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PRO BONO CLIENT
The Sustainable Furnishings Council is a coalition of manufacturers, retailers and designers dedicated to raising awareness and expanding the adoption of environmentally sustainable practices across the home furnishings industry.
Their mission is to help companies reduce their environmental footprints as they grow, and to help consumers find healthy furnishings. To accomplish these lofty goals, we provide the best education, promotion, and networking opportunities available. We raise consumer interest in environmentally safe furnishings and promote the development of many more sustainable options.
SFC urges the use of Life Cycle Assessment as the best method for analyzing the environmental and health impact of products and a verifiable chain of custody as the only acceptable method for tracking wood flow. SFC members support the triple bottom line of PEOPLE - PLANET - PROFITS and lead the industry in best practices throughout their supply chains. Members are committed to continuous work toward a healthy future, inside and out.
PRO BONO CLIENT
The Oasis Alliance (OA) is dedicated to brightening the lives of trauma survivors by co-designing personalized spaces that encourage and support recovery, growth, and mental well-being. Most people believe that interior design is a luxury. We believe that interior design is an underutilized tool to empower, encourage and resurrect people at their lowest point. When we live in personalized spaces that affirm our humanity, we feel important—a major first step in moving past trauma and loss.
Focus Lighting is an award-winning professional architectural lighting design firm located in New York City. Since 1987, we have continually created unique and successful lighting design solutions for projects of all sizes including hotels, resorts, retail, restaurants, museums, nightclubs, offices, and private residences around the world.
The Focus Lighting team’s creative process is informed by a combined experience in theater, architecture, and design. Together the team generates projects that create an emotion with light and engages its audience. We believe that light and its perception within an environment are essential to the human experience. Light brings a sense of drama, composition, balance, and excitement to each of our projects.
Alder & Tweed is a luxe, yet approachable, design firm specializing in premier luxury residences. As a family-owned business with over 40 years of experience, our comprehensive
service offering provides a unique, seamless experience for all of our clients.
Alder & Tweed has offices in Park City, Utah; Big Sky, Montana; and Millerton, New York. Our accomplished design team aims to give our clients a one-of-a-kind design and experience that
focuses on impeccable service from concept to installation. We seek to ensure that every detail is taken care of, and every need, not only met, but surpassed.
With this philosophy, Alder & Tweed has expanded to work with clients across North America and throughout the world. We look forward to working with you and providing you with the Alder
& Tweed experience.
President, Robert Ventolo, is living out his dream. Interested in architecture and design from a young age, Robert graduated from the New Jersey Institute of Technology with a Bachelors of Architecture and a host of experiences already under his belt. His passion for the industry was furthered after six months traveling and studying in Barcelona, France, Germany, Switzerland, and Italy under the auspices of his mentor, Harvard Architectural Professor William Brinke. After graduation, Robert trained under his mentor Gary Crain at Gary Crain Associates. Robert credits his extensive knowledge of interior design, business ethics, and commitment to charities to Gary, an established and experienced designer in his time. Years later Robert and Gary partnered together to begin Crain & Ventolo Associates, focusing on providing design elegance to their diverse clientele. With roots in European traditionalism and drawn to the clean, modern look of gallery-like minimalism, Robert has created a style that is entirely his own.
He designs spaces around art, angles, and perspective curating his Euro-modern-minimalist interior design niche. Robert works collaboratively with his clients to achieve the exact look, finish, and environment they envision, providing extraordinary hands-on involvement from inception to completion of every project. Robert is not only a leader in the industry but also a role model for how to build a full-service firm and develop impressive clientele relationships.
After being awarded a Master of Architecture degree from New York City’s Parsons School of Design, Daniel Ian Smith, Principal and Founder of Village West Design, continued to hone his residential design skills through national certification for interior design. Now, after 25 years of experience, Daniel leans heavily on his architecture background as the framework for his interior design solutions. As he explains to eager clients: functionality comes first and aesthetics second, and a major cornerstone of his practice being that “good design is therapeutic.” Leading all projects with passion and dedication, warmth and humor, Daniel has created many comfortable homes—and many contented homeowners.
Always attentive and respectful, Daniel’s creative approach is centered on the individual client, not some cookie-cutter solution. A collaborative process is key to his core philosophy, and he firmly believes that everyone should be able to enjoy a comfortable, well-designed home customized just for them. Savvy homeowners turn to him to discover and articulate their own unique tastes, so that their homes reflect who they are and even who they want to be.
Daniel was born in Connecticut and is a proud, third generation “Connecti-cutie.” Although, after living his entire adult life in New York he now identifies as a New Yorker at heart. Most recently he moved to the Bay Area, and continues his design business as a bi-coastal affair.
