Monthly Archives: July 2026

Eileen Applebaum’s Dynamic Journey Unveiling the “Dynamic Tension” between Art and Commerce I 677 | The Evolution of Threads Soft Goods

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In this episode, I’m speaking with Eileen Applebaum, the founder and creative director of Threads Soft Goods. Eileen shares her unconventional path from being a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) at a Big Four firm to becoming a prominent figure in the interior design and retail industry. She discusses the concept of “dynamic tension“—the delicate balance between business acumen and creative expression—and how it has defined her 35-year career.

In the world of interior design, there is a pervasive myth that one must choose between the left-brain rigor of business and the right-brain flow of creativity. Eileen Applebaum, the founder of Threads Soft Goods, spent 35 years proving that the most sustainable success actually exists in the “dynamic tension” between the two.

Applebaum’s journey didn’t begin at an easel, but at a ledger. Despite a childhood obsession with redecorating, she initially earned a degree in accounting and passed the CPA exam. Though she realized within twenty-four hours of starting at a Big Four firm that it wasn’t her calling, she stayed for three years to earn her certification—a move that provided the foundational “armor” for her future entrepreneurial ventures.

Her subsequent twenty-year tenure at Crate & Barrel served as a “retail laboratory.” Rising to become a buyer for textiles and rugs, she mastered the efficiencies of large-scale production. However, as the industry shifted toward a more “ruthless” corporate model, Applebaum sought a return to ethics and craftsmanship.

Today, Threads Soft Goods represents the pinnacle of that evolution. Eschewing the industry’s reliance on synthetic “performance” fabrics and digital printing, Applebaum remains a purist. Her collections are defined by heritage techniques: hand-beaded metal embroidery, silk Shibori, and natural fibers sourced from artisans in India and the Philippines.

By partnering with Brownley Curry of Currey & Company, Applebaum has merged her boutique creative vision with high-level organizational structure. Her recent move to the New York Design Center marks a new chapter, proving that in a world of fast-moving trends, there is still a massive appetite for products with a soul, a story, and a spreadsheet-certified foundation.

The Unlikely Beginning: Despite a lifelong passion for interior design, Eileen initially followed a practical path, earning an accounting degree and passing the CPA exam. She describes her realization that accounting wasn’t her calling just one day into her professional career, yet she fulfilled her three-year commitment to secure her certification.

The Retail Laboratory: Eileen’s transition into design began at Crate & Barrel in Cambridge, MA, where she worked as a salesperson while attending design school. She eventually spent 20 years with the company, rising to become a buyer for textiles and rugs, an experience she credits with teaching her the efficiencies of large-scale production.

Threads Group vs. Threads Soft Goods: Eileen recounts the evolution of her business, starting with Threads Group in 2007, which focused on selling to mass retailers. She eventually pivoted to Threads Soft Goods in January 2024, shifting away from mass markets to focus on high-end, boutique-scale luxury products for interior designers and high-end boutiques.

Artisan Craftsmanship & Natural Materials: A hallmark of Threads Soft Goods is its commitment to handmade, natural materials. Eileen emphasizes her refusal to use synthetic performance fabrics or digital printing, opting instead for heritage techniques like silk Shibori and hand-beaded metal embroidery sourced from partners in India and the Philippines.

The Importance of Community and Ethics: Eileen highlights the role of long-standing relationships and ethical business practices in her success. Her partnership with Brownley Curry of Curry & Company has provided the organizational structure and “armor” necessary to scale her vision while maintaining creative control.

CXD July 2026 Icon Registry | 676 | Mary Ann Schickedanz: Blending European Longevity with Western Resiliency

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The Studio Schickedanz founder is inducted into the Convo By Design Icon Registry, showcasing three decades of sustainable innovation, material intelligence, and integrated architectural practice.

This episode celebrates the installation of Mary Ann Schickedanz, founder of Carmel-based Studio Schickedanz, into the Convo By Design Icon Registry. Bringing a foundational Austrian perspective where buildings are crafted to endure for generations, Schickedanz has spent over thirty years pioneering sustainable architecture across the American West. The conversation highlights her holistic approach to environmental integration—combining high-performance building science with deep material intelligence to combat regional ecological pressures like drought and wildfire risks. The episode also revisits a poignant 2019 archival interview from the La Cienega Design Quarter (LCDQ) Legends event, where she discusses her creative process, storytelling, and the influence of Austrian modernist pioneer Josef Hoffmann on her multidisciplinary practice.

