Who says that a boutique should be reserved for gorgeous clothing, shoes or the latest in millinery? Don’t our homes deserve the same one of kind look? Of course, there are fabric and furnishing lines that are too numerous to count, but some stand out, albeit quietly, from the crowd, a few gems from favorite lines.

Remember adorning an orange juice can with yarn, string or rope, wrapping it in pretty paper with a Mother’s Day card, and calling it good? Christian Astuguevielle truly elevates it to an art form. The Mile Card Table available through Holly Hunt.

The desk of dreams, from the Jean-Pierre collection by Helene Aumont in walnut with calf leather inserts, adjustable top position and hand-crafted joinery.  Each piece is numbered and stamped.

One of the newest pieces in the Jiun Ho Collection, the Cheverny Sofa.  Beautiful, architectectural, exquisitely detailed and designed.

Uber-sophisticated, elegantly cool and unabashedly sexy, Jean de Merry exemplifies fine quality.  Their Diana Console with reverse painting and foxed mirror finish is extraordinary.

Which is your favorite?

I love showrooms! Everything about them appeals to me, from the beautifully lit and displayed product, to the wings of fabrics waiting to be discovered, it all presents infinite possibilities available to designers.

Holly Hunt - New York

The perfectly sharpened pencils nestled in bins with memo sample request pads handily located next to them, the colorful and imaginative shopping bags full of gorgeous fabrics and funky trims, yours for the taking.

Fadini Borghi Fabrics & Trimmings

Graciously offered space to spread out and work, with water, coffee and snacks readily available. A sales associate ready to offer assistance; pricing and tear sheets swiftly and efficiently proffered.

But showrooms are more than that, they are a designer’s life blood, and designers are theirs’.  A perfect example of a symbiotic relationship.  Showrooms and their well-trained staff should be considered allies, a first line of defense. They are problem solvers, who will go to bat for a customer to help in getting to the bottom of a freight issue, or working with a vendor to push a lead time, or getting a difficult question or problem resolved.

The showrooms I have been fortunate to work both for and with have been much more than the selling, they have been about the relationship and the connection.

Gibson Design Management recently launched a Review Center.  This is a place for the design industry to review showrooms on the customer service that it receives.  We hope for it to be a place for showrooms that are providing great service to be lauded, and for those who are not serving the industry well, to improve from.  The way for this review center to be successful is for you to be candid about your experiences and to share those experiences.  We would love to have you contribute to our review center, and spread the word to your industry partners.

Currently, you can review showrooms in the Denver Design District and the Washington DC Design Center.  Please add your stars and reviews.  Posts can be anonymous if you do not feel comfortable adding your name, and of course, your email address will be kept strictly confidential.