The Decorative Furnishings Association (DFA)’s first membership meeting of 2018 set out to be the interior design industry’s first-ever e-commerce summit. The new format underscores the DFA’s initiative to modernize its business practices and create a platform that finally addresses and responds to the hard questions the industry faces.

The daylong summit kicked off with speeches from DFA president Eric Chang, and board members Chad Stark and Jobst Blachy, followed by short presentations from leading e-commerce and digital companies like Dering Hall, 1stdibs, DesignerInc, Studio Designer, IvyMark and Fuigo. After lunch, attendees broke into groups for roundtable discussions.

The DFA counts among its membership representatives from leading furniture and textile brands, multiline showrooms, design centers, trade magazine publications, and design-industry e-commerce brands. Notable members in attendance at the annual meeting included Adam Sandow, Pamela Jaccarino, Kate Kelly Smith, Cary Kravet, Mark Cutler, Katie Brockman, Spencer Rudin, Ralph Rudin, Russell Towner, Heather Gillette, Erinn Valencich, Maury Riad, Keith Granet, Lee Rotenberg, Thomas Lavin, Geoffrey De Sousa, Eric Hughes, Jeffrey and Philip Bershad, Rocky Lafleur, Gina DeWitt and Bryan Dicker.

“The DFA’s E-Commerce Summit was a resounding success,” says Chang. “We were thrilled by all the faces that showed up to have a seat at our organization’s table to take a hard look at how e-commerce has changed the landscape. More importantly, we were inspired by the insightful conversation had by all—as they listened to each other’s sides and looked to work together to create solutions that will ultimately lead to awareness, growth and profitability for our industry. We are compiling our findings, and look forward to continuing this extremely important conversation with the renewed strength and membership of the DFA.”

Photographs by design.luxury