  • The Icon Registry Induction: Recognized for achieving the highest tier of performance and intentionality in the design industry, proudly presented by Pacific Sales Kitchen and Home.
  • Material Intelligence & Eco-Integration: Schickedanz’s work prioritizes site-specific architecture, featuring native rooftop flora, local granite, and earth-toned integral plaster that allow structures to坐 sit seamlessly within their ecologies, achieving LEED certification and net-zero status.
  • Modular Construction & Innovation: Her multi-family compound at the Santa Lucia Preserve demonstrates how high-end factory fabrication can deliver sustainable, all-electric, manufactured housing assembled on-site in just seven hours to minimize environmental disruption.
  • The Integrated Studio Model: A key differentiator where architects, interior designers, and horticulturalists collaborate from project inception to ensure a fluid connection between the structural shell and the natural landscape.
  • Honoring Heritage at LCDQ: The episode reflects on her 2019 window vignette at Mansur Carpets during the La Cienega Design Quarter Legends event, channeling the comprehensive maker-designer philosophy of Josef Hoffmann alongside collaborations with Shirley Robinson Wallpaper and furniture from Design Within Reach.

Designing for Generations: The Material Intelligence of Mary Ann Schickedanz

The contemporary architecture landscape frequently wrestles with the concept of “intentionality,” yet Mary Ann Schickedanz has quietly spent the last thirty years operationalizing it. Inducted into the Convo By Design Icon Registry, the Austrian-native and founder of Studio Schickedanz has permanently altered how the American West approaches luxury residential design by rejecting “disposable architecture” in favor of ancestral longevity.

Schickedanz’s design philosophy bridges a European reverence for multi-generational structural permanence with the acute ecological demands of California’s topography. Rather than treating sustainability as a surface-level checklist, her methodology relies on deep material intelligence and total environmental integration. From pioneering the first LEED-certified projects in Big Sur and Carmel-by-the-Sea to engineering net-zero contemporary estates, her structures are designed to function as living, breathing extensions of their native ecosystems.

This is achieved primarily through her firm’s integrated studio model. By seating architects, interior specialists, and regional horticulturalists at the same table from day one, she eliminates the traditional fragmentation of design. Structural concrete, local granite, and native exposed-root rooftop flora are specified in tandem, maximizing thermal efficiency and wildfire resiliency while anchoring buildings seamlessly into rolling topography.

Her forward-thinking mindset extends equally to modern building science and historic preservation. Whether rewriting the narrative around modular housing by assembling a luxury, all-electric compound at the Santa Lucia Preserve in a single day, or meticulously updating the performance of a 1948 Henry Hill midcentury landmark, Schickedanz proves that high design and strict environmental metrics are not mutually exclusive. Ultimately, her work champions a vital shift in the industry: shifting away from an architectural “etch-a-sketch” mentality and moving toward purposeful, permanent spaces built right the first time.

Building a Safe Harbor for Creative Growth: A Family Affair | 675 | Introducing Shelter Republic

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Today is one of the most incredible episodes of the show I have ever produced. I don’t say this lightly. Today, you are going to hear about a new project called Shelter Republic, officially launching although if you are an avid listener, you have probably heard me talking about it as we prepared for launch. Well, it’s here, and it’s official. And You are going to hear from my co-founder…I’m sitting down with computer engineer and Shelter Republic co-founder Jack Cooperman to discuss the platform’s structural architecture, functionality, purpose, and the necessity for safe places to explore ideas amongst peers.

  • The Genesis of Shelter Republic: Jack and I reflect on the evolution of the platform, tracking its roots back to when Jack and his sister first visited Josh on stage at the WestEdge Design Fair. The community was built to bridge regional gaps and provide a collaborative, peer-to-peer ecosystem for architects and designers.
  • Designing UX for Geographic Context: Jack outlines the structure of the platform, which is divided into five nationwide micro-communities (including the Mountain Atlantic and Southwest regions). This allows for highly localized discussions on styles, culture, and business norms while keeping a unified national hub.
  • Cultivating a “Safe Place to Fail”: The co-founders debate the nature of failure in school versus a creative career. Josh emphasizes that Shelter Republic is deliberately engineered as a vetted, invite-only environment to protect accomplished creatives from public “dogpiling” or algorithmic scrutiny when exploring new, untested concepts.
  • Platform Features & Onboarding: Built to avoid user-data exploitation and ad clutter, the platform operates via direct invitation and QR codes. Features include text-based feeds, real-time messaging, direct networking via professional member bios, live video-conferencing rooms, and educational modules—including Josh’s masterclass, Podcasting for Creatives.
  • Addressing Industry Disruptions (AI & Legislation): The conversation dives into how early-career junior designers are transitioning into technology facilitators due to AI studio integration. They also discuss how the platform serves as a “modern town crier” for critical industry news, citing a recent user post by a Southern California designer regarding the engineered quartz ban in California due to silicosis risks.
  • Cooperation Over Competition: Drawing a contrast with the competitive nature of the design world, Josh shares a lesson from his time covering the Playboy Jazz Festival, where legendary jazz musicians prioritized mentoring the next generation to keep the collective genre alive. Shelter Republic aims to foster that exact cross-regional mentorship.

