Conversations with Cindy: Creating a Great Design Business One Step at a Time

Activity. Commerce. Energy. That’s because of all the market centers in the U.S., Dallas has more year-round traffic than anybody else. In fact, each month more than 1000 interior designers come to visit. This is an active part of the country for the business of home: the largest chapters of professional organizations for interior design are in Texas; and many top global design firms for residential, hospitality and commercial are in the Dallas area.

It’s been like that here for a long time, and it’s one of the things I’m personally most proud of in the business we’ve built here. But if you stand still and rest on your laurels one of your competitors is going to zoom by and you may never catch up. That’s why this year we’re accelerating our efforts in the design business with the addition of more than 100 brands into our Interior Home + Design Center which we have reinvented as the centerpiece of our design footprint. Some of the brands are already moving in, and next time you’re on our campus you can see their debut.

We also recently announced a two-year partnership with Business of Home for design programming including a Business Accelerator Series. This is a brand-new concept and you can see the first one on April 14 during our April Design Days on the 14th and 15th.

And not everything is in the IHDC building, either. In the Trade Mart, we are welcoming more lighting showrooms open daily, including Hubbardton Forge, Varaluz x Ciana, and Craftmade. WAC Group is open most days, too. They join the already open daily Market Lighting Services, Z-Lite, Elegant Lighting, and Samsung.

Across campus there’s a Design momentum centered on being ready when the buyer is ready. So there is no need to wait for designated market events. There’s lots to see every day...and the lines at Starbucks are usually a little shorter, too.