and let's find that little gem. I love that.
Speaker 4:But that's also what the rep can bring to the game. Is that something that is not always that's glaring in the eye, is just something that is so special that you wouldn't have seen them?
Speaker 3:without the rep. Right, I went to High Point this year. It was my first time. I've been to a lot of trade shows for other industries and businesses. You mentioned a few minutes ago about Spain a trade show, right, so you've probably. It sounds as though you've been to a number of different trade shows, possibly around the world in different places. Is there any one trade show you think is like the trade show? Is it High Point for the industry?
Speaker 4:So I go to the atlanta show, I go to the high point show and I go to the dallas show twice a year, you know? So, right, there's what. Uh, the six shows, right shows, um, each one does something a little bit different than the other one, I mean, but if you're an interior designer, I really think you know however you want, to what scale you want to put yourself on. If you don't go to the High Point show, I think you're missing out on so much, I mean, and not only the product. All right, great, everyone has a good product, as I keep mentioning. But they've got the classes, they've got other programs, they've got other programs. They've got so much things that you can offer. They have continuing education credits and stuff like that. And not only that, you get to meet your friends again.
Speaker 3:Right, Every six months or so. Yeah, there's definitely I've said this a couple of times on some of the podcasts that after me going, I've said to Tiffany, you need to take some of the clients to this. This is unbelievable. Yeah, I mean we're a busy firm. We probably, at any one given time, are working on 20 plus houses. Right, I mean we're busy and there's clients that we have that if we took them for three days for High Point, they could do their entire house.
Speaker 4:But I also think that you give them too much choices.
Speaker 2:You'll never get the job done. Well, Tiffany's pretty good at homing them in.
Speaker 3:We can love a lot of things and appreciate them. There's so much to see. We've got a client it's all about chandeliers and this particular client is a touring comedian Right and her whole basis of her tour is that she's known as the chandelier status Right. A chandelier is something that's so beautiful you look at and it never changes.
Speaker 2:It stands alone in a room and so forth.
Speaker 3:And so they're always looking for new chandeliers for the stage for their tour. I said, Tiffany, you've got to take them to High Point. New chandeliers for the stage for their tour? I said, Tiffany, you've got to take them to High Point. They'll go nuts when they see everything that's there.
Speaker 4:Well, one of the funny things which reminds me of Craftmade, they had bought this one doorbell line okay, line of doorbells, unbelievable. What was actually kind of cool was that made it onto Saturday Night Live? Really no way, because it was kind of like, if you remember, they had that one skit with chandeliers. You've got to have a chandelier. It'll make your food taste better.
Voice Over:You've got to have a chandelier.
Speaker 2:That's so funny.
Speaker 4:And so it was a takeoff of that, and so the one guy who I was talking to about it was always saying I can say that there's no other competitor out there that has ever been on Saturday Night Live with their doorbells.
Speaker 2:That is so funny. Yeah, so any of the brands that you currently rep and work with do they bring on designers for collaborations? Is there any collaborations that are? I feel like that's kind of a newer thing in the last 10 years, this collaboration that so many brands Well, are you talking in terms of designers for product or licensees? Like I guess, a licensing or just bringing, it seems like a lot of companies are.
Speaker 3:Like even the Mears, for example, promoting their designer, like we noticed that at High Point this year.
Speaker 4:So I represented one line with Hillary Farr. That was a license, and you want to talk about an ego stretch was, in order to meet her, you had to sign up in the morning to meet her. So one of the things that she got there early was working with the owner and she goes. You know, we're running out of time. I've got to meet my the first person. I got to meet Keith Eichenblatt and I go up to her. I go, hillary, it's only, I'm just another ref, don't worry about it, it's okay, I'm here, you know. So I think there's an importance to having a good license. As far as it takes you and it will take you just so far, okay, but it's all about the product correct.
Speaker 4:Okay, product yeah and so I I only wish that more manufacturers would come out with their own designers, because there's a lot of overlap okay, there's a lot of overlap from manufacturer to manufacturer to manufacturer. I would like to see the manufacturers have their own designers and develop their own. The other thing and I hope my manufacturers are listening listen to the reps. We're the ones who are on the front lines and you know we're seeing what is going on. It's their company, so they can run it any way they want to, but I find that they may live in a little bubble.
Speaker 2:Right.
