Comments on: Is Decorati Allowing Consumers to Bypass Designers?

By: David Bassett-Parkins, CEO of Ava Living

David Bassett-Parkins, CEO of Ava Living — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:54:45 +0000

Thanks for pointing out AvaLiving.com and our commitment to bringing consumers and designers together. As many of your readers know, as they are members of Ava Living, we are a online social community from more than 100 countries working together daily, proving that design knows no boundaries. Ava Members are passionate about ideas, open to diverse viewpoints, curious about why things work and don’t work, and investing themselves in their vision of home.

Our Designer Room Review system is growing rapidly to become the number one way new consumers of design services are finding their designers. We are launching 5 new services for designers to use to create added income, and more importantly, create new clients. Through AvaLiving.com, designers can expand your business across town or across the country, without ever leaving your office.

We have created the perfect environment for designers to share their works, their thoughts and their visions to attract this new wave of consumers.
AvaLiving.com is given over to the activities of our interior designer members.

Join today at http://www.avaliving.com.

By: Interior Design Education and Coaching - Interior Design Will Never Be The Same Again | Your Interior Design Education and Coaching Resource

Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:59:11 +0000

[...] Just visit this website: http://www.Decorati.com. Here is a response from another industry person: http://leftbrainsforrightbrains.com/?p=883. Both Decorati and Ava Living want to provide a more economical service to consumers who [...]

By: @decorati

@decorati — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:41:11 +0000

Thank you for discussing Decorati. Decorati is a destination site with many parts. Originally founded by an interior designer for interior designers, we made it possible to search in ways that did not exist before (such as by price, lead time, showroom, or sample sale). We also enable designers to sell their own products, as well as the ability to get access to new clients (see NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/garden/20dside.html?_r=1 ). Designers get started with us by uploading their portfolio photos (http://decorati.com/info/professionals ). Stay tuned for many new features we are launching for designers that will help designers both promote themselves and earn money.

Most consumers use Decorati to find designers (http://decorati.com/find_designer ) or get matched with a designer (http://decorati.com/designadvisors ) or to search for products to save or send to their designers. Sometimes consumers do not want to hire a designer. In those cases, we operate just like the buying services located in many design centers. We clarify the consumer is not working with a designer, and then either we help the consumer or we distribute the inquiry to designers in our network (many designers do not want to expedite single orders; they want to be paid for their design expertise).

Our goal is to increase the number of people who are interested in interior design products and services, which in turn will strengthen the industry.

Thanks for the opportunity to chat about Decorati.

By: Laura Newman

Laura Newman — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:00:33 +0000

I’m eager to hear Decrati’s reply. The past 2 years at least I’ve seen a change and decline in the to- the -trade industry model. I wonder how much of that will stay entact and how it will evolve in light of the shifting behaviors of consumers, the economy and the increasing accessibility of design via new media channels.

By: Martha K

Martha K — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 16:42:52 +0000

I don’t understand how they can, with all good conscience, post information on designers, try and bring them together with the consumer, only to say they are “costly” decorators! It seems they are biting the hand that feeds them.