Daily News
From Home Furnishing Business
Design House Schumacher Opens First Showroom in Charlotte
April 17,
2024 by HFBusiness Staff in Business Strategy, Designer Weekly, Industry 
Schumacher, the venerable American design house, announces the opening of its first showroom and boutique in Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 13. It will include a traditional to-the-trade showroom experience exclusively for interior designers as well as a separate luxury shop for designers and design aficionados alike to source smaller items.
Schumacher tapped Charlotte's own Barrie Benson to design the interior. The 3,500-square-foot loft-like space will channel Benson's signature style with compelling juxtapositions of old and new and a tantalizing color palette. It will feature a luxurious terrazzo floor, custom oak cabinetry, antique mirrored walls, and Schumacher's fabrics and wallpapers throughout.
The boutique will sell antiques, unique home accessories, and gifts including pillows, throws, rugs, baskets, coffee table books, photography, art, tabletop items, and handmade ceramics. Monthly educational and inspirational events will be held to bring together Charlotte-area design lovers along with fun activities including flower-arranging classes, trunk shows, book signings, and workshops for interior designers.
The to-the-trade side will be set up as a design lab with two big open tables, offering designers plenty of space to scheme and shop the 7,000+ fabrics, wallpapers, trims, and rugs.
Schumacher chose Charlotte for its rapidly growing art and design community, recognizing it as an important new hub for interior designers and like-minded individuals with an interest in entertaining, living in beautiful spaces, and self-expression.
"It was a natural choice to have Barrie Benson design our new space in Charlotte, a city I have come to know and love," says Dara Caponigro, Schumacher's creative director. "I have known Barrie for more than 20 years, meeting her when I was an editor at domino (she was one of our cover girls!).”
“Barrie's sensibility, with its sophisticated twist on tradition, has always spoken to me. Plus, she is one of our collaborators at Schumacher: She and Chandra Johnson of SOCO Gallery have brought so many interesting artist collaborations to Schumacher under their Peg Norriss brand, all of which have been successes. I look forward to unveiling our new space and welcoming Charlotte's cultivated community into our new home."
Timur Yumusaklar, CEO of Schumacher's parent company, FS&CO, says, "Charlotte is filled with such incredible design talent. We feel it's our job to bring those talents closer to the growing audience of design lovers and to educate people on just how much interior designers can improve their lives. At Schumacher, we believe that good design can have an immensely positive impact on our emotional well-being and that it can allow us to be better selves – calmer, more centered, happier, more energized."
For more information, visit schumacher.com or stop by the shop at 301 East Blvd., Charlotte, NC, when it opens on May 13!