Furniture Market

Twice a year, the furniture market comes to town here in High Point, NC. This is an INCREDIBLE opportunity for us as design majors. Having such an invaluable resource five minutes from our campus gives us an edge other design schools simply don't have access to. It would be unheard of for me to graduate as a design student from High Point University without having worked furniture market at least once. However, I have had trouble working market in the past. It always overlaps with our spring/fall break and being the homebody I am, I have a hard time giving up my breaks. Luckily this market, was moved up a few weeks which has allowed me to get some work experience.

I have been working in the Lazar showroom (you can visit their website here), assisting two of the sales reps. Basically, I am here to show their customers around the showroom when they cannot be here to do so themselves, and hopefully assist them in the sale of the furniture. I'll admit, it was an extremely intimidating job at the beginning of the week. Never working with their furniture before, it was a little scary trying to sell their furniture. I did not get my dad's love of sales or ability of being a great salesperson, so let's just say it didn't come naturally. After the second day though, I got a lot more comfortable and confident. The beginning of the week I would dread being called up to the front, now I cannot wait to get a customer.

Sales reps represent different areas of the country for particular showrooms. Jack represents the Florida region, and Mark represents the Carolina's region. It has been great getting to work with people in the Carolina's region because that's where I will be located when I start working. I've gotten contact with designers, store owners, and big name companies that will be so useful to me in the future. On Sunday, I was showing a lady named Dana around the showroom and realized her badge said they were from Durham. We got to talking about the area, and she offered me an internship this summer. I've been looking for an internship for months now, and to have one offered to me was amazing. Lets just say I was a little excited. Market has been an incredible resource for me and very educational. Fingers crossed this internship over the summer, and the internship with Baker next semester both go through!

I'm finally beginning to feel like I belong in this industry, and have the confidence to be a designer.