The Chaise Lounge Podcast

School projects come to fruition all the time, but not always to the full scale of our next guest. A home design that was done while in high school was used for the construction of someone’s home. Michael Suomi, of hospitality design firm Suomi Design Works, joins Nick May on today’s episode of The Chaise Lounge. 

His firm, based out of Florida, has designed interiors for some of the best hotels and resorts in the country. Michael grew up skiing in the upper peninsula of Michigan. It has brought him to Colorado to design some of our very own ski resorts. Who knows? You may have stayed in and enjoyed the beautiful interiors he has put together.

Check out Suomi Design Works on Facebook.

If you’re doing a Hilton or a Hyatt or a Marriott, they all have their own brands. My passion is creating a hotel from scratch. What’s the idea behind a hotel? Who are the guests?

Michael Suomi

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Chaise Lounge Updates

A new season of Coast to Coast Design is live, with Garrison Hullinger and returning co-host Lisa Davenport! That’s right, it’s their second season together and they’ve got plenty to say. Give it a listen to learn about just how many ways there are to run a design business, and keeping up with the changing landscape.

Our Events Page

Resources

See what our sponsors can do for you.

Upcoming Markets

High Point Market | October 13-21

More About Our Sponsors

Wrap Up

If you would like to hear more episodes, please visit us on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app! We'd love it if you post a review, you may even hear your review read live on our next podcast. Also, find The Chaise Lounge on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. With that said, keep dreaming big, and keep designing a great design business. See ya!

Husband and wife teams can combine their efforts for success in marriage as well as in the business world. In today’s episode of The Chaise Lounge, Nick May catches up with returning guests Phyllis and Bill Taylor with Taylor & Taylor Inc.

The Taylors have a knack for merging interior design with nature – mainly in tropical climates. Like many of our most recent guests, Phyllis and Bill have endured trying times through COVID. They have adapted their business to fit the needs of our current world, while excitedly awaiting a return to the office.

To listen to the episode of the last time Phyllis and Bill joined Nick, click here. Also, be sure to check out Taylor & Taylor Inc. on Instagram @TaylornTaylorInc.

Our office building in Wynwood has other designers and various tenants and as of the chatter this morning we may be one of the few people anticipating a return. I think a lot of people are finding that they don’t need an office.

Bill Taylor

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Chaise Lounge Updates

A new season of Coast to Coast Design is live, with Garrison Hullinger and returning co-host Lisa Davenport! That's right, it's their second season together and they've got plenty to say. Give it a listen to learn about just how many ways there are to run a design business, and keeping up with the changing landscape.

Our Events Page

Resources

See what our sponsors can do for you.

Upcoming Markets

High Point Market | October 13-21

More About Our Sponsors

Wrap Up

If you would like to hear more episodes, please visit us on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app! We'd love it if you post a review, you may even hear your review read live on our next podcast. Also, find The Chaise Lounge on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. With that said, keep dreaming big, and keep designing a great design business. See ya!

Deciding what you want to do is hard enough. If you’re lucky, you figure it out at a young age. This week’s guest on The Chaise Lounge, Nick May sits down with Joni Vanderslice of J. Banks Design Group, who in her childhood rearranged the furniture in her living room.

J. Banks Design Group specializes in residential and resort design. Joni tells us about the effects to the hospitality industry during this Coronavirus pandemic. Driven by a desire to mix passion and purpose, Joni and her family started an orphanage in Africa where they house 29 children. A true family of the village.

Learn more about J. Banks Design Group and the Valentine Project.

You have to be able to take your passion and your purpose and put them together at some point. You might not do that when you first step out, but that should be the goal.

Joni Vanderslice

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Chaise Lounge Updates

We just wrapped our latest season of Coast to Coast Design, with Garrison Hullinger and new co-host Lisa Davenport! Give it a listen to learn about just how many ways there are to run a design business.

Also check out our pair of hiatus episodes where Garrison and Lisa talk a little about these modern times.

Our Events Page

Resources

See what our sponsors can do for you.

Upcoming Markets

High Point Market | October 13-21

More About Our Sponsors

Wrap Up

If you would like to hear more episodes, please visit us on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app! We'd love it if you post a review, you may even hear your review read live on our next podcast. Also, find The Chaise Lounge on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. With that said, keep dreaming big, and keep designing a great design business. See ya!

Mixing the old and the new inspires designers from all around the world. Today on The Chaise Lounge, guest host Bruce McDonald talks to Paris’ own Anne Carminati (Maison Anne Carminati). A designer who first cofounded a firm in New York City, and recently started her own firm in France - Anne understands that different locations serve different cultures, different needs.Anne is a classical and contemporary designer who understands the importance in the stories and heritages of her clients. Using the surrounding natural environments, Anne designs holistic spaces that complement each other. A home in the French countryside will have different design aspects than an apartment in a bustling city. Go figure.