Thank you Jack. I know I have already said it, but I have enjoyed every moment putting this together and we are thrilled to share it. Note on Access: Shelter Republic is entirely free, and does not collect user data except when stated like the use of polls and prompts for professional input. To maintain community standards and security, entry is restricted to verified industry professionals via peer invitation or direct QR code scanning at upcoming events.

Bill Baldwin of Hartman Baldwin | 674 | The New Intentionality Behind Design-Build, Guided by Passion & Driven by Purpose

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A conversation with Bill Baldwin of HartmanBaldwin on how shifting cultural values and environmental challenges are reshaping the way we build and live.

A Continued Shift Toward Purposeful Design The conversation explored how the pandemic served as a pivotal moment of clarity, leading to a profound shift in how people view their homes. Bill noted that clients are now designing with a greater sense of purpose and intent, moving away from surface level trends and toward spaces that truly reflect how they want to live. This “new intentionality” is seeing a focus on long term needs, such as aging in place and creating multi-generational living environments.

The Evolution of the Kitchen as Mission Control The concept of the kitchen has evolved from a simple functional area into the high tech, multi-functional hub of the home. Bill and the host discussed how the kitchen now functions as a “mission control” center, where multiple activities from professional work to family social life converge. This has led to more complex infrastructure needs and a desire for specialized elements like secondary working kitchens and advanced appliance suites that reflect specific lifestyle interests.

Preservation and Resilience in the Face of Environmental Challenges Reflecting on recent events like the wildfires in California, the discussion turned to the challenges of preserving historical architecture while meeting modern safety and environmental standards. Bill emphasized that while we have the technical knowledge to build more resilient structures, the challenge lies in adapting existing communities and historical properties to these new realities without losing their character.

The Philosophy of Design Build A key part of the conversation centered on the “design build” philosophy, which aims to create synergy between the disparate talents of architects, interior designers, and builders. By working in unison from the project’s inception, this integrated approach ensures that the final result is greater than the sum of its parts, with the invisible infrastructure and the respect for craftsmanship elevating the overall experience of the home.

The Future of Innovation and Adaptive Reuse The episode wrapped up with a look at future innovations, including the potential for prefabricated and modular homes to address housing needs. The idea of “adaptive reuse,” moving and repurposing existing functional structures instead of demolishing them, was also discussed as a potentially more sustainable way forward for the industry, reflecting a broader trend toward more conscious and resourceful building practices.

Applicable Elements HartmanBaldwin: https://hartmanbaldwin.com/ Historic England: https://historicengland.org.uk/ KBIS: https://kbis.com/ The Sea Ranch: https://www.tsra.org/ Pasadena, CA: https://www.visitpasadena.com/

My recent conversation with Bill Baldwin of HartmanBaldwin was a profound look at how our industry is evolving in response to the massive cultural shifts of the last few years. One of the most striking points Bill made was how the pandemic acted as a “moment of clarity” for so many people. It stripped away the surface level distractions and forced us all to really look at how we were living in our homes.

What has emerged is what Bill calls a “new intentionality” in design. People are no longer just looking for the latest aesthetic trend. They are looking for spaces that serve a deep, functional purpose in their lives. We’re seeing a significant rise in projects focused on multi generational living and aging in place. It’s no longer about just having a beautiful house; it’s about having a home that is a resilient, supportive environment for all stages of life.

We also dug into the idea of the kitchen as “mission control.” The days of the kitchen being a hidden room for food prep are long gone. Today, it’s the high tech hub of the entire home’s infrastructure. This means we have to think much more deeply about what Bill refers to as the “invisible infrastructure”; the plumbing, electrical, and data needs that allow these spaces to function at such a high level.

