Even in the age of social media, print retains its power. But with fewer national shelter magazines, how can designers get their work published and attract new clients? Fortunately, regional publications have come to the rescue. Regional shelter magazines are better than ever, reach a wider range of readers, and have more impact than they ever did. Three top editors, Pamela Jaccarino of Luxe Interiors+Design, Kendell Cronstrom of New York and Hamptons Cottages and Gardens, and Clinton Smith of New England Home, share their insights on the state of regional media today and their advice on how designers can access its potential to promote their work.
In this episode, our guests discuss:
- How regional magazines find their projects and which types of interior design work they are seeking
- What’s coming next for regional publishing
- The immediate response of being published in smaller local publications
- Which types of projects will and won’t get selected for publication
- Why they enjoy working with up-and-coming designers
- How editors determine which products they choose to include and what readers will respond to
Additional resources:
- Luxe Interiors+Design
- New York Cottages and Gardens
- Hamptons Cottages and Gardens
- New England Home
- How regional design magazines are sparking a print revolution on Business of Home
- How To Get A Project Published on Elle Decor
Connect with Chairish and our guests on Instagram:
- Chairish: @chairishco
- Michael Boodro: @michaelboodro
- Kendall Cronstrom: @kcronstrom
- Cottages & Gardens: @cottagesgardens
- Pamela Jaccarino: @pamelajaccarino
- Luxe Magazine: @luxemagazine
- Clint Smith: @mrclintsmith
- New England Home Magazine: @nehomemagazine
Lead Photo: Design by Janice Parker Landscape Architects. Photo: Neil Landino.
READ AND LISTEN TO THE ENTIRE EPISODE:
Michael Boodro 0:00
This is a Chairish podcast and I’m your host Michael Boodro. Even in this age of Instagram, print retains its power. But with fewer national shelter magazines and with an increasing emphasis on celebrities, how are designers supposed to get their work seen and attract new clients? Fortunately, regional publications have come to the rescue. Regional shelter magazines are better than ever to reach a wider range of readers and have more impact than they ever did. Today, I’m fortunate to have with me three powerhouse talents who have been instrumental in the success of their regional publications and websites. They’re going to explain how they operate, what’s behind their success and what they see for the future of regional media. First, I want to welcome Pamela Jaccarino, Vice President and editor in chief of Luxe Interiors & Design, which is the largest residential architecture and design brand in the country with a whopping 14 editions. Welcome, Pamela.
Pamela Jaccarino 1:21
Thank you. It’s a pleasure to be here with you, Michael.
Michael Boodro 1:24
Thank you. I’m also fortunate to have with us Kendell Cronstrom, Editor in Chief of Cottages and Gardens, which has editions on New York City, the Hamptons, and Connecticut. Hello, Kendell. And I’m also very pleased to have my former colleague, Clinton Smith with us. Clint was the editor of Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles before becoming the editor of Veranda, which was itself originally a regional magazine before going national. Now he’s an adviser to New England Home where he also writes a column. Welcome, Clint. So I want to get started. Like, I want to start with you, Pamela. When I was a magazine editor, I could barely get out 10 issues a year. And you have 14 different editions. I mean, and how many issues does each of them have? Like six or eight? How does that happen?
Pamela Jaccarino 2:17
Yeah, well, I’ve got really good biceps, Michael, what can I tell you? My team and I put out, are you ready? 75 issues of Luxe a year.
Michael Boodro 2:28
That’s impossible.
Pamela Jaccarino 2:30
We do it. It is possible when you have an amazing team. We started with one regional book 15 years ago, and have grown Luxe to be quite a force today in regional design.
Michael Boodro 2:47
It’s amazing. I know some of your team are former colleagues of mine so I know you only go for the best. Kendell, you have three different editions. How do you oversee all of them?
Kendell Cronstrom 2:58
Well, actually, I don’t oversee our Connecticut edition. That is done by a separate staff. I oversee our Hamptons and New York editions and we put out 15 a year, which is quite a bit actually with minimal staff. But it’s very gratifying.
Michael Boodro 3:14
Okay. And, Clint, you’ll have gone from regional to national to regional. What is it about regional publications that you feel is special and that attracts you and keeps you interested?
Clinton Smith 3:24
Well, at Atlanta Homes and Lifestyles, one of the things that I felt was always very fascinating is people would come to a potential project and be published in a regional magazine and then they want to go and be published on the national stage, which is totally understandable. Who doesn’t want that? But then after a couple of times being published nationally, they would always circle back because the designer and the architect would always come to us and say, I always got immediate feedback and immediate calls from being published locally. And, of course, you know, there’s a gravitas and you know, sort of a stamp of approval of being published nationally. And, you know, it’s wonderful to be able to put that on your website, but also it is great to get real life clients from that. And that’s where a local magazine can really deliver.