"I think it’s very important to keep your roots, the authenticity, have a strong message, and making the link between the past and the present."

Anne Carminati

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Chaise Lounge Updates

We just wrapped our latest season of Coast to Coast Design, with Garrison Hullinger and new co-host Lisa Davenport! Give it a listen to learn about just how many ways there are to run a design business.Also check out our pair of hiatus episodes where Garrison and Lisa talk a little about these modern times.

Our Events Page

Resources

See what our sponsors can do for you.

Upcoming Markets

High Point Market | October 13-21

More About Our Sponsors

Wrap Up

If you would like to hear more episodes, please visit us on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app! We'd love it if you post a review, you may even hear your review read live on our next podcast. Also, find The Chaise Lounge on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. With that said, keep dreaming big, and keep designing a great design business. See ya!

A well-designed space should not merely satisfy a basic need, but should do so artfully and thoughtfully. This is one philosophy of Todd Ezrin, founder and principal of TOBE Design Group, and today's guest joining Nick May on The Chaise Lounge. But that's not his only philosophy:

“I was raised in a family to do philanthropic efforts no matter how small it is.”

Todd took architecture in high school, and later started his career in a small multifamily design firm - where he learned much of what he uses today. Since then he's founded and grown TOBE to do both multifamily and residential, tackling all of the difficulties of running such a complicated business on a day-to-day basis. And of course, we hear a little about how he and his firm are responding to these trying times.

No matter what type of project it is - let's focus on the experience. And the experience of working with us.

Todd Ezrin

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Chaise Lounge Updates

We just wrapped our latest season of Coast to Coast Design, with Garrison Hullinger and new co-host Lisa Davenport! Give it a listen to learn about just how many ways there are to run a design business.

Also check out our pair of hiatus episodes where Garrison and Lisa talk a little about these modern times.

Our Events Page

Resources

See what our sponsors can do for you.

Upcoming Markets

High Point Market – October 13-21

More About Our Sponsors

Wrap Up

If you would like to hear more episodes, please visit us on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app! We'd love it if you post a review, you may even hear your review read live on our next podcast. Also, find The Chaise Lounge on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. With that said, keep dreaming big, and keep designing a great design business. See ya!

Much like art, another crucial element of interior design - and living - is furniture. It fills the volume and contributes to our perception of a space, and we interact with furniture in all manner of casual and personal ways. Today on The Chaise Lounge, Nick is joined by Keith Fritz (of Keith Fritz Fine Furniture) and dives deep into the world of fine, bespoke furniture.

The son of a carpenter, Keith was raised in Indiana and taught to respect the value of making your own way and making your own sundries. A jack of all trades who advocates for more bespoke, more personal furniture - Keith has even done custom design work for the Clintons. And he and Nick share an interesting, unique piece of history.

We're very lucky to have a group of clients who want American craftmanship, and want art, and want something that's one of a kind.

bespoke fine furniture maker Keith Fritz

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Chaise Lounge Updates

We just wrapped our latest season of Coast to Coast Design, with Garrison Hullinger and new co-host Lisa Davenport! Give it a listen to learn about just how many ways there are to run a design business.

Also check out our pair of hiatus episodes where Garrison and Lisa talk a little about these modern times.

Our Events Page

Resources

See what our sponsors can do for you.

Upcoming Markets

High Point Market | October 13-21

More About Our Sponsors

Wrap Up

If you would like to hear more episodes, please visit us on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app! We'd love it if you post a review, you may even hear your review read live on our next podcast. Also, find The Chaise Lounge on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. With that said, keep dreaming big, and keep designing a great design business. See ya!

Come, join us on The Chaise Lounge for a whirlwind tour around the mile high metro. Local experts and today's tour guides Nick May and Katie Schroder know all the hot spots, and certainly know for sure where specific areas of the city are after having lived here for so, so long.

But seriously folks.

Katie owns Atelier Interior Design here in Denver, has been featured numerours times in 5280 Home and Luxe, and brings a wonderful energy to the show. As we come to something of a middle during the ongoing pandemic, Nick and Katie talk about how things have changed and what comes next as businesses pivot to new modes of operation. Plus, marketing!

I would say I'm a little technology reluctant. I'm not afraid to delve into it ... but it's not my first choice. I'd rather be with a client, have them touch and feel things. But I'm really having to step my technology game up big-time.

