This week we spoke with our Phoenix showroom representative, Deb Fedasiuk of Deb Design Source.

We started working with Deb at the beginning of this year, just before our world changed!

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To listen to the complete conversation, tune into our IGTV here.

Here is an excerpt:

1 -Please tell us about you your background and how you got started in the Interior Design industry?

I have represented Interior Design brands in the Phoenix area for over fifteen years. But I originally started in advertising and PR in New York and was working with big consumer packaged goods for a number of years. I eventually moved over to the client-side and I found my way into home-improvement products. I started working with Minwax wood finishes and stains.

I branched out to another company that worked with wall coverings products- adhesives, primers, and paint primers. It was there that I was introduced to Thibaut wall coverings. I assisted them with publicity marketing and helped them grow in the early days when HGTV was just starting up in the DIY network space. I was working with producers there and with a lot of magazines and syndicated columnists. It was a lot of fun!

We moved to Arizona shortly after I started with Thibaut. I was doing a lot of commuting back and forth to New York and working remotely from my Arizona office. Eventually, I migrated into sales and management work and started doing outside sales and I really loved it. Then I transitioned to doing outside sales for multiple brands, and then this past year decided to open my own showroom.

2 – What are some of the lines that you represent in addition to ours?

The three anchor lines that I represent are: JAB textiles, Maria Flora, and Maya Romanoff. Beyond that my goal is to introduce new and different lines to our market, as we have a really active and expanding design community with limited resources. For the size of our design community, we don’t have a large Design Center nearby, like the Pacific Design Center in LA or out in Denver and San Francisco.

I wanted to bring some of the boutique and specialty lines to share with our local interior design community. Brands like yours, Kettlewell collection, and Clay Maclaurin. Suzanne Tucker Home had never been here before, although that’s a little more classic and traditional, it fits in really well. John Robshaw and Nichola Taylorson are two other lines that I’ve brought in.

All the lines that I represent are complimentary, but with their own subtle nuances. The designers have responded well, because it’s new to our area and provides them with fresh and different new looks.

3 – Your passion for your work really shows through, what do you love the most about it?

I enjoy finding new and different things and sharing them with designers. I love being a resource and bringing different ideas and concepts that I’ve seen in my travels and from my experience that could broaden the scope of what they could offer their clients.

In my showroom display, I waterfall memos by brand and I plan to expand this when I upgrade my space next month.

The goal is to have everything clearly on display, so that my clients get a good overview of each line. If they were to just pass through them on display wings, they may not be as inspired.

You are getting ready to move into a new, larger space, amidst this pandemic, could you share more about this decision?

The response has been terrific and I am in a really great location with fantastic neighbors. I knew I would need to expand at some point and did not want to see the opportunity pass me by when the perfect location came available. This new space will allow me to have an expanded display and will make a big difference.

I started in Interior Design sales by being a road rep, and was working out of my car and would bring in curated materials to my appointments. I’m excited to offer my clients an immersive environment and the ability to experience the variety of the products that I represent. I look forward to inspiring them in my new space!

Our clients have started coming back to by-appointment, in-person shopping, safely with masks on. Next week on Monday, we are hosting an event with about ten people outdoors in the courtyard of my building and I am looking forward to welcoming my clients back. We have all been so isolated that it is nice to start having small, safe events to interact and inspire each other again, as long as we are safe and smart about it.

4 – If you were not in interior design sales, what would you imagine doing?

I would probably be working in PR and publicity, working with editors, and in marketing for textile-type companies or others in the home improvement design area. Previously, I pitched products to editors and I had a passion for doing that. So it was easy to translate that to sales and to working with designers directly. It is a similar message and it’s about sharing what’s new in an innovative way.

5 – What is your personal aesthetic and in your own home?

I would say I’m transitional in my style. I’ve also got a modern farmhouse going on in my house. I’m still working through it, but I am exposed to so many beautiful things that it’s hard to make decisions! I keep a somewhat neutral base, so that I can add in pops of color and pattern.

I have to ask, what is your favorite seemakrish textile or wallcovering pattern?

Well, I have a whole bunch! I love, love, love the gold colorways.

I like Chowpatty, Mahalaxmi, Manhattan, Olema, and Juhu.

Juhu maybe my favorite! I could definitely see it in my house. Chowpatty is another favorite. I like it because it’s kind of quiet but still has movement and I like the mix of the embroidery with the print.