Michael Boodro 4:13
Right. And I can see that happening as two years ago, I bought a weekend house in Connecticut. And believe me, Kendell, I started reading Connecticut Cottages and Gardens. And it’s a great thing for resources and that kind of thing which it always has been in terms of finding shops or finding a contractor or whatever. But I do think, and you guys can correct me if I’m wrong, although I doubt you will. I think that the quality of regional magazines has increased vastly in the last decade. And I would love to get your take on why you think that is and how that’s come about. Pamela, do you want to weigh in first?
Pamela Jaccarino 4:46
Sure. I mean, I think that things like production values and the quality are paramount no matter what brand you’re leading, and particularly with regional magazines where we’ve seen where sometimes the quality can can slip, I’ve always felt and our company has always felt that we have to double down and, you know, put a lot into it. We do epic photo shoots for our front of book product, and the quality of paper and you just have to take a lot of care and attention when you’re producing a regional magazine. Also, integrity is very, very important. Because it sometimes can go a little bit of a pay to play route and I think as the editor in chief, you really have to make sure that you’re serving your reader in a respectful way, quite frankly.
Michael Boodro 5:38
Right. And have you felt pressure from the publishers? I mean, I know, when I was at Elle Decor, I sometimes very subtly, they would apply a little pressure. But is that an issue? And Kendell, why don’t you weigh in on that?
Kendell Cronstrom 5:51
Well, we’re very church and state, which I greatly appreciate. And, you know, you want to be aware of the advertisers who are supporting you, of course, and keep them in mind. But also, what’s most important for me is supporting regional vendors, you know, supporting people who have great shops out in the Hamptons, and making sure that we’re pulling product from those shops for our market pages. That’s a great way of showing them support and having a closer relationship than maybe nationals can have with them.
Michael Boodro 6:21
Right. Because you know, in this day and age, people can buy anything on the internet, so you could feature anything. But I wanted to ask you and Clint, I wanted to ask you too. Do you also try to put an emphasis on local resources? I mean, even though a lot of the local stores feature national brands and some around the world, is that part of what you think makes you special?
Clinton Smith 6:43
Oh, absolutely. Anytime we’re doing any sort of shopping pages or style guides, we look at the local resources and what’s interesting, as opposed to when I was working exclusively in Atlanta and Atlanta Homes, New England of course, is a much greater region. It starts just north of New York City, and Fairfield County and stretches all the way to Maine so we have a large geographic area to draw from. Not only that you have, you know, metropolitan Boston and Providence, but then you also have great shops and the second home and weekend communities, you know, out on the Cape and the island. So there’s no shortage of being able to draw on regional vendors. And to Pamela’s point about investing in great paper and great photography and making the effort to invest in great writers, I think that’s where regionals really excel, because, you know, you can have a nicer cover stock, You can have thicker paper and you can have a wider trim width because the regionals for the most part are unburdened by some of the issues that have kind of burdened some of the legacy national publishers. And so there is more flexibility because there aren’t these gigantic print runs and huge distributions. It’s much more niche and much more concentrated. And so it’s a real gift when you get it, you know, on the newsstand or in the mailbox.
Michael Boodro 8:09
Right. And how big a circulation do each of you have? I mean, obviously, Pamela is gonna be hard for you to answer that since you have different circuits, but like New England Home, how big of circulation is that?
Clinton Smith 8:20
Well, it is interesting, because there are six issues of New England Home the Flagship. Then there are four issues of a spin off of New England Home Connecticut. Then there’s another special issue called New England Home Cape and Islands. And then there are two other titles – Next, which is once a year, which is a younger demographic and much more urban. And then Rise, which is all about high rise living, which if you haven’t seen the Boston skyline – it is certainly being transformed. So each of these titles has a different distribution model and circulation.
Michael Boodro 8:58
Wow. And how does that apply for you Pamela? Some editions, I’m sure, are much bigger.
Pamela Jaccarino 9:03
Yeah. I mean, well, yeah. All in all, we’re half a million all in with all the regions when you add them up.
Michael Boodro 9:10
Which is the size of a national magazine.
Pamela Jaccarino 9:13
Yeah. So our southeast obviously is for our book. We are covering a lot of ground in that region. And you know, New York and San Francisco. So some are more sort of concentrated and others over a bigger swath, if you will.
Michael Boodro 9:30
And how about you Kendell with the editions of Cottages and Gardens?
Kendell Cronstrom 9:33
Yeah, we do. It’s controlled circulation. And we do a drop of, I think it’s 40,000 per issue with a readership of about 200,000 per issue.