One of the most sobering parts of our talk was discussing environmental resilience. Living through the California wildfires has fundamentally changed the conversation around preservation and building standards. We have the technology to build more resilient homes, but as Bill pointed out, the real challenge is how we integrate these necessary changes into our existing communities and historic neighborhoods without losing the soul and character that make them special. It’s a complex, ongoing balance that requires the kind of integrated, design build thinking that Bill has championed for decades.

Christina Cruz of Christina Cruz Interiors | 673 | Designing a Unique Perspective: From Media Sales to Measurable Interiors

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A former media executive trades corporate strategy for interior design, only to discover the same rules still apply. In a rapidly evolving industry shaped by AI, rising client expectations, and economic pressure, design has become as much about systems as it is about style. This conversation reveals how one designer is navigating that shift by treating every project like a campaign with outcomes that extend far beyond aesthetics. A conversation about reinvention, material intelligence, and why the most effective designers today think in terms of ROI, storytelling, and client experience.

This episode explores the intersection of creativity and commerce through the lens of a designer who entered the field from a high-level media sales background. What began as a personal creative outlet quickly evolved into a full-scale practice shaped by client service, strategic thinking, and an understanding of how to build and communicate value.

The conversation moves from career transition to the realities of running a design firm in a post-pandemic environment where expectations have shifted dramatically. The rise of AI-driven tools, the normalization of photorealistic rendering, and the increasing demand for certainty have fundamentally altered the creative process. At the same time, economic pressure and market saturation are forcing designers to rethink how they position their services and allocate resources.

At its core, this conversation with Christina reframes interior design as a business discipline—one rooted in storytelling, measurable outcomes, and deeply personalized client experiences.

From Passion to Practice
The transition from corporate media to design highlights how creative careers are often built on personal discovery rather than formal training. What begins as instinct becomes refined through experience, mentorship, and repetition.

Design as a Business Model
The modern design firm operates less like a studio and more like a service-driven business. Client communication, budgeting, documentation, and logistics now dominate the process, leaving a smaller percentage of time for pure creative exploration.

The Expectation Economy
Clients today expect clarity, precision, and predictability. The widespread use of 3D rendering and AI visualization tools has created an environment where design is no longer interpretive but prescriptive.

Storytelling as Strategy
Projects are approached as narratives, not just spaces. Each design reflects a client’s current life stage, aspirations, and daily rituals, aligning emotional goals with functional outcomes.

Material Intelligence
Staying relevant requires constant learning. Emerging materials, new fabrication techniques, and evolving product categories demand ongoing engagement beyond the screen and inside showrooms, workshops, and trade events.

Marketing in a Saturated Landscape
With an influx of designers and limited client attention, differentiation is critical. Targeted messaging, clear brand identity, and consistent content creation are no longer optional—they are foundational.

AI and Authenticity
Artificial intelligence offers efficiency but introduces risk. Overuse can dilute originality and create a disconnect between concept and execution, reinforcing the importance of human curation and technical expertise.

Rethinking ROI
Return on investment in design is shifting away from resale value toward lived experience. A successful project improves how a client functions, feels, and connects within their space.

Career transition from media sales to interior design and the role of prior experience in shaping a new business

The evolution of regional design markets and the rapid sophistication of cities like Austin

The operational reality of design firms and the imbalance between creative work and administrative demands

The impact of AI and rendering technology on client expectations and design delivery

Applying campaign strategy, KPIs, and ROI thinking to residential design projects

Deep client onboarding processes and uncovering behavioral needs beyond surface preferences

The limitations of design education and the importance of real-world business knowledge

Strategies for staying current with materials, fabrication methods, and vendor innovation

The role of trade shows and immersive environments in sourcing and inspiration

Building a marketing strategy that targets a specific client profile rather than a broad audience

Balancing content creation with core design responsibilities in a digital-first landscape

Navigating earned versus paid media and understanding the value of each

Allocating marketing budgets across photography, PR, awards, and advertising

Adapting to economic shifts through flexible service offerings and phased project models

Maintaining brand integrity while expanding accessibility to different client tiers

Design is no longer just about creating beautiful spaces. It is about building systems that deliver clarity, confidence, and measurable impact. The firms that succeed will be the ones that embrace this complexity—balancing creativity with strategy, and intuition with intention.