High Point Market is just two weeks away!
Since many (probably most) of my readers are not designers, I first need to explain what High Point Market is, exactly. It’s the largest home furnishings industry market (or, trade show) in the United States. It happens twice a year in High Point, NC, which is at the epicenter of the American-made furniture industry. The entire town descends into madness for a few days beginning April 20th, when tens of thousands of designers, decorators, architects, and retailers arrive from all over the world to mob the 2,000+ showrooms and exhibitors, and attend educational and networking events. If you follow other interior design blogs, Twitter feeds, or you’re on Pinterest, you’ll no doubt see the ubiquitous #HPMKT tag during the market, and the weeks and months that follow.
My visit will be short and sweet – I’m in town only for a day and a half. I’ll probably spend more time planning my itinerary than I will at the actual market. Because the showrooms are spread throughout High Point, and are not all within walking distance of one another, careful planning will be the key to a successful market for me.
Here are a few of the things I’m looking forward to most…
1.) Finding new and fabulous sources for furniture, fabrics, rugs, accessories and more – like Norwalk Furniture
2.) Visiting the Junior League of Greensboro Showhouse (hopefully…it’s a 15,000 square foot house so it may take more time than I have!). The lineup looks spectacular, including heavyweights Suzanne Kasler, Eric Cohler and Miles Redd. It would really be a shame to miss it.
3.) Previewing Joe Ruggiero‘s new menswear-inspired textiles collection for Sunbrella at Miles Talbott. I love seeing the growth in the indoor/outdoor category. Remember, a durable indoor/outdoor upholstery fabric is PERFECT for kid and pet-friendly interior use!
4.) Seeing what is new and innovative in family-friendly design. I’m hoping to gather enough material for a few “post-mortem” blog posts, where I will share my finds with you. Dash & Albert‘s affordable, durable and adorable area rugs (the dog’s pretty cute, too!) are a great example.
5.) Meeting blog and Twitter friends in person, and making new friends and business contacts in the broader design community. A special thanks to Donna Frasca for organizing a Pinterest board, and real life meetings for us!
6.) North Carolina-style pulled pork :). Hey, why not?
LOL! I love this Kelly! This is such a great post and I’m happy to be your #5! I have you on my list also. It’s going to be a really busy day and you’re going to love the pulled pork sandwich. If you’re traveling alone, we can hand together if you want since I want to hit the same things you do … including that sandwich 🙂
Thanks, Donna! I will let you know my itinerary/plans and we can see if ours mesh and if it makes sense to brave the market together. I’m sure I could benefit from your experience, and being shown around by an almost-local!
Sounds good Kelly!
Kelly, I can’t wait to meet you! And all the cool peeps in the group!
Kelly and I will be hanging Robert so the both of us will come see you too!
Pure double awesomeness! 🙂
🙂
Thanks, Robert! So looking forward to meeting you and checking out your furniture designs at LAZAR, as well (with an extra helping of awesome sauce, please 🙂 ).
More awesome sauce coming right up! 🙂 lol
I just came across your blog through Twitter. I now follow you here and there too. Great post, maybe I’ll run into you this weekend at hpmkt 🙂 -Rachel
By the way Kelly, just one small correction in your blog. You said High Point Market is the the biggest furniture market in the United States – here’s a quote from their website “The High Point Market is the largest furnishings industry trade show in the world, bringing more than 75,000 people to High Point every six months.” In the WORLD!!! Can you believe it? And we’ll be there 🙂
I stand corrected! Though technically, if it is the biggest in the world, it is also the biggest in the U.S. Technically. 🙂 Here’s to world domination!
Thanks, Rachel – follow-back is forthcoming, and I hope to see you this weekend!
Thanks, see you soon!