Michael Boodro 9:43
That’s very healthy. Very, very healthy. So I’m going to ask you all something that I know our designer listeners are dying to know. How do you find your projects? And the question that I hated when I was the editor, but I’m going to ask it anyway. What are you looking for? Okay, So let’s start with you, Pamela. You have the widest geographic range so really, how do you find the best in each one of those 14 areas?
Pamela Jaccarino 10:09
We actually at Luxe are a team of 100. And we have a big office in New York and we have an office in Florida. And we have home editors, and publishers on the business side deployed living in these regional markets. So all of the home editors are sort of a first point of contact for a home feature, which is where most people want to get in the book. There’s other ways to get in through the kitchen and bath department or what have you. And, you know, I think first and foremost, the home has to make sense for the region. So a home that you would put in a San Francisco book is very different from a home in the Hamptons, or in Houston. And it’s got to fit into the context. I think we’re looking at, you know, the landscape, the architecture, the construction, and the interiors for us. Ideally, the whole home. Sometimes obviously, it’s just an interior project, or it might just be a condo in Miami. But first and foremost, it has to feel appropriate to its sense of place.
Michael Boodro 11:12
So in other words, if it’s a designer that’s based in Florida, but they do a project in New York, wouldn’t you put that in the Florida edition?
Pamela Jaccarino 11:18
We might. We try to keep it in the neighborhood. If you will, quite frankly, we might have an architect who’s based in Palm Beach with a great project that he did with a builder and a designer from New York. And if we are wowed by it, we’re gonna make that project go in.
Michael Boodro 11:37
There are rules, but you can bend them a little.
Pamela Jaccarino 11:39
Absolutely.
Michael Boodro 11:40
Okay. And Kendell, how’s that worked for you?
Kendell Cronstrom 11:43
I have no shortage of projects and it’s a blessing to have them, sometimes a curse. But I think what I look for most is, in a way, sort of like a national magazine editor, is a good variety of projects. Because you can say oh, the Hamptons is so niche, which it is in some ways, but there are people who have different tastes. They want super architectural, and you know, they want everything in between. You know, they might be looking to tear down their house and build a new one that’s super modern, so they might be looking for that. So I like to look for a really good mix, as long as the design integrity of each project is strong.
Michael Boodro 12:28
Right. Okay. And I’m going to ask another fraught question. Do the three of you, you can all weigh in on this, feel that you are now getting better projects than in the past because the national magazines have shifted their focus? I mean, let’s face it, some of them have become very celebrity obsessed, or star designer obsessed or whatever, which I think is the curse of having to reach a mass market audience. You tend to go celebrity oriented, and I would think, and it’s from reading your magazines, I sense this, that you are being offered better projects even than you were five years ago. Is that true? Clint, what about you? What do you think?
Clinton Smith 13:09
Well, I think the entire dynamic has changed. Because now that, you know, Instagram has been around for what, almost 10 years now and everyone has smartphones. And you know, every designer and architect and builder and contractor is in charge of content creation themselves, right? I mean, you just have to feed the beast. And so designers and architects have gotten very savvy about being published and that is going to be the icing on the cake. But let me go in, let me look in the magazine. I mean, look at New England, let me look in Luxe, let me look in Cottages & Gardens and see which photographers and stylists they’re using, and let me hire them to shoot my project for my own records. And if they want it, great. But certainly the level of projects, I just think that’s coming in is remarkable right now.
Michael Boodro 14:04
Okay, and you don’t want to attribute it to a particular reason?
Clinton Smith 14:09
Well, it goes without saying. I mean you mentioned that the nationals definitely have fewer pages than they’ve had in the past and, and there’s fewer of them and also just running fewer projects for issue. So yeah, that certainly has opened the door to things that titles may not have seen in the past.
Pamela Jaccarino 14:34
I have to agree with Clint. I think number one, people are much more sort of promotional marketing savvy. We have noticed a trend that a lot of design professionals are otherwise shooting. We’ll get a submission and it’s beautiful and it’s shot by a photographer that we would have gotten so I have to make a decision. Is it on their Instagram? Where have they used it? And how do we navigate through all of that? And I also think that they, you know, to your earlier point, these design professionals are or maybe it was Clint, who said it, in a regional book, we get their phone to ring, which is very important to know. For Luxe, not only are we distributed regionally, we also own the newsstand at 250 private jet terminals across the country, where we have every one of our Luxe magazines distributed, as well as other standout titles. And that’s for design professionals, and for the business is a very coveted audience. And I think, you know, people see the value there and want their work published in our book, for many reasons, including that one as well.
Michael Boodro 15:45
Right, right. And what about you, Kendell, would you agree with that?
Kendell Cronstrom 15:47
I have had the same experience. You know, so many people have said to me, architects and designers, that they’ve finally reached the holy grail of AD, for example, and got no calls. And then they were, and regionally they got so many calls. And, you know, I think we’re offering a similar caliber, similar quality, and they’re realizing that yes, as Pamela and Clinton said, the phone is ringing, where it wasn’t ringing before.