From humble beginnings trading colorful bracelets as a symbol of friendship and community to William’s now large-scale works and design collaborations with well known home goods companies, there is one constant: a process-driven fascination with the language of craft and the communities who persevere through their traditions.
Weaving is a “borderline obsession” for William, he says. He received his AAS in Fine Arts from FIT in New York and states. However, “It took one night class on a small table loom to trigger a fixation on weaving and the mathematics and structural side of design and production.” In his second year of undergraduate studies, he was offered a study-exchange scholarship to attend the École Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle, a prominent French design school, where his interest in specialty weaving techniques like passementerie flourished.
William recounts that his early interest in textile and fiber crafts started in the act of making friendship bracelets at summer camp. This early introduction to macramé, the language of sharing a craft, creating community through knotting string and the meditative quality of quietly exploring the world through color and design would prove to be a direct inspiration to his now-successful career as a weaver and designer of textiles for home decoration that are viewed through the lens of fine art. And, even more recently, has been chosen for some high profile product collaborations with home goods giants West Elm, as well as contracted work for Amazon’s new office space. He also has collaborated with Crosby Street Studios on a line of fabrics and has worked for performance textile companies Crypton and Sunbrella.
With over two decades of experience in interior design, Katie leads McCaffrey Design Group with a warm hearted approach and a curatorial eye. Her guiding vision is to design bespoke spaces that truly reflect each client’s individuality and create homes which function beautifully for her clients’ lives.
Under Katie’s strong leadership, McCaffrey Design Group has developed a reputation of client centric designs that delight with incredibly tailored and unique spaces. Working with a diverse clientele throughout the country, Katie and her team infuse client’s spaces with joy, wit, beauty, and functionality Whether revamping a chic city condo for a tech entrepreneur or working on a cutting edge, ground up winery in Napa for forward thinking oenophiles, Katie delivers her impeccable design with a warm personal touch.
Prior to launching McCaffrey Design Group, Katie served 14 years as Sr, Designer and Design Director for award winning design firm Martha Angus Inc. She later partnered with Martha Angus forming Angus|McCaffrey Inc before starting McCaffrey Design Group. She also learned the interior design business from the inside out as an expert in fine furniture both designing custom pieces and managing custom furnishings and antique restoration for Rossi Antiques. She earned her BA in Graphic Design while also studying Industrial Design from Rhode Island School of Design and continues to draw inspiration from her time studying painting in St. Petersburg, Russia.
HSH Interiors brings to life a timeless sensibility guided by a keen reverence for architecture and expressed through comfortable spaces grounded in glamour.
Led by principal designer and visual omnivore Holly Snow Hollenbeck, the studio thoughtfully tailors each project to meet the client's unique needs while channeling Holly's vision around joie de vivre and a sense of place and people, not an era or style.
From its two design studios in California, HSH Interiors extends its geographic reach to clients across the United States and abroad. HSH Interiors' work is well-published in major design magazines including Wallpaper, Dwell, LUXE Interiors + Design, and more. HSH's portfolio includes residential and hospitality projects in desirable locales like San Francisco and the Peninsula, Marin, Napa Valley, Jackson Hole, Lake Tahoe, Manhattan Beach, Beverly Hills, and the Dominican Republic.
Staci Munic Interiors is a full service design build firm based in Chicago and Palm Springs, working on projects coast to coast. Melding a big city edge with the resort lifestyle, our design aesthetic is truly versatile. Approaching each project with a fresh perspective and a keen ability to listen, understand, and interpret our clients’ vision, we create and tell our clients’ story through our work. SMI’s goal is to create vibrant, harmonious spaces that promote a sense of well being.
Over the years, SMI has curated a community of trusted professionals including builders, architects, artisans, and specialized tradespeople. With decades of experience in interior design, hospitality and education, SMI infuses creativity, patience, and business savvy into our process.
Staci comes to interior design with a unique perspective, including a diverse work background. She is an entrepreneur and an educator. Staci is bilingual and not only has her undergraduate degree in business and a master’s degree in education. Staci has grit and has worked hard to build her business from the ground up. She’s not just about the pretty, though she’s good at it, she strives to create spaces that reflect her clients lifestyle, keeping their health and wellness top of mind.
Meet Ethan Streicher, the Founder and Artist behind Streicher Goods, a home goods company specializing in design and ceramics. Born in Berkeley, CA, and having moved to Raleigh, NC in his teenage years, Ethan was Influenced by his parents' love for art, sketching, and mid-century aesthetics.