Atelier Interior Design owner and interior designer Katie Schroder

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Chaise Lounge Updates

We just wrapped our latest season of Coast to Coast Design, with Garrison Hullinger and new co-host Lisa Davenport! Give it a listen to learn about just how many ways there are to run a design business.

And stay tuned for a special episode or two during our hiatus.

Our Events Page

Resources

See what our sponsors can do for you.

Upcoming Markets

High Point Market | October 17-21

More About Our Sponsors

Wrap Up

If you would like to hear more episodes, please visit us on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app! We'd love it if you post a review, you may even hear your review read live on our next podcast. Also, find The Chaise Lounge on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. With that said, keep dreaming big, and keep designing a great design business. See ya!

Bit of a shorter one today, as Nick invites Pauline Findlay and Rebecca Senior onto The Chaise Lounge. The founder and director, respectively, of Artioli Findlay, Pauline and Rebecca are something of a departure from our usual business of design discussion. So join us for a brief sojourn into the world of art, and learn a little about what it's like to source and provide art pieces for interior designers - as well as a little about their world in general.

Chaise Lounge Updates

We just wrapped our latest season of Coast to Coast Design, with Garrison Hullinger and new co-host Lisa Davenport! Give it a listen to learn about just how many ways there are to run a design business.

And stay tuned for a special episode or two during our hiatus.

Our Events Page

Resources

See what our sponsors can do for you.

Upcoming Markets

High Point Market | October 12-14

More About Our Sponsors

Wrap Up

If you would like to hear more episodes, please visit us on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app! We'd love it if you post a review, you may even hear your review read live on our next podcast. Also, find The Chaise Lounge on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. With that said, keep dreaming big, and keep designing a great design business. See ya!

Every new story is just more proof that designers are born early, and can take any path. Our dear host Nick May sits down on The Chaise Lounge today with Christopher Todd Hall. It bears mentioning that Christopher Todd Design is not only a national, full-scale interior design firm, but also a fine gifts location you can visit in Las Vegas, Nevada! (Henderson, to be be exact.)

As a child, Christopher put on an art show every 4th of July called "Sparks Specacular", and would later in his teens get paid to help his neighbors put up their Christmas decorations. (You can see where this is going.) Floral design ended up being his ticket into bigger and better, working with the MGM Grand and the Academy Awards. And he and Nick both agree that COVID has presented an unfortunate, though unique, opportunity to focus on all the little behind-the-scenes things that can get lost during the normal day-to-day.

I feel like if you are a good designer, it's a vision that you're born with. You just have that Midas touch. Even with accessorizing, you just know how to do it.

interior, event and floral designer Christopher Todd Hall

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Chaise Lounge Updates

We just wrapped our latest season of Coast to Coast Design, with Garrison Hullinger and new co-host Lisa Davenport! Give it a listen to learn about just how many ways there are to run a design business.

And stay tuned for a special episode or two during our hiatus.

Our Events Page

Resources

See what our sponsors can do for you.

Upcoming Markets

High Point Market | October 12-14

More About Our Sponsors

Wrap Up

If you would like to hear more episodes, please visit us on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app! We'd love it if you post a review, you may even hear your review read live on our next podcast. Also, find The Chaise Lounge on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. With that said, keep dreaming big, and keep designing a great design business. See ya!

And now for something completely different. Again!

We were thrilled when our good friend Neil MacKenzie from Universal Furniture reached out to Nick about leading a virtual Market panel in lieu of our usual on-site pow-wow. Nick naturally accepted, so we thought why not just make that friendly Zoom call an episode of The Chaise Lounge?

Bear with us on the audio quality this time around. We promise the conversation more than makes up for it. Conversation from Courtney Pisarik (Ink Public Relations), Breegan Jane (interior designer, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"), Kristine Paige (Jackson Paige, this season of The Chaise Lounge), and Michael Habacy (Habachy Designs) - on the subject of modern digital methods of marketing vs. traditional, print media.

Spoiler alert: It turns out that everything has its place and its value!

Chaise Lounge Updates

We just wrapped our latest season of Coast to Coast Design, with Garrison Hullinger and new co-host Lisa Davenport! Give it a listen to learn about just how many ways there are to run a design business.

Our Events Page

Resources

See what our sponsors can do for you.

Upcoming Markets

High Point Market | October 12-14

More About Our Sponsors

Wrap Up

If you would like to hear more episodes, please visit us on iTunes, Spotify or your favorite podcasting app! We'd love it if you post a review, you may even hear your review read live on our next podcast. Also, find The Chaise Lounge on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. With that said, keep dreaming big, and keep designing a great design business. See ya!