Speaker 4:Okay, they may, you know, they may think differently this and that and this and that, but not only that. Florida is so different than Nebraska too, okay, so I mean they're trying to appeal to everybody and I keep saying more coastal.
Speaker 2:give me more coastal Right. Right, it's definitely a thing. So we live in we kind of mentioned this a little bit before that we live in this now, computer age, social media world and you're all about your branding, personal brand. Do these companies care kind of guide you at all on how to work with social media or how to push the brand or cross collaborate like through social media at any way?
Speaker 4:are you? A lot of the manufacturers do have their own social media person, okay, which is good, okay. Um, there's also a lot of reps out there, so a lot of reps out there, that don't even know how to use the computer, the social media and stuff like that. So I mean in my mind, then hire someone that does, because the world is really changing a lot and it's changing even faster. And the funniest story just happened about a few weeks ago was I was at a vendor show, okay. So you know, one company has, you know, across the United States, you know, a bunch of employees and they're of all ages. Well, one of them was about 24 years old, right, and so you know, I go. You know I was talking to him and said hey, you know, let me help you out, go ahead and give me your card. You know I go. You know I was talking to him and said hey, you know, let me help you out, go ahead and give me your card. And you know, and here's mine.
Speaker 2:Oh, I know they probably did.
Speaker 4:So he goes oh, we don't have cards he has his digital one. Yeah, I'm like, well, I don't know what to do.
Speaker 2:You scan a QR code, you know it's already in your.
Speaker 4:That happened to me the other day too, so it's like, okay, you know, thanks for making me feel old. You know, I appreciate that, but a lot of the manufacturers, if they're not doing it by themselves, they're hiring people to do it. As far as collaborating as an independent rep, I do my own and there's other reps that will go out there. Well, the manufacturer needs to come out with catalogs, the manufacturer needs to come out with this manufacturer. It's like I'm in business for myself. Yeah, you know. So if I see a need, that a printed postcard which costs you know nothing, if you will right, you know you're printing, then make it and just print it up, you know, and and to do it is, you know, it's just not that difficult.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 2:So, on that note, what advice would you give an individual who would like to move into this industry starting?
Speaker 4:out, get a lot of friends. What's interesting is I don't find too many people coming in from the outside. Usually someone's bringing somebody in.
Speaker 4:Okay that makes sense to me. And even when it gets to some of the more popular lines, you're almost always recommended and recommended, and recommended From the inside. From the inside, yeah, recommended from the inside. From the inside. Yeah, you know, I know a guy you know like, because I may rep howard elliott right with with this guy here, but he's also repping another line and so, oh, we're looking for someone in florida. I know a guy in florida, you know, I rep with him with another one, you know. So that's how, sometimes, you know, our packages do grow. Um, what would I advise them on? Be patient, because success doesn't happen overnight, right, but I as, as mentioned before, I mean there's so many facets, there's still a lot of business out there there is you could still make a a good, good living with this, with this job, is it?
Speaker 3:difficult to become a rep for a individual, because I've heard and you've said it that if you're good at what you do and you enjoy what you're doing which you certainly seem to be you're going to do well and you're going to make a nice living and you have your own. Basically, you're making your own schedule, you're not really reporting to anyone. You know it's, I think, a nice lifestyle that way as well.
Speaker 2:But I think it might be difficult for a person to become a rep because like you said, if you don't know a lot of people, you got to start from the inside.
Speaker 4:Well, a big part of it is there's a certain amount of crazy that you have to add into the recipe. Okay, and I mean, if you're not a self-starter, yeah, oh, my gosh, and all the things you hear about kids today, there is no way they're gonna be wrapped.
Speaker 2:It's so true. It's so true. I was actually listening to a podcast this morning where they're saying like school has kind of been set up to take all that free thinking away Like they want. You know, it's kind of breaking down the free thinking and kind of get y'all in a box and get in line and conform Right.
Speaker 2:So yes, and it's funny that you say that like there is still so much growth in this industry, which is another reason why I love having the podcast to kind of illuminate it, because in a lot of my own research, it's not one that AI is going to be able to. It's a very personal business, it's tactical. You know there is a lot and it's been an untapped industry for such a long time.
Speaker 4:It's still a mom and pop.
Speaker 2:It is right yeah it really is.
Speaker 4:It really is, yeah, the uh, uh, I I just, you know, uh, I I just think that if a new person is coming in, there's something about them that they have that drive already in them. Okay I'm, am I driven by money? I'm not gonna kid you, I like money, but but the thing about it is, I like making the sale.