Ethan holds a BFA in Graphic Design from Appalachian State University, embarking on a graphic design career that spanned a decade. Covering start-up brands to large healthcare clients, Ethan’s graphic design career was all-encompassing with applications that included identity systems, production, video/animation and growth marketing. Introduced to ceramics by fellow artist Nicole Brunner, Ethan found solace and challenge in working with clay, offering him a meditative escape from the digital world. After falling in love with ceramics– its process and materials– he made a bold decision to transition into full-time ceramics, turning his lifelong passion for art into a flourishing venture.
As the sole force behind Streicher Goods, Ethan brings not only his design prowess and curiosity but also an ethos of openness, playfulness, and perspective to his work. Streicher Goods now offers multiple distinct home goods lines– all crafted in ceramic and informed by his graphic design experience encompassing the principles of color, shape, form, font and most importantly, impact on the user. For Ethan, creating functional objects is a direct response to his desire to make things that people not only need, but can purely enjoy interacting with.
Emily Baker is a creative director who works within the mediums of photography, illustration, painting and design. She uses these skill sets to create designs for wallpaper, event invitations, portraits and more.
Over the course of her career, Emily Baker has built an extensive portfolio spanning the realms of fashion, marketing, restaurants, events, beauty and lifestyle. A trained painter and photographer, Emily brings an artist’s eye to each project, first pinpointing the needs and initial vision of the client and then working diligently to bring that vision to life. When working on an event, this approach lends itself to creating original illustrations to tell a story, and provide a feel for the personality of the occasion.
Emily's photography prints sell as part of Serena & Lily's online Art Collection. She is a portrait artist, creating customized paintings of client's dogs, horses, and personal likenesses in oils and watercolor. Emily has worked as an artist for Burberry, traveling to store events across the country to paint directly on their hand bags. She spent seven years at Armani Exchange as an Art Director, where she developed the look and feel for seasonal ad campaigns and provided creative direction for store graphics, marketing, and monthly editorial shoots. She has branded and created print collateral for restaurants and events across the East Coast, oftentimes incorporating her original illustrations.
Growing up between Manhattan and Shelter Island, Emily developed a distinctive style that incorporates the different perspectives of these unique settings. As a result, her work segues seamlessly from a sleek, modern design created for a high fashion brand to a more laid back, rustic approach envisioned for a summer event. As a fine artist, Emily is consistently inspired by beauty found in nature as well as travel. Her work has been shown in galleries across the country, including California, New York, Florida and the Hamptons, and she is regularly commissioned by private collectors.
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Versatile, bold, and refusing to be boxed into one style or aesthetic, Michelle Palmer Murphy of DEMI RYAN is a designer to watch. Originally from New York and now based in Chapel Hill, NC, Michelle is branching out all across the United States, and her work is getting national recognition.
Named a 2022 Rising Star of Design by the Decoration & Design Building in NYC, Michelle has a multilayering approach and creates spaces that are unlike any other. She started 2023 off with a bang, designing a table for the Orchid Dinner at the Plaza Hotel in New York City and then hosted a top-tier realtor design and brunch event in Charleston. Before year-end, Michelle Palmer Murphy was a Nominee and Finalist for HGTV®’s 2023 Designer of the Year Award.
The perfect balance of style, beauty, tradition, and panache, Michelle’s eye for design is impeccable. With a diverse portfolio that includes new builds, celebrity clientele, and projects with ties to her favorite charities, her talent is a gift to the interior design world.
With the support of her DEMI RYAN team, Michelle brings the whole package: an approachable and pleasant demeanor, extensive knowledge, experience of showhouses and events, and high professional regard. She cultivates industry relationships and stays at the forefront of design trends through a strong presence at High Point Market, and her showhouse experience includes: HGTV 1999 Madame CJ Walker Showhouse; Villa Lewaro, Irvington on Hudson NY; and, the 2003, 2004, and 2005 New Homes and Ideas Dream House, Raleigh, NC.
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Motivated by the desire to elevate ordinary objects and familiar forms into unexpected delights, Erika investigates the relationships between object, scale, and user. Her aesthetic fuses sculptural forms with utilitarian functionality. working at the intersection of product and process, she has a hands-on approach to design. the workshop becomes the source and site of her creative energy; both library and laboratory. using research, intuition, experience, and experiment, Erika purposefully challenges limitations to develop innovative methods and objects.
Born in Michigan, Erika is the founder of Erika Cross Studio. She received an MFA in design products from the Royal College of Art in 2014. Prior, she studied simultaneously at two universities, earning a BFA in art and design from the University of Michigan in 2011, and a BS in interior design at Eastern Michigan University in 2012.