Michael Boodro 16:16
Right. And I have to say, if I were a small advertiser, not a national brand, like one of the fabric companies. If I had a shop or you know, I was a regional artist, and I would look to advertise in your magazines, because I would imagine that they would also get a more immediate response just the way a designer does, because, like, as I said, I was reading Cottages & Gardens because I was looking for particular things in my area.
Pamela Jaccarino 16:45
I also want to make a point about that, which we’ve always believed. All design is local. So if I am a national brand, like Kravet, guess what, they all have local showrooms. And a fabric that they may be selling in New York will not translate to Miami so we’ve always felt for them. I mean, obviously, we have a lot of regional business side partners, and we love them. And also nationally. I think regional titles are able to speak to their audience in a way that is meaningful to them, whether you’re selling furniture or fabric. So I think that that’s important to add to the context as well, Michael.
Michael Boodro 18:20
I think it’s interesting that you know, we’re a huge country. And we all read the national magazines. We read World of Interiors, whatever. But there are regional differences. The designer friend, I won’t say the name, but maybe guess, was approached by a fabric company to do outdoor fabrics and they were talking with him about where their current sales were, and where they were hoping to increase their sales, that they were low. And, you know, he looked at the product line, he said you reach the two coasts, but you are missing the entire middle swath and a southern swath because they are different. The regions are different. So, of course, that brings up a question of, how regional do you feel you need to be, especially when it comes to social media or websites because they are national by that definition. Your website reaches everybody and your social media media reaches everybody, as opposed to the print does. So how do you balance that out in terms of your social media and your websites? Who wants to tackle that first? Big question.
Clinton Smith 19:21
Well, I would say in New England specifically, you know, you want to celebrate the sense of place, the diversity, and it has such a rich history. But if you go to Metro Boston or Providence, these are major 21st century urban centers that are mixing the best of old and new so how do you celebrate that without falling into cliches? Or how do you celebrate the beautiful homes on the Cape and islands without falling into the sea shells and you know, things that they might have expected? But on the other hand, you have to balance that because there’s a group of people who don’t live in New England. But you know, there’s this idea of what New England means. There’s a romance to it and there’s an aspirational quality to it. So you want to reflect what’s happening in real life, but also kind of play into that romanticism a little bit whenever it makes sense.
Kendell Cronstrom 20:14
I think we get a lot of traffic too from people who are just obsessed with the Hamptons. They hear about the Hamptons, they know what the Hamptons are. They go to our website and to our product to see what we’re doing and to get inspiration about what Hamptons living is like.
Pamela Jaccarino 20:29
And I would also add, Michael, you know, it’s interesting for us. So I may be a reader in the southeast and feel as though you know, Luxe is reflecting what’s happening in that region. But I also, you know, want to be inspired by design all over. So, you know, if people go to Luxe, they can look at so many different design ideas and I think that’s as well, so, so important.
Michael Boodro 20:56
Right. And I agree with you. I think your readers are probably looking for the best of everything, in their region and outside. I do think really sophisticated people don’t confine themselves to a regional look, but I think they understand that wherever your house is will shape the way that it’s perceived. You know, gardens in the Hamptons are very different from gardens in Connecticut, for example. So your house has to reflect the reality of where you are but that doesn’t mean you’re immune to influences globally. I mean, as Clint said, a tower in Boston is going to be very different from a cottage on Martha’s Vineyard. But, you know, at the same time, it’s part of the region. So I guess my question is, how do you decide what not to run? What’s outside the boundaries?
Pamela Jaccarino 21:51
Anything really ugly. If it’s badly designed, we don’t want to put that in.
Michael Boodro 22:01
You succeed at that, Pamela. I’m sure you’ve kept a lot of ugly out. But you know what I’m saying is like, Kendell, there’s all kinds of places in the Hamptons, and I’m sure you turned down a lot of things. What would you turn down like almost automatically?
Kendell Cronstrom 22:18
Something that is soulless and doesn’t have personality. A big thing for me is artwork. There are a lot of houses out here that you walk in, and it’s got great bones, what could be you know, shingle style, old cottage, Newport style cottage or could be brand new modern, and you walk in and there’s no feeling that anyone lives there. And that’s very sad. I would never run a place like that so that’s a benchmark right there.
Michael Boodro 22:46
And how about you Clint in terms of what you’re looking for?