Speaker 2:Right, you like that. The art is a deal of it.
Speaker 4:And if you and I worked on something and it's like, keith, I'm looking for a ceiling fan, okay, and I found the perfect one for you and your customers absolutely love it, you know, I mean you're going to be happy because you satisfied your customer and I'm going to be happy because you know you're happy, kind of thing. So yeah, that's a big part of it.
Speaker 2:It's a relationship business too.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you're not going to find and, as I said, a lot of it is crazy because you can make whatever you want out of it okay I mean the, the like. For instance, one of the jokes that was kind of carrying me for a number of years but I never really picked up on it. Was I like to dress up as you've seen?
Speaker 4:and stuff like that, like your personal branding but I also drove a uh toyota sienna, which was the most comfortable thing in the world, held everything but the paint was burning off of it.
Speaker 4:I had like 300,000 plus miles on it but it was so reliable, it was this, it was that, and it's like, oh well, you don't really match your car. So I was like, all right, fine, I wound up getting a new car because it was time anyway. But I was bulletproof to a lot of people's criticisms right like, you want to buy me a car, buy me a car, I'll drive that you know.
Speaker 3:But uh, uh, you know, I, I, I do my own thing you know, I have to say something that, for people who've never been to high point high point it's like it's like a mini city of just every furniture, lighting, home accessory you could think of, by every single company is there in this one little mini city. My first time going there was this year and I went around with Tiffany and we met a lot of people, a lot of people that Tiffany knows, and went to a lot of showrooms and I have to tell you that you're the one person that really stood out when I met you at High Point. This is that your personality was electrifying. You were.
Speaker 4:I was on, baby, I was on.
Speaker 3:And I said to Tiffany the first time and you popped up everywhere.
Speaker 2:You were like old bug.
Speaker 3:But that's the thing is that when I first met you, I said to Tiffany, I said I bet you he does really well because he's got a great personality, he's so friendly and just warming and charming. And then, like I don't know, it was like 20 minutes later we're in another building and, for people who don't understand another building, we walked like two blocks to another building, went up to the sixth floor, which these buildings are a maze walked into another showroom and I said wait, he has a brother, a twin.
Speaker 4:And he dresses the same way too. That was you.
Speaker 3:And then I forget, I think it was later in the day we ran into you at another showroom where you were holding court with all these different people and I said to Tiffany I said, man, he does get around, he's really on it and I said we've got to have him on our podcast.
Speaker 4:But one of the things that I as a child. So for the brands that you represent, I have to say they're very lucky to have you Did you hear that everyone has this been working.
Speaker 3:Hello, they have to say they're very lucky to have you, did you?
Speaker 4:hear that everyone has this been working.
Speaker 3:Hello, they have to be, they have to be.
Speaker 4:Well, I had a sales manager one time and goes to me. He goes Keith, you did really really well this year. Let's put a quota on for next year for, like you know, like $600,000 for it. I said, well, that's great.
Voice Over:Why don't we make it?
Speaker 4:$700,000? He goes you want to do $700,000? Make it $800,000. I said I'll tell you what. Let's make it a cool million dollars. He goes really I said what part do you think I'm not going to do anyway, to strive to do the best that I can.
Speaker 2:You're right, you don't need to give me a quota. That's a good advice.
Speaker 4:I'm going to do whatever it takes. Yeah, you know, and if I meet it, I meet it. I mean, am I the greatest one? There's always someone who's going to be better. You know, there's always going to be a lot more people, hopefully it'll be worse. But you know I don't have a life, I just work.
Speaker 2:So where do you see your future in the industry? Well Is there an end game, or is it just keep going?
Speaker 4:Well, no, there's going to be an end game one day, but part of it that I thought was so interesting, again, let's call it growth.
Speaker 4:That's one of my favorite words, and maybe it's even a better understanding of what we do. I uh, every 10 years I said I gotta pinch myself to make sure that I'm still alive, okay. So one of the things that I did do was okay. As I mentioned before, I worked at the retail level, okay. So that way it that helped out when I was a rep, so I could understand that when a lighting distributor says, hey, my builder needs our stuff, we can't close, I get it. Okay. A lot of other reps, you know you'll get it. When you hear knock, knock, knock on the back door, that's when you're going to get it. Okay. So you know, so I know that my efforts to make things happen, you know, matter. A lot of people think like keith, how big of a garage do you have? Because it sure sounds like you have everything to solve our problems in your garage.
