166 – High Point Market: Madcap Cottage + Marketing Your Design Firm

166 - High Point Market Live: Madcap Cottage + Marketing Your Design Firm Today in The Lounge, Nick is live from High Point Market. The show kicks off with a live recording of "Marketing Your Design Firm," a panel moderated by Nick at the Zuo Mod showroom. Hear what Shayla Copas, Jason Clifton, and Jeffrey Johnson do to get the phone to ring each day. Then, Nick is joined by Madcap Cottage's duo, Jason Oliver Nixon and John Loecke, in the Phillips Collection Showroom. Nick speaks to the duo about how they started in interior design, how they license their own products and all about their new book. Getting to Know Jason and John Jason is from Tampa, Florida. He went to school in Maine and then later moved to New York. John grew up in Iowa where he attended Iowa State and then, also, moved to New York, which is where he and Jason met. Jason’s favorite accessories are his bags...just ask John. It’s not that he has a problem with them, he just owns over 60 L.L. Bean Boat and Tote bags and these bags go everywhere with Jason. John’s favorite accessory is his watches. He also loves vintage movies; his favorite is Auntie Mame. Auntie Mame inspires him because the design style is so over the top. John also loves books but admits that he’s been so busy with work, he doesn’t have time to read novels anymore. Jason’s favorite guilty pleasures movies are murder mysteries or vintage James Bond books and movies. John's favorite stores are Fortnum & Mason and Liberty in London. He loves the designs, presentation, and architecture. John and Jason spend 24/7 together and to balance out their lives they build in time to actually see the city they're working in and visit a museum or cafe. When asked 'beer, wine, or cocktail?' Jason says, he loves a craft beer or a citrus beer, for wine he loves a good rosé and for a cocktail, he chooses a Tito’s martini dirty with olives on the side. In other words, "All of the above." John prefers a gin or vodka cocktail. John always thought he wanted to be an architect, but when finally in school, he saw that it wasn’t right for him. He didn’t really look at interior design as a profession until he started writing and doing graphic design work for a couple magazines in New York, including House Beautiful, American Homestyle, and Better Homes and Gardens. This is where he met Mario Buatta and Bunny Williams, who both inspired him greatly. Meeting them was a wake-up call that interior design was where he really wanted to be. On the other hand, Jason was always interested in interiors. As a kid, every Friday night, he would move around his parents' contemporary furniture. Jason worked in television as a producer and was a magazine editor when he met John in New York and they decided to start their business. John says that they are storytellers and it took that thread of working in the magazine and television industries to be able to tell people’s personal stories through design. The Business Today Madcap Cottage is a small firm with Jason, John, and three or four regular employees. Their employees help with strategy, structure, social media, bookkeeping and running errands. They are currently working on a 40,000 square foot home as well as small projects in Sarasota, Florida; Pittsboro, North Carolina; and one in Connecticut. They take projects for people who want to embrace living to the fullest in a space that is all about them. They work on three to four interior projects a year, license their own products, and would like to be the next great Laura Ashley: where clients can get great home and accessory items that are both, affordable, and accessible. They two J's both love to travel and traveling inspires their designs. They have written a book called Prints Charming about looking to the past, to move the needle forward. They enjoy planning the old-school way, on paper and have hired someone to do it professionally in CAD.