The New York Design Center at 200 Lex celebrated Women’s History Month with an inaugural Women in Design event on March 13. Here’s some words of wisdom, inspiration, and reflection from top professionals in the industry.
“Keep doing the work because you never know who’s looking,” Kesha Franklin of Halden Interiors reflects on being asked to participate in the 2023 Kips Bay Decorator Show House New York.
“I’ve had my company for 15 years and seven years ago my husband joined my firm. We said we would never work together. Never say never,” shares California-based interior designer Amy Meier. “I feel incredibly grateful that I have a husband who, at any party, says ‘I work for my wife.’ He really empowers me, he really lifts me. It’s incredible.”
“I always tell people that you have to do everything. Do the showhouses, do press, network, coming to this event you’ll make friends,” says designer Young Huh. “All of that makes such a difference. You have to do it all.”
“It’s comfortable to have what other people have,” art consultant Erica Samuels of Samuels Creative & Co. says on clients wanting popular artwork instead of branching out. “I have to defend the artist’s value.”
“To see the way he operated still inspires me because they broke for lunch, they sat down together,” photographer Melanie Dunea reflects on being Richard Avedon’s assistant. “He had a little coffee table area with his books. He made the studio so warm, he was so lovely, and he didn’t act diva-ish. He just was fabulous. And I always use that as an example of a great who was also kind.”