Speaker 4:Then when I turned I I think it was 50 I said you know what I want to try this import business.
Speaker 4:It seems like it seems like it works right right. So I did that. I flew around the world and did this and did that and I'm already a rep, so it's like I knew a lot of contacts I already make to sell this product too. And that's not an easy job. It's time-consuming, it's everything else like that. I hired people and it just got to the point where that was a bit much, so I would.
Speaker 2:I never stopped repping but you're not afraid to try new things oh gosh, no, yeah, no, no, there's.
Speaker 4:Uh, I'm 62 years old and still really yeah, and the other. And also is that I'm never. I never think that I have learned enough. No, I feel the same way.
Speaker 2:You have to learn something new every day, they say.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but just the way that the industry is changing. If I feel that I can stay on top of things and especially ahead of other people in learning where the industry is going, you know that's going to help me out. Things I do wish for things I do wish is that I'd had a little bit more time to get involved in more industry clubs and stuff like that. But you know, we're all trying to work harder.
Speaker 2:I figure that'll be my next season. Like right now, my juggle is work and parents and parenting and building the podcast as my extra, but I would love to.
Speaker 4:But how?
Voice Over:cool is this.
Speaker 2:It is so cool, it's been great having you, and we're so happy too, so let's wrap this up?
Speaker 3:Sure, we always wrap it up by asking a couple of offbeat questions about design. So I'll ask a question first. Offbeat questions about design. So I'll ask a question first. Is that from a design perspective, is there a restaurant that comes to mind that you think it's been designed really cool or great, or wonderful?
Speaker 2:Or it could be lack of design. It could be designing of the food.
Speaker 4:If you give me a great steak on a picnic table, I'm all about that. But there is a restaurant that I particularly like going back to over and over again, because they have a piano bar there.
Speaker 2:Oh, I love that.
Speaker 4:But can I mention the name?
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 4:Okay, it's called Christeners, which is somehow or another. They were connected with Del Frisco's, okay, and they know how to. It's all about the service. They've got good management there. It's in Orlando, what's the name of it? Christeners? K-r-i-s-t-n-e-r-s. Wow, I should try it and been there for bachelor parties, to birthdays, to everything. And there's a level of sophistication that when you go in there, you know I go in there wearing one of my crazy suits or whatever and I want to be king tonight because I know that you know.
Speaker 2:You feel special walking through here, I feel special.
Speaker 4:And I want you know I feel special and I want, I want you know. So I love that place and you know that's where I like going. I love that. What is your favorite hotel? I would definitely say my house. Ok, I, you know one of the things that they said in this, you know, and I mean mean I've been to the Intercontinental in Paris Absolutely amazing.
Speaker 4:Yeah, okay, not that I've been all over the world and this and that, and not that I stay in the greatest places either. And there's a, really I think it's in Boca. I remember that when I first met my wife, there was a very opulent the Boca Resort. I bet you, that's what it was.
Voice Over:Yeah.
Speaker 4:I bet you that's what it was they changed it.
Speaker 2:It's called the Boca Resort.
Speaker 4:Well, they can change it back then.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, they changed that old kind of world.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Now it's just like all white.
Speaker 4:Right, oh, you know it was great.
Speaker 2:It's still a great place. It's still historical.
Speaker 4:Where do you want to go on vacation?
Speaker 2:You want to go home.
Speaker 4:I want to go home. I got a great porch overlooking our lake. The dogs To me.
Speaker 2:That's my You're happy, that's my happy spot, so you like to dress Right.
Speaker 3:Is there any particular wardrobe accessory that?
Speaker 4:Shoes. I love shoes, I love shoes.
Speaker 2:That's the best way to wrap up I couldn't agree more.
Speaker 4:Never enough shoes and they're not buckles on your shoes, they're called monks, monks. Yeah, single monk, double monk. I didn't know that. See that? No, we all learned something today. We all learned something today. Well, thank you, you bet.
Voice Over:Appreciate you coming. Thank you so much. You bet it was a lot of fun. It was a pleasure to have you iDesign Labs Podcast is an SW Group production in association with the 5 Star and TW Interiors. To learn more about iDesign Lab or TW Interiors, please visit twinteriorscom.