Clinton Smith 22:50
Yeah, so just one example, you think of a house that’s decorated in a beautiful blue and white palette. I can assure you there is no shortage of houses decorated in blue and white along the New England coast. You know, it’s a palette that everybody loves. I mean, it’s, you know, you can’t go wrong with it. But when you have, let’s say, a dozen submissions, featuring blue and white, the question becomes, which one of these has done blue and white in a way you’ve never seen done before? Because it’s an abundance of good taste. But it’s sort of like, how many blue and white interiors, and I’m not picking on blue and white because I love them myself, but it’s a good example. You can’t run one or two per issue. So you just have to be very judicious and look for the ones that show you something that you’ve seen before, but in a completely different way.
Michael Boodro 23:52
And Pamela, I want to ask you, are there regions that you think have a better density, higher density of good design than others? I would think that that was the case. I don’t know if you want to name names. But have you noticed that?
Pamela Jaccarino 24:04
Well, you know, it’s interesting that we have this sort of bird’s eye view of what’s happening in the luxury residential design sector. Yes, every region is interesting for us. In the Pacific Northwest, the architecture, and the landscape is very strong. And in that market, it’s sometimes a little bit harder for us. We got these great submissions, but they didn’t hire an interior decorator. We love the architecture, but we can’t run the project because it’s just not done to the level. Look, I can’t pick favorites. I will say, I love our San Francisco edition. The reason why I’m just calling it out is because, you know, for me personally, and I like to not make the book for me. I’m making it for the reader. It’s the landscape, the history, the integrity of the architecture, and the interiors. And there’s a lot of very, very good submissions and good quality submissions that we get from that region in the south because we’re covering a large swath that could be an Atlanta home or Nashville home, or Alice beach. You know, we get a lot of very good submissions and it gets hard to make those decisions because we can only publish so much in our book.
Michael Boodro 25:23
Right. And I have to confess, you know, having edited a national magazine myself, we tried to avoid it, but it became very New York heavy and LA heavy. And it was really only when I left Elle Decor and went to Dering Hall, which is now owned by Chairish and has been merged with Chairish that I realized the breadth of talent across the country, which is another thing. I hate to confess this, but it’s true, and I confess it, I was really surprised how much great talent was out there that I was unaware of. I don’t know if it’s because people were intimidated about submitting to a national magazine, or they just were too busy with all their clients to do it. They didn’t care. Whatever the reason, it was really an eye opening thing for me and I would think that you guys are much closer to those designers and connected to them by your publishers, your staff, your teams are out there looking at everything. And I would think that you guys have to turn down a lot of good stuff. Is that the case? I mean, we know we’ve talked about turning down the ugly stuff. That’s a given. But how often does it frustrate you that you have to turn something down? Because like, for example, if it’s the second best blue and white thing that normally would be great if it were you know, how do you deal with that? How often does that arise?
Kendell Cronstrom 26:41
Well, you just have to be diplomatic, I guess. The flip side of that, the regional benefit being an original editor is discovering a great new talent and giving them a break that they might not get if they’re struggling to get into AD, or a national magazine that isn’t going to open any doors anytime soon, or you don’t have a connection and you can’t get in. We’re smaller, you know, we’re more on answering emails and being in touch with people who are up and coming. And it’s so much fun to give a breakout designer their first big feature. Super gratifying.
Michael Boodro 27:21
Right. Right. And Pam, what about you? How do you handle it if they are almost good enough or under a different circumstance, you might run it? Does that happen a lot?
Pamela Jaccarino 27:32
Well, I have to say I am very proud of the fact that we publish over, all in architect designer builder, over 600 design professionals a year and over 250 projects. So we do say yes, a lot and often. Certain regions, honestly, New York, for us is a tough region. We get a lot of Manhattan projects where we have to make some tough calls. And it’s always difficult to turn someone’s project down that’s very hopeful about getting published. And look, we stay connected and I think you know, you never know. You may say, we can’t do this today but you know, in three months that project can come up from the same designer that we’re just very excited about and then we’re able to say yes to. But it’s hard. It’s hard to say no. You want to give voice and you know, to what Kendell said, I agree. Being able to publish someone for the first time and you put them on the cover. I mean, that is very meaningful. And I’ve had designers who have told me, you know, it really helped launch my business by being on that cover. And that’s, you know, very important.
Kendell Cronstrom 28:42
And that builds loyalty too and support for our brands as well.
Michael Boodro 28:45
Right. Well, of course, of course. A couple of times at Elle Decor, I did publish people for the first time and it really was special, you know, or to give a designer their first cover is a special moment. So Clint, I wanted to ask you because you know, you’ve worked in Atlanta, then you were at Veranda and now New England Home. Have you noticed any difference in the level of quality of the overall submissions to any? You know, was there a difference at Veranda? Did you get a higher level? Or is it just different?
