Step inside the Market Hill on 6 by Paul Michael (WTC 615) showroom at Dallas Market Center and you’re surrounded by texture: petrified wood, quartz crystal, reclaimed barn beams, hand-poured glass. Nearly everything here has a story, and Paul Michael makes sure it gets told.
From Jewelry to Furniture and Back Again
Paul Michael's story starts in Lake Village, Arkansas, where his grandfather once sold pots, pans, and thread to levee workers out of a mule-drawn cart before opening one of the town's first department stores. Paul grew up in that store and inherited the same instinct for buying, selling, and trading. In the 1970s, he began picking up antiques and reselling them to the restaurant TGI Fridays, a hustle that eventually led him to Nashville. There, he met his future wife and business partner, Debbie, in her popular antique clothing shop, Betty Boop's.
Together they built a jewelry line, then moved into importing home accessories, and eventually started manufacturing their own designs. In addition to the DMC showroom, the Paul Michael Company also operates two year-round retail buildings, the Paul Michael Holiday House, and a restaurant, Duo Modern, at the Round Top Antiques Fair.
The company also operates a woodshop in Dermott, Arkansas, that runs seven days a week to produce what the family calls "Paul's World" — furniture and accessories built almost entirely by hand from salvaged wood, stone, and natural materials.
"Paul actually started in jewelry, and he's kind of come full circle — he's doing his jewelry again as well," says Cathy Malcolm, manager of the Dallas showroom. A case near the entrance holds his newest pieces, a direct link back to where the business began.
Custom Furniture Built From What Others Overlook
Nearly every table, console, and bench in the showroom starts as a material other people might overlook. Cathy points to a coffee table with a base cut from petrified wood, a console topped in raw quartz, and a set of dining tables built from the oak beds of old 18-wheeler trailers, bolt holes and all. One standout piece began as an Indonesian clinging vine that wrapped around a tree; the dead wood was then carved out, left to weather naturally, and finished into a sculptural bench. Another tabletop is made of a genuine Russian ammonite fossil.
The team works with walnut, sycamore, red gum, ash, cypress, and sinker cypress — wood pulled from riverbeds that then dries for five years before it can even be touched. Several pieces have undergone shou sugi ban, the Japanese practice of scorching the wood's surface to create a carbon top layer that's both protective and beautiful.
Clients can customize almost anything: the type of wood, the size, the base — acrylic, metal, or even a volcanic stone boulder — and the sides, from a waterfall and bullnose to trendy raw edge.
"Custom is kind of our forte," says Cathy.
Art That Tells Its Own Story
The showroom's art collection is just as personal. Kader Boly, a painter from Burkina Faso, West Africa, was discovered by Paul at a market in Tucson more than a decade ago, before he spoke much English. Paul bought everything he had that day. Bowley now has his own gallery in Atlanta and still travels to Round Top to paint live at the Market Hill buildings during shows.
Other pieces come from a glass artist in San Francisco, whose "seconds" — pieces with a stray bubble or imperfection — are turned into one-of-a-kind sculptures by Paul, and from a father-son photography team who transfer their images onto handmade rice paper for a look that reads more like fine art than photography.
Crystals, agate slices, and natural minerals overflow from crates and tables. Cowhides from Brazil join Turkish prayer rugs, and there's even a full-size zebra hide or two — though Cathy warns those often sell out.
A Family Business, Twice Its Size
Every part of the Market Hill business stays close to home. Debbie remains a full partner, son Jake oversees construction and operations in Round Top, daughter-in-law Leigh photographs the collections, and daughter Elizabeth is a graphic artist who runs the company's social media. Cathy has worked with the family off and on since 2015, filling in wherever Paul needs her.
"He called me one Sunday and said, 'You're going to be my Dallas manager.' Did I have a choice? No," Cathy laughs. "He's a very nice man — a real Southern gentleman. But when he wants something, he's going to get it."
Part of the DMC Community
Aside from working with wholesalers, interior designers, and even Taylor Sheridan's production company — you can spot Market Hill furniture, art, and more on the TV shows Landman and Lioness, both of which are partially filmed in DFW — Market Hill on 6 maintains a strong presence around DMC.
Several of their pieces appear in the Design Ambassador vignettes and the showroom is hosting a breakfast for the Business of Home Accelerator Series during Dallas Design Week. Make sure you don't miss it by viewing the full schedule and registration details for Dallas Design Week at dallasmarketcenter.com.