High Point Furniture Market Fall 2024

High Point Furniture Market is a well-known event- but what is it all about? Why do they call it the center of the design world? And most importantly: why do we go there? We are going to take you behind the curtain for all the details of this epic industry-only event, and what it means for us and our CFD clients.

The Story

High Point is a city in North Carolina located just south of the central part of the state. It’s small but mighty in terms of history and influence, and is the birthplace and long-time home to many well-established cornerstones of the furniture industry. We’re talking REAL, custom furniture - talented makers and craftsmen, working by hand and turning out incredible, one-of-a-kind pieces. This is where the story of “High Point Market” begins.

At the turn of the 20th century, furniture craftsmen in this area began to come together as a way to showcase their work to the public. The first official Market was called “Southern Furniture Market” and took place in High Point in 1909. As regional interest gathered steam, the event grew in size and notoriety. This led to the construction of the first building dedicated to housing the Furniture Market in 1921 and the rest (as they say), is history. Fast forward to 2024, this event now takes place twice a year and is global in scale. Nothing short of the Mecca of the Design world, High Point Market now spans a mind-bending 180 buildings across the city of High Point. An international array of designers, skilled craftsmen, artists, tradespeople, buyers, and so many more come from all over the world to view the best and brightest that the furniture and design industry has to offer.

Design due Diligence

It’s impossible to capture in one post all of the nuances that make Market important for us as a design firm. But we can start with how it helps us serve our clients. A lot of folks think we spend our time at Market “shopping”- which we do (in a way). A more accurate description might be to say that we are sourcing, scoping, and evaluating. We are committed (REALLY committed) to bringing the best possible value to our clients. Meaning, pieces that are beautiful, liveable, and lasting. This is part of our design integrity. When we go to Market, we are culling through and appraising everything we might even consider placing in our client’s home. There are many, many factors that go into a discerning determination of value, and we use this time to get up-close and personal with makers and their products to see what will give our clients the deepest value and the best quality.

Local Matters

Everything from rugs to lamps to chandeliers to furniture to art- we get our hands on it all while we’re at Market. We go in with a planned strategy to hit any and all makers that we work with frequently or those that we think might be a good match for our projects where specificity is at play. We touch, feel, sit, bounce, assess, and scrutinize the craftsmanship of every single piece that we see. Sourcing from local makers is something that is important to our clients, and we utilize this time to foster and strengthen our connections to NC-based vendors. Sustainability is another area that matters to us, and we get all the details on what companies are doing to create sustainable production models and who is currently leading the way.

Designing Legacy

Somewhere along our CFD journey to becoming the business we are today, one of our favorite people described us as “design sherpas”. In the moment, we remember smiling at the mental image. But over time, we’ve come to appreciate the acuity of the notion. When clients come to us with a vision and a dream, it’s our job to take something that exists only as an idea in their mind and turn it into a real thing- a forever home. The work to get there is immense, and the knowledge and skills needed along the way, not to mention the inspiration, creativity, and drive required to create something completely unique of that scale- is a tremendous endeavor. But that’s what we love to do, and we’re committed to doing it uncommonly well. We’re far enough along the path to know that giving our clients the absolute best means that we continue to stay connected- to the roots of the industry, the artisans and skilled tradespeople that create the very things that we want our clients to love having in their home.

At the end of the day, we know that for our clients, home is part of your family, and your legacy. It’s a place that matters- a lot. That dining table you gather around every Saturday morning for pancakes with the kids, or that perfect chair that you sink into every evening when the day is done? We want them to be exactly right. For us, that means doing our homework, vetting our vendors, and taking every possible opportunity to find value, quality, and longevity in each piece. That’s our job- and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

We’re so glad you came by to hang out with us on the blog. If you’re interested in more history of the High Point Furniture Market, there’s a fabulous article with even more details from Architectural Digest here, as well as another great one from nonprofit High Point Discovered highlighting the historical timeline here.

If you’re looking for more CFD design work, take a tour around our Portfolio page. You can also find more behind-the-scenes details about our projects as you’re scrolling through the CFD blog.

For more in-the-moment happenings and going-ons of our bustling design team, you can find us on Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram, and Pinterest!