More Than a Showroom: Two Entrepreneurs Connecting Designers with Extraordinary Boutique Brands
If you’ve followed us for even a short bit of time, you know how much we especially admire small makers and boutique textile lines. We tend to naturally gravitate toward the artists and their works, their unique stories, and their distinctive visions. As passionate creatives ourselves, It’s oftentimes easy for us to quickly envision how these materials could intertwine with our design schemes and projects.
For the last two years, we have spent a great deal of time behind the scenes establishing relationships with various brands from around the world that resonate with our design aesthetic and target clientele. It’s super important to have the foundation built of those integral connections when not only dreaming up “what’s next” business-wise but also keeping a healthy pulse on what’s going on in the industry. This has been an ever-growing task, but one we greatly admire–as it’s been an invaluable learning experience in and of itself.
When speaking specifically toward boutique artisans, we have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to personally attend three Design Social Pop Up events: Dallas, Palm Beach, and their first-ever pop-up event held at High Point Market. These events quite literally “pop up” throughout the US and in a few fun destinations around the world (like London!). Design Social is a curated, traveling event designed to connect interior designers with the creative founders behind boutique home furnishing, textile, and wallpaper brands. Founded in 2019 by Brooks Morrison. These pop-ups serve as an alternative to traditional showrooms, allowing for direct interaction between designers and artisans.
About the founder, Brooks Morrison:
Brooks has spent twelve years working for the renowned leather goods manufacturer, Moore & Giles, in a few different capacities including that of leading their marketing department, as well as being the VP of Product Design & Merchandising, specializing in leather design. Brooks has always had an evident passion for design, travel, and storytelling, which has led her to connect with many textile and wallpaper designers whom she really respects.
“Working with a variety of beautifully crafted brands that inspire me daily is a dream come true and an opportunity to excel at what I enjoy the most: building community, sharing stories, and connecting creatives within the interior design community.”
In 2019, Brooks started Design Social to bring sourcing to a community level and offer inspiring opportunities to designers and editors to be able to interact with the artisans and creatives behind some of her favorite textile, wallpaper, and furnishing brands. In 2020, Brooks launched Design Social Studio (located in ATL), a boutique textile, wallpaper, and leather representation business for designers in the Southeast.
“As an unbridled dreamer when it comes to merchandising and event design, I dove headfirst into creating more imaginative and engaging ways for interior designers and shelter editors to experience our luxurious leather collections.”
We look forward to attending the next-to-last 2026 Design Social this coming October in Nashville, hosted at Cheekwood Gardens, register/learn more HERE!) Sponsored by Benjamin Moore and The New York Design Center. You can follow along with all things Design Social via their website and their Instagram account.
On a very similar wavelength and speaking of events, recently, there was a design event hosted in Lexington by the Cincinnati-based showroom, DeCioccio Showroom, where, as designers, similarly to Design Social, we had tangible access to some great individual brands, being able to see, touch, and feel new collections. Some of which we were familiar with already, some we were not. One of those new-to-us was The Lot Showroom, based out of Nashville. There, we were able to meet the fabulous founder of The Lot, Britt Forrister, as well as Darla Hunter, Window Treatment and Hardware Specialist for the TN/KY territory, representing the family of brands via Fabricut.
Funny how things ironically work out and come full circle… just a few weeks later, we were invited to a luncheon and learn event at Manoirs Showroom in Nashville, held by Fabricut, hosted by Darla!
During this very short trip to Nashville, we obviously knew it was a MUST to be able to physically stop by The Lot, a boutique textile firm representing brands from all over the world, bringing them to designers here in the Southeast, whom we were just able to meet in Lex as they spend a good amount of time traveling! Some of these very lines, being independent artists we’ve been able to discover and meet at Design Social as well. A few to note:
The Lot is described as “comfortable, homey, and inspiring”, and we couldn’t agree more! From the moment you step through the doors beyond the black and white striped awning, you are greeted with a friendly energy and all smiles.
The Lot layers creativity, color and calm, for a bespoke shopping experience for interior design professionals. – NFocus
“When designers request samples of The Lot’s materials, Forrister & Co. bundles the swatches with thoughtful details – woodblock stamps, vintage ribbons, handwritten notes, and other unique embellishments, transforming the assortment into something like a work of art. “We want people to know when they receive something from The Lot, because it’s packaged like a gift.”
About the owner, Britt Forrister:
Before opening The Lot, Britt started her design career with Garden and Gun, Everything But the House, and Sarah Bartholomew Design, helping these businesses during their “start-up” phase, where their stories each began.
It was during this time that she worked very closely alongside the artisans, printmakers, and designers printing their stories on cloth and paper. Subsequently, Britt realized that Nashville designers were having to travel to places like NYC and LA in order to source higher-end fabrics, which really enticed her discovery of curating something more locally-attainable.
Britt’s admiration for the old and collected, has her continuously on the hunt. Britt’s homes have been featured in publications such as Southern Living, Better Homes & Gardens, and Architectural Digest. Britt opened The Lot in 2020, the first story doors of her very own.
Location: 4304 Charlotte Ave. Suite A Nashville, TN 37209
Hours: To-the-trade, T-TH 10am-4pm, or by appointment
Phone: 615-906-2780
IG: @thelotshowroom
