by Designers share insights during a Las Vegas Market webinar
While negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are far-reaching across the home industry, a group of designers shared some silver linings during last week’s Build the Room: Virtual Showhouse webinar.
I moderated the discussion, which was hosted by Las Vegas Market, and featured designers Jannicke Ramsø of Tiny Little Pads, Jennifer Leonard of Nifelle Design, Kate Lester of Kate Lester Interiors, Keia McSwain of Kimberley & Cameron Interiors, Kerrie Kelly of Kerrie Kelly Design Lab and Nicole Yee of Nicole Yee Interiors. The panelists shared the inspiration behind their room designs for the virtual showhouse–an online component to this summer’s market–and explained some of the surprising ways the pandemic has positively affected their businesses.
Lester, who owns a retail store alongside her design business in Southern California, said the pandemic forced her team to rethink processes and business practices. With their store closed, they pivoted to incorporate more digital tools and online shopping to help overcome a decline in business due to pandemic lockdowns.
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“Having retail and a design business, you have to be adaptable,” Lester said. ”You have to be adaptable or you’re going to be left behind.”
Part of that adaptation for many of the designers included reworking the way they operate their businesses. McSwain said the slowdown during stay-at-home orders afforded her team the time and space to focus on the business and making it more efficient.
“We’ve been able to put systems in place in our downtime that we couldn’t ordinarily do,” she said. “We found the benefit from calming down.”
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Kelly said her team took the downtime to invest in and master the use of tools to expand their services beyond the confines of in-person meetings.
“We were really getting the structure in place on the virtual design front, and our processes are ramping up,” she said.
Kelly said offering virtual design sessions has been a boost for business, and that coupled with a reduction in other expenses has had a positive impact on the bottom line.
“It could be one of the most profitable years we have had because we’re not traveling as much for markets, so we’re saving money while we’re still staying busy,” she said. “Although we do miss going to markets to see and touch new products.”
The designers agreed that after the initial lockdowns relaxed, demand spiked from many of their clients.
“I think people were stuck at home and just realized how tired they were of their spaces,” said Yee.
And while there have certainly been challenges, all of the panelists agreed this pandemic has forced them to make necessary changes that will allow their businesses to continue to thrive long after COVID-19 is gone.
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