Our collection, in collaboration with Hunter Douglas, launched earlier this week.

We are pleased to have connected with Ron Rubinoff, President of Hunter Douglas, to learn more about him and get an insight into the artist-driven Design Studio collections. Read on…

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To listen to the complete conversation, tune into our IGTV here. Read an excerpt of our conversation below:

1- What has been your journey in getting involved in the interior design industry? And how did this
lead you to your current role of President of Hunter Douglas?

I began my career many years ago at a company, which Hunter Douglas eventually acquired. Our strategy back then was growth through acquisition. It was a textile company that did all its weaving, finishing, and textile conversion. The exciting thing was that their distribution mode was the same as Hunter Douglas: manufacturer, wholesaler, retail dealer to the consumer.

That’s where I learned the textile business; and about yarns, weaving, and textile converting and being a creative individual with an appreciation for art and color, it married my interests with my skills. This knowledge has helped as we deal with mills around the world; it allows that I can speak their language. At Hunter Douglas, I have combined my knowledge of textiles production and design with my marketing skills. Ultimately, we are reaching our end consumer with writing, photography, and materials that our consumer enjoys living with in their homes.

It has changed over the years. One area I’ve noticed change is in distribution. In the earlier days, there were tens of thousands of retail dealers in our business; there also was this phenomenon called the retail fabricator because some of the product categories that existed were relatively simple to produce.
Distribution networks were very localized and regional. As technology came into the business, so did reach for wholesale distributors. They were able to expand their territory because of technology. At the same time, retailers began to shrink, which has provided our wholesale partners more of a presence.

Another area of change is the competitive landscape. Previously there were more competitors, like Hunter Douglas and going to market the same way through wholesale fabrication to the retail dealer to the consumer. The real advantage we have today as Hunter Douglas is because of the whole shift in dynamics of the distribution channels of wholesaler to retail dealer. Previously, wholesale distributors and wholesale fabricators were independent.

Fast forward to today, as a consumer products company, we are much more B2B. Back then the term B2B did not exist! Our role as a manufacturer was to drive the product to the wholesale fabricator, who in turn went it to the dealer. And we depended on the dealer to communicate to the consumer. Today, we are a consumer product company, directing our advertising, our focus, our customer expectation, and satisfaction level, right to the consumer. We are creating and controlling the complete experience, the introduction, the messaging, and the learning. We are in control of the experience we provide to our customers.

Towards the future, we will remain to be a very tactile business. As a consumer, you could have the biggest screen on your desk, but you still need to touch, feel and hold a textile up to the wall and to the light, to appreciate it fully. I don’t see that part changing in a digital world. Like so many businesses, digital will continue to play a role, but it’s not going to drive changes as dramatically as it has in other businesses. For example, furniture is now selling direct. Custom drapery and shades are a purchase lasts for a long time. Clients need to know and touch and feel what they are getting. The area of home automation will continue to grow by leaps and bounds. Almost everything today in a consumer’s home, from the front door lock to the lighting to the air conditioning to window coverings, can be controlled by a touch on their phones, remote control, or voice-activation. This will continue to grow at a very fast pace. Hunter Douglas continues to take a leadership role in this area and we are known for our product innovation. Even though this may not resonate within the design industry as much as new designs and colors, all of our mechanisms and innovation in our shades, makes life a little bit easier for the consumer.

3- Please would you talk about the artist-driven Design Studio area and the thinking behind this introduction and addition to your line? It was an honor and pleasure collaborating with you and your team on this collection!

Designers love style, color, and trends. They love the sizzle. Home automation that enables the shades to go up and down mechanically doesn’t provide the same excitement. We wanted to create a program that would bring color, style, pattern and inspire designers by being fashion-forward. We have the expertise and the platform to provide this to our clients- with all the mills that we deal with around the world, and one of the largest drapery work rooms in North America as well.

We decided to offer this under our Hunter Douglas brand and make it turnkey, simplified, and sophisticated. When you look at some of our competitors in the retail business, not the jobber converters, but truly in the retail business, their selection of product is very limited. For us, we wanted to curate this to coordinate with all our product lines, and our core line. We have a wide range from performance fabrics, to prints, jacquards and embroideries. By adding the guest artists collection, we maintain the cadence of bringing new fresh looks to the marketplace, with exciting colors and designs. And by adding individuals such as yourself, it gives us a little bit more of a story to tell, we want to add personality in everything that we do. And that’s exactly what you did. You lent personality to our collection together.

4- What is your favorite pattern from our collaborative collection?

I love the ‘Woodlands’ embroidery pattern. Every time I look at it, aside from the texture, it makes me
smile because it’s simple, yet elegant. And it makes me feel like the outdoors. We don’t evoke the same type of emotion with some of our products because, they’re very functional. They’re, you know they’re aesthetically pleasing. But they don’t have that same little bit of story behind them. We are very selective as you know. And limited with our releases.. We want to ensure that they will uniquely different, but with our ‘Hunter Douglas point of view’.

My personal favorite though is ‘Reflections’. It’s fresh, it’s contemporary, it’s modern and transitions from side panels or drapery to roller shades or roman shades. I love the versatility of the pattern. And the colors are so fresh. So that happens to be one of my favorites along with the ‘Woodlands.’

What is amazing about Hunter Douglas is that the quality really stands behind the product. Every product that you introduce, there’s so much thought and so much testing that happens before bringing a product to market. Even though I’ve been in the industry for more than twenty years, I’ve learned so much from working with you.