ART Member Spotlight – carpenter + company

Patti Carpenter – carpenter + company

New York, NY

The mission is to foster an under-acknowledged design community

For ART member Patti Carpenter principal of carpenter + company and Global Ambassador for Maison et Objet and consultant for NYNOW, stepping out of her normal routine of trend watching and presentation to help others was a calling. Besides the many COVID discussions and how to navigate the changing trends and turbulent times for business, Carpenter was called upon often to comment and offer context. One of the conversations ultimately resulted in the forming of a new non-profit company, the Kaleidoscope Project.

The Kaleidoscope Project is the result of brainstorming by Carpenter and industry sales representative Amy Lynn Schwarzbard. It was founded by the pair with the later addition of Liz Nightingale. This non-profit company aims to address the inequities found in the creative design industries. Their first project is to renovate the historic Cornell Inn, a 28-guest room property nestled in the heart of the Berkshires in Lenox, Mass., which will host a showhouse-inspired exhibition open to the public May 16 to June 6, 2021

“Amy called me early on at the advent of the Black Lives Matter movement and we had this discussion,” Carpenter recalled. “She said she wanted to do something actionable and wanted me to participate. We landed on this model we have and formed a nonprofit company.”

For Carpenter, the chance to showcase a collection of designers who might not ordinarily get the spotlight was the perfect opportunity. “We wanted to give a voice to those who aren’t often invited to the table at large for magazines to focus on or for showhouse participation,” Carpenter said.

The Kaleidoscope Project has invited 21 BIPOC (Black, Indigenous People of Color) designers to participate. The designers will tackle the main building and the carriage house, and unlike many showhouses, at the conclusion of the exhibition, the designs and products will remain and each room will be named for that particular designer.

The exhibit proceeds will be donated to the Black Artists + Designers Guild (BADG), Parsons School of Design, and New York School of Interior Design (NYSID) in support of their educational initiatives to assist Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) interested in an art or design career.

“It’s a fabulous project. In talking with sponsors, many of them are looking for ways to change how they’ve done business. They are becoming more diverse and adding a new range of designers with whom they work,” Carpenter said. “They love this. There are names on the designer list you’ll know but many you don’t know.”

Participating designers include Rhydima Brar of R/teriors; Everick Brown of Everick Brown Interior Design; Chanae of Oloro Interiors; Patti Carpenter of carpenter + co; Doreen Chambers of Doreen Chambers Interiors; Gail Davis of Gail Davis Designs; Rasheeda Gray of Gray Space Interiors; Rio Hamilton of Rio Hamilton Associates Inc; Linda Hayslett of LH. Designs; Johanna Howard of Johanna Howard Home; Nile Johnson of Nile Johnson Interior Design; Nikki Klugh of Nikki Klugh Design Group; Inc; Jennifer Owen of Designs by Jennifer; Purvi Padia; Dennese Guadeloupe Rojas of Interiors by Design; David Santiago of Casa Santi; Virginia Toledo of Toledo Geller; Denise Gordon, Tanya Lewis and Marilyn Lavergne of Austin Gray Group; Ianatha Carley of Iantha Carley Interiors and Christy Davis of Christy Davis Interiors who will modernize the centuries-old Main House and Carriage House with their distinct vision.

But the showhouse-exhibit isn’t all that Carpenter has been up to. Recently, she was co-emcee for the NYNow awards live show that was recorded. And, she led a panel discussion with a group of diverse retailers on Feb. 10 at Shoppe Object and has done color and trend projects for ASID and FAIRE. Carpenter has also been a frequent speaker for ART at conferences and ARTful Wednesdays. She also works with individual companies to prepare product focused trend reports for sales tools.

For more information on The Kaleidoscope Project, please visit their website.