Last week Molly from DwellStudio invited Matt and I over to their SoHo office for a little pow-wow. We toured the office, caught up over coffee, and recieved a brief run down on DwellStudio’s forthcoming new product releases.

I can’t divulge the deets, but let me tell you DwellStudio has once again proved they can reinvent, revitalize and reinvigorate their already strong product offering all the while keeping the fabulous DwellStudio je ne sais quoi intact.

Second to that, their entrée into new product categories will most certainly blow you away. They have some AMAZING stuff coming down the pipe…

Check out the video recap below or visit our flickr page for pix from the visit.

What’s hot? DwellStudio’s Peacock Citrine Duvet is! The July 2010 issue of Elle Decor listed this item as one of its five HOT picks. We couldn’t agree more.

Today Show aired a segment on furniture and other items that can grow with your child. Two DwellStudio products were featured in that segment: Baby Storage Bins and Baby Soft Blocks. They’re not just for kids anymore!

DwellStudio’s Peacock Citrine Duvet was featured as a high-quality bedding option for the Ola, Portugal! trend alert in the May 2010 issue of Connecticut Cottages & Gardens (Living in Style issue).

Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a talk by the founder of DwellStudio, Christiane Lemieux, at SCAD Atlanta. We’ve been carrying DwellStudio since it was plain old Dwell, and I smiled when she put up slides of her sketches from her first collection (“I couldn’t afford a light table, so I used the window”), as they were so familiar and are still some of my favorite designs. In just a few short years, Christiane has taken a textile company and grown it into a lifestyle brand, and she is starting to become a household name among the design set, just like Jenna Lyons. Next stop Oprah?

Christiane geared her talk to the students, and laid out a path to entrepreneurship based upon her experiences. These included an education at Parsons, grabbing every internship under the sun (hers included a stint at Isaac Mizrahi), immersing yourself in the industry (manufacturing, shipping, selling, P.R., etc.), finding a niche and exploiting the heck out of new media.

Listening to these talks made me realize just how much the landscape of retail has changed for designers in the last decade. Portfolios on websites, Etsy stores, Social Media, microbrands, research, etc. have opened up so many opportunities to those who may lack a stockpile of start up bucks. Christiane encouraged students to license designs over selling them, to remain open-minded (DwellStudio’s images are used in a series of children’s books, something she’d never thought of!), to form strategic partnerships and to diversify.

She knows of what she speaks. Whenever Christiane has guest blogged over here, I’m humbled to admit they are the best posts we’ve ever published, and her own blog is beautiful. She is also one of my favorite twitterers (tweeters? whatever!). Thank you for the inspiration Christiane!

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