Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Market Authority Names 2017 Style Spotters Team
November 16,
2016 by Larry Thomas in Designer Weekly, High Point, Industry, Market, Special Events 
The High Point Market Authority has named eight people to its 2017 Style Spotters team, which for the first time will consist of a pair of designers from four interior design firms.
Style Spotters are charged with scouring the Market to find their favorite products and top trends, leaving behind a card on each item they “spot”. These finds are then posted to the High Point Market Pinterest boards and contribute to the two style reports (April and October) that the Market Authority produces.
The 2017 Style Spotters team will be led again by Style Spotter Emeritus Michelle Jennings Wiebe, president and founder of Studio M in Tampa, Fla. Wiebe will mentor the group, assist with the group’s preparation for each Market, moderate the panel for the Style Spotters Live event and write the introduction for two style reports.
“I’m so excited to lead another Style Spotters team through the upcoming Markets,” said Wiebe. “It’s a strong team with a lot of experience and a great variety of styles and design aesthetics.”
The four “design duos” for 2017 are Tami Ramsay and Krista Nye Nicholas of Cloth & Kind, which has offices in Ann Arbor, Mich., and Athens, Ga.; Anishka Clarke and Niya Bascom of Ishka Designs in Brooklyn, N.Y.; David Ecton and Lance Jackson of Parker Kennedy Living in Atlanta; and Ron Woodson and Jaime Rummerfield of Woodson & Rummerfield’s House of Design in Los Angeles.
This new Style Spotters team will begin in January and work through both 2017 Markets – April 22–26 and Oct. 14–18.
“We are excited about what this diverse team will bring to High Point Market with their individual styles, social media followings and their ability to spot trends affecting the home furnishings industry,” said Tom Conley, president and CEO of the Market Authority.
The Style Spotters program launched during the Fall 2011 Market as home fashion trendsetters that showcase their favorite products and top trends from Market exhibitors on Pinterest. The Market Authority assembled the 2017 team by using a combination of self-identified and well-known candidates, with an impartial vetting and selection committee, and sought a diverse and geographically balanced group.
Former Style Spotter Beth Dotolo, along with her design duo Carolina Gentry, both co-founders of Pulp Design Studios, and Wiebe were crucial participants on the selection committee.
Additionally, for the second year in a row, the Market Authority partnered with a top shelter publication, Traditional Home, in the selection of Tami Ramsay and Krista Nye Nicholas of Cloth & Kind as one of this year’s Style Spotter duos. The team was named one Traditional Home magazine’s “Top 10 New Trad Designers” for 2016.