Introducing the latest addition to our BOH Insider curriculum: Trade Tales Live. In this new series, editor in chief Kaitlin Petersen brings Business of Home’s most informative and applicable articles to life, speaking with top designers and industry experts about their most valuable lessons learned—sometimes the hard way. It’s an exclusive opportunity to “eavesdrop” on refreshingly honest and educational conversations about do’s, don’ts, design horror stories, innovative career pivots and hard-earned comebacks. They’re sharing their mistakes—with Insiders only—so that you can avoid making them.
In this first installment, Petersen talks with Seattle-based designer Heidi Caillier, who knows all too well the importance of working with organized, detail-oriented and conscientious general contractors. In an article from the Spring 2024 issue of BOH, Petersen reported on how Caillier “went through the wringer” with a GC on one of her first whole-home projects, and how that experience forever changed both the way she works with external partners and how she structures her contracts. Join Petersen and Caillier as they dive deep into this crucial topic, explaining ways to pre-empt similar situations or protect yourself if faced with one. There will be plenty of time for discussion, so be sure to bring your own questions.
Trade Tales Live is open exclusively to BOH Insiders. If you are already a BOH Insider, simply register through your Benefits Portal. If you have any questions about becoming a BOH Insider, please reach out to our dedicated membership team at membership@businessofhome.com.
Additional Information:
Trade Tales Live is conducted through Zoom webinar. All you need to join is reliable internet access and computer speakers with good volume.
Heidi Caillier is a designer reinventing tradition to create beautiful and enduring interiors. Her projects, through her design studio Heidi Caillier Design, aren’t bound by a singular set of aesthetic codes, but are underpinned by a sense of feeling and intimacy. This continually evolving and almost anonymous signature is what makes her one of the most respected names in the industry.
Growing her practice purely through a dedicated passion for design, Caillier’s lack of formal training gives her a unique vantage point. Unfiltered by conventions and well-trodden references, her intuition and natural flair sees her draw from a well of eclectic influences. Aided by a small team from her studio in Seattle, Heidi Caillier oversees high-end residential and hospitality projects across the US. And while location, architecture, and lifestyle inform the creative direction, it is the desires and lifestyle of every client which always steers the narrative.
Spaces designed by Caillier feel animated and authentic, and have been featured in the pages of Architectural Digest, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Times, and have landed her on the prestigious 1stDibs 50 List for 2022, 2023, and 2024. In Memories of Home, published by Rizzoli in September 2023, a dozen of Caillier’s projects are explored in detail. The result is both coffee table book and a didactic reference for how to layer materials and textures to curate spaces the Heidi Caillier way.