Clinton Smith 29:14
It’s just different. You would think in this day and age, it’d be a lot of things that just look alike. And it really is refreshing to see how these you know, and I still subscribe to a lot of homes and lifestyles and compare it to New England and what I see in the Nationals, these regional areas really have been able to hang on to their identities, and sometimes you can open up a magazine and say, I know this is in Boston. I know this is in Charleston, South Carolina. And so I think in times past as a jaded Editor in Chief, I may have said, oh, everything looks alike now when in fact, you know, with a little bit of removal, I see that it really doesn’t and you know people’s individuality is able to come through which is a great thing. I wanted to touch base on one of the things that Kendell and Pamela mentioned about having to cut something. One of the things that has been a great joy, being back at New England Home versus at Veranda is, you know, it’s always been difficult to give space to artisans and shop visits and makers in a national magazine, because a shop doesn’t necessarily, you know, for our shop in Dallas, you know, as someone in Seattle is really going to care about it that much. So being able to give the real estate and regional magazines is really fantastic.
Michael Boodro 30:41
Right. And I remembered Elle Decor, you know, under Marian and Margaret Russell, there were pages about new shop openings around the country. But then when I took over, we still had that for a while, but then I kept getting pressure. Oh, you need to do more jewelry coverage to make the advertisers happy, you need to do more of this. And eventually, we had to drop that page, so I’m glad you brought that up, because I wanted to get back to the idea of products. Because all of you do really quite beautiful product pages, which I think to an editor is kind of a joy. And you know, if you have to write staff to do those kinds of things, your product pages, and to cover artisans and all of that. So my question is, how do you decide what’s regional? Or what’s appropriate to your region in terms of the products? I mean, we’ve talked about this a little bit. I’d love to go a little bit more in depth about that. Pam, why don’t we start with you?
Pamela Jaccarino 31:34
Well, I feel so fortunate, you know, we have an incredible market team and COVID has sort of put us a little bit on hold to shoot in New York, obviously. We’ve had to be creative. But aside from that, for us shooting products, fabric and rugs are very important. And you know, this is where we segue into because when we shoot this, it runs out in every single edition of Luxe. And so we have to put our sort of national cap to see what will translate on the high end. Obviously, there’s so much new product that’s always coming out that we see. And we’re at 1,000 previews all over. And, you know, we do what we always do, we edit and put in for our reader what we think that they’re going to respond to. I want to make one more point, Michael, if I may, about artisans and makers, because to me, I’m a creative person and am a big believer in giving voice to artisans and makers across the country. We used to do it a few years ago in a department up front. And a few years ago, when we did a redesign, I said, let’s put them in the feature well and do a huge photoshoot which we do. And do you know, two to three spreads on makers across the country. And I think it just adds another layer to what we’re doing for the reader.
Michael Boodro 32:59
Yeah. And also, those small makers are really suffering a lot at this time. We did an episode about it on the podcast, because you can’t support makers enough. I think it’s small. Not that we don’t love Kravet and we don’t love Holly Hunt and all that. But you know, somebody who’s making something beautiful should be supported. So you have a big market team, obviously Pamela. What about you, Kendell? How do you find things like products?
Kendell Cronstrom 33:26
Well, we have dedicated columns called Made in the Hamptons and Made in New York that I’ve been doing since day one. I love doing those. It features all local people. And it’s a great way to support them. In terms of the market coverage, as I said earlier, we are still pulling mostly from local vendors. And in fact, I hardly ever let a URL slip in. I mean, we’ll add the URL. But I’m always looking for a street address and a phone number. Hey, pick up the phone here that is. And it’s great, you know, that they feel so embraced by us by that support. It’s really important to cover that market.
Michael Boodro 34:05
Right. Right. And what about you, Clint? Because God knows there’s a lot of great makers in New England.
Clinton Smith 34:10
Yeah, sure. It’s a collective effort. As with every issue, it depends on the theme, what the seasonality is, how to balance it with what’s in the well. So the beauty is those types of pages get to be done closer to the deadline. So they’re much easier and much more of the moment as opposed to a house feature, which was probably published a year or two ago.
Michael Boodro 34:34
Right, right. I mean, we would have an inventory often, for a year, year and a half at Elle Decor. So yeah, I think the product thing is really important. And I think it’s a way to bring immediacy but do you guys all cover, like you had mentioned Pamela, kitchens and baths. Now that’s a big market. Do you do it in the same way as a national magazine would?
Pamela Jaccarino 35:06
Yes. So six times a year, we go to all of them. We would have been Kitchen and Bath and all of that and in every single issue it is a big category for our readers. You know, I think most people are redoing kitchens and baths. They spend their money there. And so in every single issue of Luxe, we cover it in a big way, in multiple pages, a kitchen and bath edit. We look for regional inspiration, so that’s a way for designers and architects to get published across the board. We get a lot of submissions and we also outreach. Again, depending on what’s on the edit calendar, we may be looking for modern kitchens. Depending on what it is we’ll outreach and often do photoshoots for that section as well.
