On September 12 and 13, Business of Home invited more than 500 interior designers and trade professionals to New York’s Chelsea Industrial to discuss one looming, macro question: What is the future of home? Over two days and 23 programming sessions, attendees enjoyed presentations, panel discussions, fireside chats, Q&A’s and small-group workshops with 38 speakers, moderated by BOH’s Kaitlin Petersen, Fred Nicolaus, Dennis Scully and Warren Shoulberg.

Day 2 of the Future of Home conference began with a presentation by futurist Tom Goodwin about the complexities of the current technological era. Next, Scully invited Phillip Raub of Model No. and Whitney Frances Falk of ZZ Driggs to discuss sustainable furniture manufacturing, a panel that proved an apt segue to Petersen’s subsequent conversation with Danielle Trofe and Tessa Callaghan on the successes and challenges of developing products from plant-based materials. After a quick coffee break, digital strategy consultant, professor and author Clark Boyd gave a presentation about visual search technology and its implications for the home industry. A conversation on curation commerce with designer and influencer Athena Calderone and stylist Colin King ensued, during which Calderone announced her new collection with Crate & Barrel. Another surprise followed when Mariam Naficy, founder of online art platform Minted, and architect and designer India Mahdavi joined Nicolaus onstage to discuss the fast-rising value of the NFT market and gifted everyone in the audience with an NFT courtesy of their new venture, Tonic. 

After lunch, guests broke off into small-group workshops. Hosted by Well-Designed, a wellness workshop offered attendees the opportunity to investigate common attitudes that shape the design community and apply their creativity to challenge these default behaviors. In two separate business workshops, industry veterans Sean Low and Justine Clay coached designers on how to account and charge for their billable time and  bring clarity and confidence to their firm’s finances, respectively. Finally, literary agent Kim Perel demystified the process of pitching a design book and landing a publishing contract. 

Throughout the two-day affair, visitors were invited to explore the future of the kitchen with Polished and consider the meaning of coziness with Parachute. ZZ Driggs provided vignettes by the front door and theater, chairs for the stage and vintage furnishings for the greenroom.