how designers are chosen to develop product lines

The term interior design can sometimes seem like a misnomer—in addition to crafting interior spaces, achieving a desired look often involves all kinds of other design, including the creation of custom furniture, one-off rugs, and other distinctive products. For some interior designers, this knack for furniture and product design can eventually lead to the creation of signature collections with manufacturers. To get the inside scoop on how these collaborations work, we spoke with four top companies—Kohler Interiors, Schumacher, The Rug Company, and Tufenkian—about how they select designers, and develop products from start to finish.

Why they like designer collections

"A lot of the best design ideas come from people who are out there actually doing the interiors," says John Hart, chief creative officer of Kohler Interiors, which includes Baker, McGuire, Ann Sacks, and Kallista. His roster of designers includes Barbara Barry, Michael S Smith, and Bill Sofield. "The best product designs are developed in the context of an overall environment, and who better to understand that than some of the leading practitioners in the field?"

"With fabric and wallpaper, designers are coming from the perspective of 'What kinds of things have I been dreaming about that I can't find in the marketplace,'" says Susan North, creative director of Schumacher, who counts Jamie Drake, Matthew Patrick Smyth, and Celerie Kemble among her collaborators. "They have a very specific vision for how to use the product."

"Working with different designers gives us a variety we could never achieve just by working with in-house designers," says Amanda Price, the US managing director of The Rug Company, which has partnered with designers such as David Rockwell, Alexandra Champalimaud, and Kelly Wearstler. "We have all of these different talents bringing their own aesthetics to the same medium."

"A big advantage of working with designers is tapping into their unique creative vision and sense of what is needed in the market," says James Tufenkian, who founded Tufenkian carpets, and has worked with Laura Kirar, Vicente Wolf, and Clodagh, among others. "That sense is coming out of the experience of an interior designer actually shopping for great interiors."

What they look for in collaborators

"It's important that a designer has a good book of work," says Kohler's Hart. "They have a practice where they have, for example, designed furniture for their own projects. We like them to be advanced enough and recognized enough in their career that there's marketing value to collaborating with them."