Houston’s annual Fall Design Week returned to the Houston Design District — notably including the Houston Design Center — for its 15th year. Three full days of breakfasts, moderated panel discussions, lectures, luncheons, designer-led demos, book signings, and VIP cocktail parties attracted some of the country’s top interior design talent.
Each presenter may be familiar to CultureMap readers who glean the pages of Architectural Digest, Elle Décor, Vogue, Veranda, Traditional Home, and many more for design inspiration. Day one offered invaluable tips from presenters Bill Stubbs, Oliver Furth, Katherine Bryan, Kara Childress, Megan Hotze, and Diane Cowan.
While this event is in its 15th year, it’s important to note how much it has grown over time. Not so long ago, local designers had to travel to Dallas (and beyond) to shop for international luxury brands. While Houston has always had a fine selection of antiques dealers and auction houses, it lacked vendors of made-to-order contemporary brands. Lamenting about those days, Kara Childress happily pointed out that “We don’t have to go anywhere anymore!” That in itself is something worth celebrating.
An impressive breakfast and beverage spread at Stark Carpet greeted those attending the first panel of the day, “Inside Design,” where acclaimed interior designer Bill Stubbs moderated an extremely educational chat between Oliver Furth, Katherine Bryan, Kara Childress, and Megan Hotze. The discussion covered screening potential clients (including riotous anecdotes), marketing completed projects, and everything in between.
Chatting with Katherine Bryan
Thorntree Slate and Stone hosted the remainder of the events of the day in their gleaming marble-clad showroom at the Houston Design Center. Retired Houston Chronicle architecture and design writer Diane Cowan moderated a talk with Katherine Bryan, highlighting her book Great Inspiration, which is a 50 year retrospective of Bryan’s collaborative work with top designers on her plethora of fine homes throughout Europe and America — including her time spent as a Houstonian in her River Oaks home. Très chic!
Bryan now divides her time between her homes in NYC, East Hampton, and Palm Beach, but she happily reminisced about the city she once called home.
“I love being back in Houston,” Bryan tells CultureMap. “The residential areas are so beautiful, and of course the Menil is one of my favorites. What the Menil family has done for Houston is wonderful.” Celebrating the welcoming nature of Houstonians, Bryan adds: “The people are so friendly, nice, and easy going — just wonderful to be with.”
Catching up with Oliver Furth
After lunch, Bill Stubbs and Los Angeles-based designer Oliver Furth led a discussion on Furth’s new book OP! Optimistic Interiors, which is both a celebration of lively interiors and a tribute to mixing comfortable contemporary with vintage and antiques. Thanks to his time in the decorative arts department at Christie’s, post architecture school, Furth is a master. “I like a little tension in my work, lots of beautiful things from different eras,” he says.
Having previously visited the Bayou City, Furth was happy to make a return trip to participate in Fall Design Week. “There is such a rich area of culture in Houston — in architecture and in the arts,” says Furth, “It feels great to be here.”
Furth is well known for his colorful interiors. Do they reflect his personality, or do clients seeking some color turn to him for advice?
“I think it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy,” he says. “I attract a client who has a lot of personality, is a creative thinker, a client who thinks outside of the box. Our work is a three-dimensional visual of that personality.”
Although Furth is far from new to the design scene, this is his first book — by Rizzoli, no less.
“The book, for me, was a call to action for people to love where they live,” he says. “Whether they hire me or not is not the objective. The objective is to read it, to be inspired to create your own home, or to create a home for someone else, that is a place where you love to live, and you live freely.”
As day turned into evening, Houston’s own Kara Childress hosted a demo aptly named “Hosting with Heart” where she and Megan Hotze demonstrated ways to create a home that’s warm and welcoming for both living and entertaining with ease. With years of experience hosting post-game-get-togethers alongside her husband, retired Houston Oiler Ray Childress, she certainly knows a thing or two on the matter.
Following “Hosting with Heart,” VIP guests and hosts mingled over champagne and hors d’œuvres while artist Maksim Koloskov of Archway Gallery entertained everyone by painting one of his trademark murals.
Days two and three of Fall Design Week followed a similar format. James Craig Furnishings hosted day two, which included “Timeless Design for the Modern Family,” with panelists Julie Dodson and Darren Henault (of NYC’s famed interiors boutique “Tent”). Modern Luxury Interiors Texas’ associate publisher Jennifer Cope moderated a chat with designer Marie Flanigan as they discussed Flanigan’s second book The Perfect Room.
Kirksey Architecture hosted the last day. Attendees gathered for the presentation “AI in Design,” where industry professionals Leslie Carothers, Jessica Nelson, and Annilee Waterman shared how to integrate artificial intelligence into design. Later, Cathy Purple Cherry shared personal reflections on her designs and discussed her debut book The Design of a Country Estate with Cowen. Wrapping things up, Darrell Whatley and Michelle Old held a seminar on mass timber and the resulting impacts of choosing timber as a structural and architectural material.
Photo by Daniel Ortiz
Artist Maksim Koloskov, Thorntree owner Stuart Rae, and designer Kara Childress.
MAI newcomer Joseph Collins shops east coast estate sales for items like this rare, hand-signed humidor by Arthur Court.Photo by Emily Cotton
