Rubbing Shoulders with the Rich and Famous

Well, I suppose the terms "rich" and "famous" are relative. To me these people are famous or at least well-respected in the design industry. Successful, published, trend-setting, etc. At both High Point and Las Vegas markets we bumped into and planned to bump into the following celebrity designers:

Elle Decor magazine had an event to publicize its newest book, Style and Substance, and their Editor-in-chief Margaret Russell was there to sign copies. It was fun to see her in person - she is so classically pretty. And certainly as petite as she appears on camera. She was one of the judges for Bravo's (late) design reality show, Top Design.

Right behind us in line to meet Margaret was Tobi Fairley, a designer from Atlanta. She was featured with several other 'up and coming' designers in Traditional Home Magazine this year. I remembered her name and when someone came up to her entourage and said, "hey Tobi!" I put the pieces together. She does beautiful things - here is a bedroom of her design.

In Las Vegas we went to the Safavieh showroom and were treating ourselves to breakfast danishes and quiche, when some lady came up to us and said, "Don't you KNOW who that is?? It's Jamie Drake", like we were idiots. I didn't recognize him and on top of that he wasn't hosting anything, he blended right in. We went over to meet him and he was very nice. Jamie Drake was named by Traditional Home as one of the "20 Icons" of design and also named to the Interior Design Magazine Hall of Fame. He is incredibly well-known and in my opinion, incredibly talented. I love the way he uses pink.

Darryl Carter is a another very respected designer, based on the East Coast. I love his combinations - the color he uses is subtle and soothing and he has a great attention to detail without being overwhelming. His rooms are livable but each of them also has it's own personality/style. He designed a furniture line for Thomasville that is fantastic. Great proportions and beautiful shapes. He also came out with a book called The New Traditional. Thomasville hosted an event to debut Darryl Carter's pieces. He himself was there - signing books and gifting them! He was tremendously nice.

Last but not least in any way - Candice Olson came to HP for one day to introduce a furniture line she designed for Revco Intl. She is probably the most recognizable designer right now in the U.S. and Canada. Her show Divine Design has run seven seasons - and she's about to launch a new show on top of that. She wrote a book that I think is super fabulous - complete with her incredible renderings of course. She also has her own upholstery, art, lighting and rug lines. Meeting her was a MUST for me. I've been watching her since she began and still love her creativity and glamorous transitional style. In my opinion, she was doing 'transitional' before the word 'transitional' was even coined.

What an incredible treat to meet her. There were only a few people in front of us when we got there - and it still took 25 minutes to get to the front... Candice was chatting with everyone as if they were friends of hers. She is even more vibrant and personable than she appears on tv. Kathy and I talked with her for a while and heard all about her new projects and things. She is so genuine which is refreshing considering her busy schedule and fame. I told her that my mom and I have a tradition of watching multiple tivo-ed Divine Design episodes when I'm up visiting Montana. Mom LOVES Candice and likes to pick apart the ingenious design elements that she comes up with. I think Candice really liked the story, if I do say so myself. :) She wrote a personal note to my mom and when I got home I mailed it along with a book and our picture to her. Mom was silent, then squealed in excitement and disbelief... yes, I actually can keep a secret! She had no idea that I would be meeting Candice. It was so fun to surprise her that way - thank heavens for web-cam chatting.