Michael Boodro 35:56
Okay. And Kendell, what about you? The Hamptons, I mean, God knows it’s a big build and rental market. I mean, it slowed down for a little while, but now with COVID it is back.
Kendell Cronstrom 36:05
And people are home and like looking for projects, and they are redoing their kitchens. And so we cover them constantly. And I mean, every story usually has an amazing kitchen in it so it’s always a point to shoot kitchens and bathrooms. And our Connecticut issue actually does a special issue in January devoted to kitchens in tandem with the Kitchen and Bath Show.
Michael Boodro 36:27
Right, right. And what about New England, Clint?
Clinton Smith 36:31
There’s kitchen and bath products, usually in every issue, maybe not always a big blowout. But then there’s a special bath section every spring, and a special kitchen section every fall. And this year, September and October.
Michael Boodro 36:46
And do you find there’s enthusiasm? A lot of kitchen and bath companies are national and plumbing light fixtures, appliance are complicated markets. Is their enthusiasm on the part of these national brands for your regional additions? Do they understand the value of it?
Clinton Smith 37:04
Yeah, absolutely. What’s interesting is as you go throughout New England, especially in the larger markets, there are some absolutely remarkable kitchen and bath showrooms. I mean, these are, you know, experiential is a word that’s overused. But you know, you can certainly see yourself living in these spaces and wanting, you know, that icemaker, that convection oven, or that induction range. So they do a really good job in New England of presenting what could be.
Pamela Jaccarino 37:34
And I think we see that in every regional market. Michael, we certainly have quite a few national kitchen and bath brands that have been partners with us for a long time. Regionally, it’s a very large category for us. And I echo Clint’s sentiment. We see it across the country, and many, many regional markets. Regional kitchen and bath showrooms that are really doing things in an interesting way.
Kendell Cronstrom 38:01
And they all want their products in the Hamptons, no question.
Michael Boodro 38:04
Oh, that’s a given. Yeah, that’s your top of the market. So I also wanted to ask you, all three of you now are sort of powers in the design industry. So how do you see your role in terms of bringing awareness to the talent and the regions that you cover? Or getting advertisers to recognize your importance? How do you fill that role of being really not just a tastemaker, but sort of an enthusiast and a proponent for the talent in the respective regions that you’ve covered?
Pamela Jaccarino 38:39
I’ll go first. I like to operate as though we still have a lot to prove. That’s how I’m wired. I like to think there’s still a mountain to climb. And you know, for us, and I think for a lot of brands, it’s about how else are you communicating? So for us at Luxe, you know, we’re communicating. We have our print books. It’s our bread and butter. We have digital and you know, we launched something new, thanks to COVID, which is Design TV. And so it’s another way for us to tell stories about design. It’s another way for us to give voice and these are sort of one on one programs. I’m doing some and our teams are doing them regionally. We’ll get regional design pros together, put it out on our Facebook Live and IG TV. And then you know, I think it’s a time Michael, where everybody is really hungry now for you know, you have to be everywhere, right? As an editor in chief, I think everyone’s gonna nod their heads. It’s Instagram and all of our jobs are more and more. And we all have to make sure that for our respective brands, we are communicating a message and quite frankly, for our reader, but also, I think for me what’s incredibly important is supporting the design communities and the larger design community. We’re all in this together. And everyone’s success is everyone’s success. So that’s how we like to run it at Luxe.
Michael Boodro 40:11
I totally understand and agree. What about you, Kendell? This is something else I want to bring up too, like, as I was told many times, when I was at Hearst, you know, a brand is not just a magazine. Obviously, there is social media but show houses and partnerships. Is there this feeling that you want to get involved in that or feel you should be involved in that kind of thing?
Kendell Cronstrom 40:40
Sure. We’ve done many show houses, almost every summer. And actually, we’re doing one this year benefiting Southampton hospital and it’s going to be a challenge because it’s a virtual show house, but we’re photographing it and printing it, and the magazine and it’s going to be on all of our socials. And I’m looking forward to it. I think it’s going to be a really good project. I think the challenges I face as an editor are getting a little bit easier with every day. Because I’m kind of getting past that preconceived notion that everything in the Hamptons is the same. It’s very homogeneous. Everyone’s loaded. They all have mansions and that’s not true. There’s so many creative people out here and people who live in different ways and different houses. And it’s always so much fun to explore that.
Michael Boodro 41:27
And what about New England Home, Clint? I know you do different events and things like that but is that something that you really feel is useful and worth it? Or?
