As promised, I would share a bit more from my meeting of Martin Lawrence Bullard, famed interior designer to the stars and star himself of Million Dollar Decorator. I felt he was ridiculously over-the-top on the show but super likable in person! While at ADAC, I was able to hear him speak along with Susan North, Senior Vice President, Design & Creative Directorof Schumacher, about developing your own line and of course pumping his own fabric line for Schumacher.
He talked about getting his first big client, Cheryl Tieg, which happened to receive lots of press in shelter mags and therefore led to many, many more big time clients. [Every designer's dream!] When asked how he got hooked up with Schumacher, Susan credited his work on the Greenroom at the Oscars and his ability to impeccably mix fabrics combined with his worldly aestetic. He had lots of colorful anecdotes about his travels and how they inspired the prints he created. One in particular was when his former assistant left him to marry the richest man in Turkey. So she went form schlepping after him to managing a personal staff of hundreds. Gotta love that!
In addition to his fabric line, he also has many other licensing deals in the works including a furniture line, eco-friendly cleaning products, a mattress line, a line of rugs for The Rug Co. and tiles for Exquisite Tiles. He is also the spokesperson for Jaguar. You should hear this man say Jaguar. It is brilliant. I J'adore him! Oh, he also said that he was asked to be the spokesperson for male Spanks. He was insulted and declined. Hey, a guys gotta have standards!
I hate this photo of me...I look like a 50 year old business woman. Not that there is anything wrong with a 50 year old business woman...it's just not the look I was going for. But it was funny as I was getting on the elevator, an impeccably dressed man in his early 50's looked me up and down and said "Missoni?" Then just nodded yes before I could answer and turned around all proud of himself. My shirt is from T.J. Maxx but he's right, it does look Missoni-esque. Anyway, the encounter made me laugh inside myself!
I should mention that Martin had pink socks to match his shirt.
Here is his book. Admittedly, I have yet to go through it but I am real excited to!
And I should also mention his inscription...I asked him to write something "naughty" so he wrote "Big delicious kiss to you!" Love it!