Connecting with our Community: Cary Kravet, President, Kravet, Inc.

Studio Designer’s Connecting with our Community webinar series featured lively online discussions led by Studio Designer CEO Keith Granet with numerous business leaders and top interior designers to presidents of major brands like the leader in luxury fabrics to the trade—Kravet and the man leading the family business into the future and beyond, Cary Kravet.

Keith and Cary engaged in an especially gracious and illuminating discussion about the state of things and the future of the trade. When asked how he was doing, Cary did not hold back in expressing the ever-shifting nature of his emotions by sharing “It’s been challenging, it’s been invigorating, it’s been exciting, reflective, emotional, mentally taxing, in some ways refreshing, burdensome, confusing.” He looks on the bright side and sees how these times offer “a tremendous opportunity to rethink and reevaluate what we do, how we do it, and why we do it.”

At Kravet, he established a “futures committee” to plan for the future both within and beyond the crisis and think of new ways of selling in the future. Cary is amazed by people’s ability to quickly adapt to change and firmly believes that “markets find a way.” He believes that interior designers add “beauty in our lives” and that the trade has shifted away from selling products and designers are selling “talent, experience, knowledge, relationship skills, professionalism, beauty, and creativity.” He loves the industry and its core mission of having “talent and a desire to help.”

Cary noted that the pandemic has brought about changes in the industry that will certainly remain that includes improvements in communication, less wasted travel time, better preparations for in-person meetings, and a greater sense of community in the trade. Keith noted how impressed he is with Cary’s devotion and support of the interior design industry. The Kravet collaboration with the Lantz Collective offers both great fabric and artwork as seen below.

View the recording of the Cary Kravet interview here, check out the full collection of Connecting with our Community webinars, or read a blog post about the entire series.