The inaugural NKBA | KBIS Design Council stars sent The Tent out with a bang on Monday.
NKBA | KBIS’s The Tent wound down the way it started: with star-filled design conversations, art, food, drinks, and dancing. Monday was the third and final day of the wildly successful inaugural activation at North Carolina’s High Point Market, the world’s largest home industry furnishings trade show. Billed as an interactive experience of “Design, Innovation, Artistry, Happenings, Culinary, Creativity, Nexus,” the Tent was located in historic High Point’s Hamilton Wrenn North neighborhood on Fred Alexander Place and generously sponsored by Signature Kitchen Suite, Fabuwood, Bed Bath & Beyond Professional, Unform Studio, Hettich, Shaw Floors, and Anderson Tuftex, along with Cosentino, and FreePower.
After once again opening with a pop-up of Union Coffee from nearby Greensboro along with some much needed mimosas, Jessica Landolfo, senior director of sponsor Bed, Bath, and Beyond Professional’s parent company Beyond Inc., introduced Interior Design Magazine editor in chief Cindy Allen, who continued to lead the Design Council conversations that started the day before with Thom Filicia and Caleb Anderson. Monday’s slate was equally as starry with powerhouse design forces Celerie Kemble and Michel Smith Boyd.
First up was Kemble, who recalled how her Palm Beach childhood influenced her famed work for the likes of Tory Burch, the Mayflower Inn in Connecticut, and the much Instagrammed Colony Hotel in her hometown. “Celerie is someone you want to know, she’s brilliant, talented, and you want to be her best friend,” Allen began. Kemble discussed how her career had come full circle in High Point, now that she’s developing licensing collections, and her love of the Design Council. “NKBA | KBIS made a brilliant move creating the Design Council,” Kemble says. “And the council has been eye opening. Kitchen for me is where family takes place and I design five or six bathrooms for every house I do.” Allen concurred, saying “This is the first time the NKBA has done this and we give them a big shout out because it’s a big commitment.”
Following Kemble, Smith Boyd, star of HGTV hit shows, Luxe for Less, Rock The Block 4, Barbie Dreamhouse Challenge, and 100 Days Hotel Challenge, began by dancing with Allen to beats once again supplied by DJ SK. Smith Boyd then charmed the crowd with tales of his early days in New York as a model, actor, and artist after a difficult childhood in Louisiana as a gay Black man and before discovering design on a trip to the D&D Building. “Now I have my own Barbie Doll and my mother is very proud of it.” Smith Boyd went on to discuss his work with the NKBA’s Thirty Under 30 program for young designers. “Shaking hands with them on stage at KBIS was one of the highlights of my year,” Smith Boyd said. “It blew my mind because they were so excited. That meant the world to me.”
