Designer’s Secret Source

We’ve been shopping the discreet white-glove furnishings consignment service Viyet since it launched in 2013.

Now, Houston designers, collectors and showrooms can sell on the lavish site, a coveted resource for designers and design lovers to buy and sell pre-owned blue-chip furniture, decorative objects, lighting, rugs, wallpaper and panels, screens, mantels and mirrors, sculpture, ceramics, paintings, photography, and works on paper — new, vintage, and antique. On a recent browse of the Viyet site, we found pristine Tommi Parzinger, Knoll, Jean de Merry, B&B Italia, Christian Liaigre, Mies van der Rohe, Eero Saarinen, John Rosselli, Maison de Bagues, and Holly Hunt, all at a fraction of retail.

Viyet has appointed Mia Smith as local curator in Houston to work alongside clients to seamlessly sell single pieces and collections of inventory. The process could not be simpler: Smith visits the seller, vets the inventory, then photographs and lists the pieces.

Viyet is coming to Houston in another big way, as an underwriter of Texas Design Week Houston. Viyet and CEO Elizabeth Brown will hold a keynote with designer Michael S. Smith, discussing his new book The Curated House (Rizzoli), presented by Roca Tile at Internum on Wednesday, May 17 at 4:30 pm. Michael S. Smith is a member of Architectural Digest’s AD 100, and was named Designer of the Year by Elle Decor. Smith is the author of four previous tomes: Elements of Style, Houses, Kitchens and Baths, and Building Beauty, all published by Rizzoli. The Obamas hired Smith to decorate their private quarters of the White House, which was featured in Architectural Digest. In 2010, President Obama appointed Smith to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House.

To reserve seats and purchase tickets for the Viyet and Michael S. Smith keynote, go to texasdesignweek.com.