David Cohen has taken a unique path through the design industry to get to where he is today. Possessing an entrepreneurial spirit, he founded three unique companies within the building supply and design industry over the past fifteen years. He has an uncanny ability in connecting people within the industry to forge meaningful relationships. His current company, Artistic Design Works, is a multi-faceted company providing custom artistic products to the design industry, creating visibility for unique artists for hospitality projects, and facilitating product licensing collaborations between designers and manufacturers to create new designer product lines, marketing opportunities and distribution channels.
By Douglas Weinstein
I recently sat down with David to talk about his unique background within the design community and his vision for expanding business opportunities for interior designers.
Doug: Let’s start with your involvement in stone and tile and the idea behind creating an e-commerce platform, and how that translated into being so involved in the design industry.
David: Back in the mid-2000s, after I graduated from college, I went into medical sales which was a profession I enjoyed for five years. While successful, I had a strong craving to have my own business and realized that becoming an entrepreneur in the medical supply industry came with a lot more regulations for a beginning business. At the time a friend of mine was in the tile and stone space and I started to learn about distribution and importing of products. We kicked around ideas of launching an e-commerce platform that would aggregate material from multiple importers around the country, creating a large, curated selection to sell direct to designers, builders and consumers nationwide.
Traditionally, you went to a stone and tile retailer where product was displayed or in stock, allowing you to both see and touch. You got to see full size pieces and could really get up close to what the colors and feel of the stone is all about. How this translated to selling online is one of the reasons e-commerce tile and stone distribution was a little slower to develop than other products and industries. Think about taking a product that has a ton of natural variation from piece to piece and boiling the sales process down to only seeing pictures on your computer and receiving several small samples of current stock in the mail. It makes it a lot more difficult to imagine what your project and the material you’re investing a sizable amount into is going to look like. This was one of our main challenges, along with (as we’d find out down the road!) shipping and logistics for heavy, breakable material.
We started our first platform in 2008, Rock Bottom Tile and Stone, and shortly after brought on my brother Sam, who had just graduated college, to be my business partner. Working with Sam throughout the majority of this journey was one of the biggest rewards I got.
To overcome our hurdle of selling natural stone only by pictures and samples we became extremely knowledgeable about our product, and great at customer service and connecting with designers and homeowners to help them understand exactly what they would be receiving for their project. This level of customer service was just as important as coordinating and communicating logistics to our customers.
For ten years we partnered with importers around the country and shipped material to all 50 states and from the Virgin Islands to Alaska and Hawaii. Then, the stone and tile business landscape changed dramatically. Overseas stone quarries and factories with a presence in the U.S. started to go direct to consumers online, emulating our business plan. With tile and stone not having large margins it didn’t leave us much option other than to evolve as a company. That’s when we shifted from Rock Bottom Tile and Stone to Elegant Mosaics, focusing more on designer products that have higher profit margins and are much easier to ship than stone pallets.
Working with a custom product allowed us to take more steps into the design industry. I’d always attended tile and flooring shows with Rock Bottom, but this is when I started going to design shows like High Point Market, Vegas Market, HD Expo, BDNY, KBIS and NEOCON to interact and promote our brand directly to designers.
As we continued to build our brand, we merged ourselves with a factory in Phoenix that we were working with. As with any business move like that you never know how it’s going to turn out and not everything worked out as we’d hoped. One of the unplanned parts was the pandemic. They looked at their core tile store business as where the company needed to be focused and I saw more value in the growth that could be made in the design industry with hospitality and residential projects. And that led to the creation of Artistic Design Works.
David and Sam Cohen
Doug: What is it about design that inspires you and tell us a little more about its connection to art and products for you?
David: That’s a good question. I think it has to do with the creativeness of the industry and the people in it. Design takes inspiration and that inspiration then reciprocates more design. The impact design has is seen all around us, in our homes, the places we eat, the businesses we work in, it impacts our daily life and even the mood we may be in.
With Artistic Design Works I got more drawn into art and product design within the interior design and hospitality world. For me that is kind of the peak of creativity and there’s a direct correlation and impact that design and art have on each other. There’s also something to me about not necessarily being the one creating an amazing piece of art or home décor but helping facilitate it being put in that space or being created for a lot of people to enjoy.
I knew I wanted to keep working with hospitality design firms as I made my transition and finding the right type of medium was important to me. I wanted to work with something that is unique and stands out which focused me more on working with artists and custom artistic products that incorporate art and design in different ways like acoustic panels and mirrors.
