Business of Home Podcast

Not many designers can count Frank Lloyd Wright, Eero Saarinen and Marilyn Monroe as clients, but Jack Lenor Larsen is no ordinary designer. A legend of the textile business, Larsen started his own studio in New York in 1952. His vivid early work convinced a once-skeptical Florence Knoll, who commissioned Larsen to create fabric for her furniture. From then on, Larsen’s business  and reputation grew and grew. Drawing on extensive travels around the globe, he introduced ikat and batik to the American public, designed upholstery for Pan Am, authored over a dozen books and championed traditional craft wherever he went. Today, his work is studied in textbooks and displayed in museums around the world. At 92, Larsen has a lifetime's worth of stories—in this episode of the Business of Home podcast, he shares a few of them. 

Tapping into an overseas manufacturing boom, Andy Singer started Visual Comfort in the mid 80s, but it wasn’t until he partnered with master lighting designer Sandy Chapman ten years later that the company took off—now it’s one of the industry’s most recognizable brands, producing well known collaborations with designers like Thomas O’Brien, Alexa Hampton, Kelly Wearstler and many more. His sister Gale worked with Andy in the early days, but in the 90s split off to form Circa as a separate showroom business, which has also grown explosively—she’s opened eight new locations in 2020 alone. In this episode of the podcast, the Singers discuss using data to make design decisions, the opportunities and challenges of selling trade products online, and why Visual Comfort wants to be the Frank Sinatra of lighting companies. This episode was sponsored by Rebecca Atwood Designs.

Syd and Shea McGee, the married couple behind design firm Studio McGee, are enjoying a period of phenomenal success. Their debut book is a bestseller, their new Netflix show is a hit, and their e-commerce business McGee & Co. is experiencing explosive growth. On this episode if the podcast, they talk about how what looks like an overnight success has actually been a long journey, the resistance they’ve encountered from an old-school industry, and how confronting their own limitations led to their biggest breakthrough.  This episode is sponsored by Rebecca Atwood Designs.

Frank Eybsen started online custom furniture platform Buildlane after working in a furniture factory himself and seeing firsthand how frustrating and opaque the experience could be for designers. He made it his mission to bring the process entirely online, and has built a network of factories and a digital platform that connects the trade to the craftsmen who build their furniture. In this episode of the show, Eybsen and COO Heather Zeilman talk about why makers have been slow to embrace change, what it’s like to pitch investors who may never have even heard of the interior design industry, and what Domino’s Pizza has to do with ordering a custom sofa online.  This episode is sponsored by Rebecca Atwood Designs.

For an interior designer known for classic American style, Barry Dixon’s childhood was surprisingly international—his father’s career took the family all around the world, and as a young man he lived everywhere from India and Pakistan to South Africa and New Caledonia. Today Dixon is one of the profession’s most respected designers, with high-profile collections through Arteriors, Fortuny, Vervain and others. In this episode of the Business of Home podcast, he chats with host Dennis Scully about the COVID adaptations he’s planning to keep forever, his unique philosophy on product licensing, and what it’s like to work for both republicans and democrats in a charged political atmosphere. This episode is sponsored by Rebecca Atwood Designs.

Born in Paris and raised by his grandparents, interior designer and architect Robert Couturier is a living embodiment of a more formal, genteel era. He came to New York in the seventies, and after working for Adam Tihany, established his own firm and began working on projects that would land him on the covers of magazines and take him around the world. In this episode of the podcast, he shares a personal recollection of his young life, then discusses why he likes to have friends as clients, why he never got into product licensing, and whether interior design as a profession will live on. This episode is sponsored by Moore & Giles and the This Old House podcast.

With a focus on e-commerce and no showrooms or traveling reps, at first glance Saltwolf looks like any number of online furniture startups. But there’s a twist: it’s a to-the-trade company founded by interior designers, for interior designers only. On this episode of the podcast, founders Lindy and Jordan Williams talk about the frustrations they experienced in their own firm that led them to start Saltwolf, why younger clients don’t tolerate long lead times, and the secrets of reaching interior designers online.  

Started in 1946 in Dorset, England, Farrow & Ball makes paint that has become known for its chalky matte finish, its use on historical British estates, and quirky color names, like Elephant’s Breath, Nancy’s Blushes or Sulking Room Pink. In this episode of the Business of Home podcast, CEO Anthony Davey and head of creative Charlotte Cosby tell host Dennis Scully about their quest to highlight Farrow & Ball as a performance option, that SNL sketch, and the challenge of preserving the brand’s heritage while reaching out to new audiences. This episode is sponsored by Moore & Giles Leather and the Ask This Old House podcast.

As a former Lehman Brothers associate and Stanford MBA, Eric Edelson was an unlikely candidate to take over Fireclay, a small tile company struggling through the 2008 recession. However, he led it through a rough patch, and has grown the company into a thriving operation. In this episode of the podcast, he speaks to host Dennis Scully about the “Jerry McGuire” moment that led him to completely reinvent his company, a surprising approach to sampling, and why focusing on ethics and sustainability makes good business sense. This episode was sponsored by Moore & Giles Leather. 

Originally started by academics Jeanine Hays and Bryan Mason as a blog in 2007, over time Aphrochic has grown into a lifestyle and media brand including an interior design studio, product lines, a podcast and a magazine that celebrates black creatives in the home industry and beyond. On this episode of the podcast, they spoke with host Dennis Scully about how their growth has been organic—not easy, their new book project, and whether the national reckoning on race will lead to real change in the design industry. This episode is sponsored by Universal Furniture and Resource Furniture.