My Highlight from The Design Bloggers Conference – Bunny Williams

by Cynthia Bogart

For the last eight days, I have been city hoping from Newport, RI to Houston to Los Angeles.  My last leg of the trip in LA was spent with 350 Interior Design professionals for two very full days and nights talking about blogging, social media and interior design at the annual Design Bloggers Conference.

There were several highlights of the trip but my big one was hearing Bunny Williams speak.  Trained in the ‘old school’ way of learning from the bottom up, her first job out of college had her cataloging antiques. Her second job was on the staff of the famed team of Sister Parish and Albert Hadley  (Parish-Hadley) for twenty-two years.   Her experience there  prepared her to run her own business, design her own furniture and home accessory line, open up a high-end home garden store with husband and antique dealer, John Rosselli and write four very successful books.

The big take-away was her emphasis that young designers had to get out and see things first hand. Online learning is important, but visiting  museums, traveling, popping into antique stores and markets, puttering in off- the-beaten path shops and if possible, find apprenticeships and jobs in order to learn from the designers that have come before you.  Education is the most important element in becoming the designer you want to evolve into.   For more details on her products and interior design, go to her site Bunny Williams.com and enjoy it thoroughly!

My IPhone does not take stellar shots, forgive me, but here are a few samplings of our cocktail party at Harbinger's in Beverly Hills, one of the shops that carries Bunny's furniture and accessory line. That is Mally Skok of MallySkokDesign.com talking to the ever elegant, Bunny Williams on the bottom left. click the pic for Bunny's full line there.