NKBA has lined up a slate of top design pros for 2018.
Knowledge is power — and sharing knowledge is the way to strengthen the industry.
Each year, the NKBA taps design and remodeling pros to be its industry ambassadors through its Insiders program. For 2018, the program has more than doubled to seven individuals representing six companies.
The Insiders serve as industry ambassadors for the association, traveling around the country and around the world to events and spreading the word on good design, and promoting the association’s thought leadership and design savvy across the industry.
Here’s a snapshot of this year’s Insiders.
Grace Jeffers
Artist, designer, writer and historian Grace Jeffers is a thought leader in American art, architecture and design. She challenges long-held presumptions about materials and advocates looking at things differently.
Reevaluating concepts like “natural” and “artificial” or “real” and “fake,” in her lecture on “Global Forestry,” she reveals the complexity and importance of understanding timber sourcing, laws, and responsibilities to forests around the world.
Among her most important achievements is the restoration of The Ralph Sr. & Sonny Wilson House in Temple, Texas. On the National Register of Historic Places as a significant architectural structure, it was awarded National Landmark status by the Texas Historical Commission and earned the National Merit Award for Historic Preservation. She subsequently restored the USS Growler nuclear submarine at The Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York.
For the past 14 years, Jeffers has been the creative force behind the award-winning Wilsonart Student Chair Competition, the longest-running sponsored student design competition in the country. A writer and commentator on design and materials, her articles have appeared in journals such as O at Home and Interiors & Sources. Metropolis Magazine awarded the competition a “Metropolis Like” at ICFF 2017.
Bobby Berk
Bobby Berk Interiors + Design
Celebrity designer Bobby Berk’s rise to prominence in the home design world didn’t happen overnight. Hailing from Texas, Berk had dreams of the big city and moved to New York in 2003 — with no job in sight. He worked his way up in retail, first at Bed Bath & Beyond and Restoration Hardware, and then became creative director at Portico Home + Spa. He soon decided it was time he started his own brand.
Since 2006, Bobby Berk Home’s retail division has consistently provided customers with a unique approach to modern design. Epitomizing hip, minimalist urban luxury, Berk’s designs reflect a stylish and youthful spirit that’s ideal for any cool, relaxed lifestyle. Bobby was recently named a member of the “Fab 5” in Netflix’s highly anticipated remake of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Queer Eye 2 was released in February 2018. Berk has also appeared as an expert on numerous television networks including HGTV, Bravo, NBC and CBS, among others.
Bob Borson, FAIA, LEED AP
Malone Maxwell Borson Architects
Dallas architect Bob Borson, AIA, LEED AP, is widely recognized as the blogger behind Life of an Architect — one of the most popular blogs in the architectural space. As an emerging voice within the architectural community, he has bridged the gap and engaged multiple generations of architects and architectural enthusiasts by sharing his personal experiences, professional practice tips and anecdotes about what it’s like to work with and be an architect.
Borson was recognized by the Dallas AIA as “Young Architect of the Year” in 2009, received the Award for Excellence in the Promotion of Architecture through the Media from the Texas Society of Architects in 2015, and was elevated into the American Institute of Architects College of Fellows in 2017.
Elle H-Millard, CKD
National Kitchen & Bath Association
Interior design expert Elle H-Millard, CKD, is a certified kitchen designer and trend forecasting consultant. She started her career pursing a Master of Fine Art degree in sculpture at the University of the Arts, Philadelphia, where understanding the relationship between positive and negative space became more than a passion. She was quickly discovered by the kitchen and bath industry, working as a restaurant designer for national brands, where her creations increased sales of design services by $5 million in a single year.
Millard was one of 11 cast to be on HGTV’s Design Star series, where she competed to host her own show, and was featured in Philadelphia Magazine Elegant Wedding for her innovative use of mundane materials to create wearable art at her own wedding. Today, she presents and participates in think-tank group discussions, creates kitchen and bath concepts for product development, and manages a team of industry professionals as Industry Relations Manager at the National Kitchen & Bath Association (NKBA).
Stacey Bewkes
Quintessence
After 17 years as an art director at Simon & Schuster, Stacey Bewkes founded Quintessence, an award-winning online guide to the best in style and substance. From art and architecture to interiors and fashion, books and film to travel and more, Quintessence has become a trusted source for well researched original content and imagery.
Bewkes has contributed articles, photographs and video to top-tier shelter publications and their sites, is the producer, editor and co-creator, with Susanna Salk, of the popular Quintessence design video series and the photographer for Salk’s upcoming book, At Home with Dogs and Their Designers.
Quintessence has been featured in such publications as Connecticut Cottages & Gardens, flower, House Beautiful, Luxe., Traditional Home and The Washington Post, and online in Architectural Digest, Domino, Elle Decor, Lonny, Style at Home, the New England Home Magazine blog and others.
Beth Dotolo and Carolina Gentry
Co-founders, Pulp Design Studios
Beth Dotolo and Carolina Gentry founded Pulp Design Studios in 2007, growing the company into a major brand beyond interior design. They maintain offices in Dallas and Seattle. With a forward-thinking approach to commerce and design, the duo has established a unique viewpoint that combines luxury design and a flair for the unexpected.
Today, Pulp Design Studios brings a sense of adventure to the business of design, with expertise in the realms of retail, interiors and product design.
Dotolo and Gentry are known as influencers with a keen ability to understand brands and influence consumers, and are followed by tens of thousands of people around the globe.
