Icon of Design Stephen Sills at Wells Abbott Showroom — Texas Design Week Dallas

While we’ve all learned to adapt quickly and roll with the punches over these last few interesting years, few can do it with as much grace and professionalism as our own Chesie Breen, who stepped in at the 11th hour to host a talk at Texas Design Week Dallas — on day one. Of course, who wouldn’t jump at the chance to speak with one of the world’s foremost designers, Stephen Sills, whose newest book, Stephen Sills: A Vision for Design (Rizzoli), was released in September.

One caveat, though, was that Breen had to step into the shoes of the unexpectedly indisposed David Netto — a design icon in his own right and the author of said book, who came down with COVID.

Although Netto was missed, Breen and Sills took the group on a lively and insightful journey through some of Sills’ work, as well as career highlights and philosophies on design and life, all while surrounded by gorgeous textiles and charming vignettes in the Wells Abbott Dallas Design District showroom.

The conversation took us back to Sills’ roots and how, as a boy growing up in Durant, Oklahoma, he would travel to Dallas to take painting lessons — something that laid the foundation for everything he knows about design, he says. Later, as a young man, he lived in a townhome on Welborn Street in Dallas. When he moved to New York City to pursue design, he blindly submitted photos of his home to House & Garden and it was published. Soon afterwards, after reaching out to Min Hogg at World of Interiors, photos of his studio apartment in New York were given an eight-page spread, and his career took off. His greatest advice is simply to study art.

“If you take art lessons, you can transfer it to anything visually,” he said. “That’s what helped me more than anything.”

Welcoming guests to the showroom was owner Lauren Hudson and the ever dapper showroom director Michael Flores.

PC Seen: Nancy Dedman, Brad Kelly, Casa Branca’s Georgia McElveen and Andrew Uihlein, Janet Gridley, Javier Velasco, Porter, Wilson Fuqua, Dan Houchard, Josh Pickering, Callie Windle, Katrina Couch, Mil Bodron, Joyce Fox, Tara Arikawe, Christine Humbert, and Ramon Longoria.

Thank you to our Texas Design Week Dallas Sponsors: Dallas Design District, HN Capital Partners, Monogram Luxury Appliances, New Orleans Auction Galleries, The Container Store, Tribute Goods, and MOUS.