The Chairish Podcast

Holiday décor should bring the joy of the season to life—but for many designers this time of year can inspire as much dread as delight. Are you expected to deck the homes of clients for the holidays because you designed their space? How do you manage expectations? Is there any way to make the season profitable and not a drag on your resources? Two interior designers—Charlotte Barnes and Lindsay Anyon Brier—and floral designer Denise Porcaro Tupper weigh in on how to navigate the pitfalls of holiday décor and entertaining, how to make the season profitable for your firm, and whether you should even try to expand beyond the expected red and green, holly and mistletoe.

Why do designers go out on their own? What drives them to leave a secure job and take the risk? Is launching a firm fueled by courage, ambition, or something else entirely? And, more importantly, are the rewards worth the challenges? Three designers—Tara McCauley, Michael Capuano, and Claire Ratliff of Henry Street Design—share their experiences in leaving prestigious firms, discuss their motivations, tell how they secured their first clients, and reveal the biggest hurdles they've encountered.

Even those who love homes with history, character, and patina agree that making old buildings work for modern living isn't always easy. No one wants to live in a museum, but how do you adapt the past to the modern world? Can an 18th -century palazzo, a 1920s apartment, or a 1950s glass house be made to answer the desire for expansive kitchens and baths, air-conditioning, and powerful Wi-Fi in every room? Interior designer and château owner Timothy Corrigan and Robert O’Byrne, the Irish Aesthete, weigh in on the rewards of renovation, how clever thinking and innovative approaches can maintain and enhance the beauty of the past, why old structures can be a relative bargain, and why patience is a crucial element in any renovation.

When home and apartment sales slow, the design world feels the effects. High mortgage rates, a lack of inventory, and the sky-rocketing costs of homes and apartments have all had a devastating effect. But with the Federal Reserve seeming to indicate a lowering of rates soon, is all that about to change? Will that unleash a flood of buyers? Or will prices continue to rise and the nation’s housing shortage only worsen? Three real estate experts—Leslie Singer in New York City, Rochelle Atlas Maize of Los Angeles, and Amanda Pendleton of Zillow—weigh in on local and national markets, what they see ahead, and the amenities that luxury buyers are searching for now. 

With the moribund real estate market prompting a slowdown in residential work, many designers are thinking about hospitality. But is expanding into hospitality or retail really a viable option? Are special skills required? What are the trends in hospitality design? And even more importantly, what are the pitfalls? Three top talents—Roger Thomas, Poonam Khanna, and Chad Dorsey—share their experiences in crafting restaurants, hotels, and retail spaces, reveal lessons they’re learned, and discuss how hospitality design differs from creating homes, but why it can be just as rewarding.

How does a designer get their work seen and attract new clients? The power of print media has declined while, thanks to social media, every designer can easily put their work out into the world. But how do you stand out amid the daily flood of content? Is there still a role for public relations? Three PR and marketing pros—Sarah Burningham, Roxanne Hanna, and Sarah Boyd—discuss how they navigate the on-going upheavals in the worlds of online and print media, what it takes to successfully guide their clients in everything from creating web sites and Tik-Tok videos to launching major designer books, and why their roles are likely to become only more important.