Clinton Smith 41:39
Absolutely. The design community there loves to network and the magazine sponsors do too. I can’t even count how many networking events for members of the trade and what I think is a little different than what I experienced years ago in Atlanta is there’s really this sort of cross pollination where, as opposed to the interior designers having their group or the architects having their group. When there’s a networking event in New England, the architects, the designers, the contractors, the builders, landscape architects all come together. And there’s this great idea exchange, whether it’s, you know, a Thursday night cocktail party or two of the big events that New England Home sponsors 5 under 40, which recognizes new tastemaker tastemakers for the Hall of Fame Awards, which really celebrate those who’ve had a lasting impact on design across New England. And then this year will be the second year that New England home is going to be doing its Luxury Home Design Summit, which last year was the first year held out on Cape Cod. Surprisingly, 25% of the attendees were from outside of New England. So it just sort of shows that, you know, all of these magazines, which have a, quote, regional footprint really do have a greater, greater reach with social media and everything else.
Pamela Jaccarino 43:08
I would also add, you know, I think that Clint brought up such an important point that I just want to add, you know, events and networking for our brand as well, is incredibly important. And in the last recession in 2008-2009, when everyone was like, no one wanted to talk, it was a tough time, obviously. You go out for a cocktail and everyone’s like, I don’t really want to talk. So we decided to launch Luxe Connect where we brought the architect and the builder, because we wanted to facilitate, on the business side, the networking so that they can, you know, get projects and we’ve not missed a beat. We’re now doing them virtually. And we often have some national brands sit in on these. And I will say, for me as the editor in chief, it’s so important for me to hear what’s happening with these designers and these architects. I learn a lot. And we’re really happy to have that conversation and to facilitate this for them. It’s a very important part of the Luxe brand and it has been for quite some time.
Michael Boodro 44:19
Right. Well, I think you’re all doing fantastic jobs. I think that not only you’re doing fantastic jobs, I think more and more people realize what a fantastic job you guys are doing. So I guess my last question really is, what do you see coming next in terms of regional publishing in general, but specifically for your brands and your additions? So who wants to go first? Clint, why don’t we start with you?
Clinton Smith 44:48
So I want to answer your question, but in a roundabout way. I think one of the things that is interesting with regional publications right now is that there is a great opportunity for designers and architects to be published. But with the instant gratification of social media, there’s often this feeling of impatience, perhaps. There is certainly not the wait to get published as probably at a national magazine. I just saw a story that I commissioned and had photographs when I was at Veranda appear in the current issue, and that was well over two years ago. And so there is this new dance that I think we’re all trying to figure out because, you know, I for one, nor the New England Home team, editor, or Robert Lessard, the creative director. You know, none of us want to hold a hijack hostage. But we have to really have these discussions about what exclusivity means. What pieces can you put out in the meantime, in the interim, before you get big flash in the magazine? And I don’t think there’s any easy answers. But I think this is something that has come up in the last couple of years, and it’s only going to become more of an issue if we don’t really have this sort of dialogue up front.
Michael Boodro 46:11
Right, right. Kendell, what do you see coming?
Kendall Cronstrom 46:20
I agree with Clinton about the challenges of social media. And also, I’m a little old school. I find it kind of ephemeral. And you know, it doesn’t kind of hang around long enough. And the biggest compliment I get is when I walk into a house, I scout a project by an architect or designer, and meet a homeowner. And there are stacks and stacks of HC&G magazines that they’ve been saving for the years. And I’ve met many people who have had every single issue since day one. And that’s extremely gratifying, but also proves that the strength is in that print. And we just need to continue taking that print and then expanding our brand further off of that.
Michael Boodro 46:50
And Pamela, what about you? What do you see? You know, Luxe’s role now and then for the next four or five years?
Pamela Jaccarino 47:03
Yeah, this is our 15 year anniversary, which we’re going to be celebrating with our November or December issue. You know, I think a lot of this is about the quality of what we’re doing, and making sure that we really uphold that. It’s very interesting, talking to so many designers across the country who are saying, I’m at home, and you know what I’m doing for the first time, I’m reading my design books. You know, my hardcover books, and my magazines. And I think it’s the responsibility of all editors in chiefs, no matter what your brand is. Fight for your paper, make sure that the quality is there. You know, double check everything and I think for us, it’s always been for our books. Like, make sure that they’re ever evergreen. We don’t put cover lines on and so we want this to be something that is lasting and I think it’s all good. I love Instagram. I think we’re just another tool in the design toolbox. Right, the greater design toolbox. So I love all of it. And yeah, who knows, let’s have a podcast in five years, Michael and see where we land, right. I’m down for it if everyone else is.
Michael Boodro 48:14
Great. Well, I want to thank you guys. I think this has been fascinating. And I think it’ll be really of interest and have great help to our listeners. So thank you so much. Thank you, Pamela Jaccarino. Thank you Kendell Cronstrom and thank you Clinton Smith.