I also knew that I wanted to keep and even grow my presence in the residential design industry and saw that bringing together designers and artists with manufacturers for product licensing collaborations fit really well with who I am and how I’d already positioned myself. Plus, with a number of amazing design friends in the industry it gave me an opportunity to start out working not just with talent but with friends that knew of my journey. Much like hospitality projects, it can take a long time for these collaborations to come together with product development, marketing and sales but it’s been rewarding to help bring them together and with the right deal it can be rewarding for years down the road. My experience with understanding manufacturing, distribution channels and what it takes to market and launch products has definitely helped me in this area.
While I clearly met designers to work with for licensing through the design industry, it’s through my design friends I first started to meet artists since the industries are so closely tied together. Then I started going to Art Basel down in Miami Beach to connect with artists and galleries that I think really offer something to hospitality or higher end residential projects. Featured artwork for hotel lobbies, restaurants or any space where a commission piece can make a huge impact. When I connected with artists, I found that a lot of them had done hospitality projects but usually just by word of mouth and didn’t have a direct channel into getting their work in front of hospitality designers for potential projects which is where I saw an opportunity to try and help with that.
I also found when I attended Art Basel that there was a bit of a disconnect between the interior design industry and art world, because this is an event that luxury designers with an interest in fine art should be attending. For that reason, I co-founded an event that I think is going to be really fun called BOLD Basel which helps create that bridge to Basel for designers. It’s about art, it’s about design, it’s about sourcing and education, and it’s about a designer experience amongst palm trees and South Beach with amazing people.
Doug: That has to keep you hopping between the gazillions of trade shows and regional events within the art and design worlds.
David: Yes, I’m around a lot of the shows, which is how I’ve gotten more traction in the industry. People always tell me it looks like I’m everywhere, but I say that’s just the social media effect until I actually look at all the events I’ve recently attended and realize it’s more than most. Getting to know people, those attending, those exhibiting and those running the shows is a vital part to understanding the industry and really being a part of it. Through my attendance at the markets, I’ve created opportunities to speak on panels alongside design experts and lead designer tours connecting designers to manufacturers. Now I’m starting to work with And More, previously IMC, (which owns Highpoint Market and Vegas Market, etc.) on their hospitality programs as essentially their design firm liaison which I’m really excited about.
The really interesting part to attending these shows is seeing the difference between the hospitality and residential design industries. There’s almost this gap that I’ve never really understood because I see the areas they connect and how much inspiration is between them. This is something I could talk quite a bit about but what I feel strongly about is that the residential markets like High Point and Vegas Market are great hospitality shows too. They’re really next level compared to regular trade shows in a number of ways.
The toughest thing for me as I evolved in the industry outside of tile was how do I use my experience in the industry, and from all the shows I’ve attended, to not just stay in the industry but make it work financially. Collaboration can come naturally but monetizing it especially when it’s about bringing people together isn’t always easy!
Doug: [laughs] And how is that working out for you?
David: Honestly, it’s a challenge but I don’t think many business owners when they start a new business or revenue stream has an easy time. Part of that for me that’s been a learning experience is setting value on what I do with bringing together different types of collaborations and what collaborations have more value for both myself and the client, designer or artist I work with.
When it comes to both hospitality sales for art and product licensing, they’re both the long game in a way because each type of deal can take a year and half to three years or more to develop and see the financial result, which we’re all ultimately looking for when it comes to work. With art I currently have a commission piece going into the Green Valley Ranch area in Vegas. What’s exciting for me with that is the artist is born and raised in Vegas and this is their first piece that is being placed into a Vegas casino or hotel.
Product licensing is based on commission and the percentage of royalties after the product is developed and launched into the industry, so again it can take a while. I’m really working on trying to grow this portion of my business and have been blessed so far to have several wonderful designers I know very well to work with. I’ve also been able to work with a mentor to really understand and learn this part of the industry which I think is important. We’ve got some good stuff coming up when it comes to licensing, so I’ll be excited to talk more about new product collections when we’re able to.
Doug: How do you look at products, either hospitality or residential, similarities and differences?
David: When it comes to designing the spaces and selecting products, I think a big difference between hospitality and residential is that hospitality can be about designing for a specific brand or look and is focused on guest experiences, where residential designers are designing more for the homeowner and how they perceive and desire their space.
When it comes to product design and licensing, I see more of a gap between the two industries. The residential industry both markets and innovates more through product licensing than the hospitality industry does, but I do think that hospitality manufacturers are starting to look more for designer and artist collaborations to not just bring in outside minds that bring something new, but also to connect with the industry and create some excitement in ways it’s hard to do in-house. I even saw this when I attended CEDIA where companies are just starting to look for more ways to connect their companies to the design industry and new audiences. I think that all these surrounding industries are realizing more and more how central designers are to moving not just their industry, but retail and the direction of it.
