We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Robin Reigi. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Robin below.

Alright, Robin thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today.  Does your business serve an underserved community? If so, tell us about it – ideally through a story that highlights how the community is underserved, why it matters and how your brand serves this underserved community.

I am passionate about mentoring the next generation of architecture and design talent. In addition to building my eponymous company with my business partner, Jennifer Daly. I’ve spent the last seven years volunteering with the International Interior Design Association’s New York Chapter (IIDA NY). Much of my focus has been on creating industry access for students and emerging design professionals who are just starting their careers. I’m committed to providing education and resources to support the next generation of talent.

At IIDA NY, I’ve worked closely with my longtime collaborator, Elisabeth Mejia, IIDA NY President for the 2025-2026 term, to develop programs like Design Camp, the award-winning Hazel Siegel Scholarship, and SUP (Student Uplift Program). Each program is designed to provide a head start, offering early exposure, mentorship, and professional connections. Our annual Career Night brings it all together with an array of educational and door-opening activities such as portfolio reviews, industry networking, scholarships, and headshot photo shoots.

These efforts are just one way I try to give back to the design industry that’s given me so much and to make it less of an insider’s club for the next generation.

Robin, for folks who may not have read about you before, can you please tell our readers about yourself, how you got into your industry/business / discipline/craft, etc, what type of products/services/creative works you provide, what problems you solve for your clients and/or what you think sets you apart from others? What are you most proud of and what are the main things you want potential clients/followers/fans to know about you/your brand/your work/ etc.

I’m a native New Yorker with a BFA in Sculpture from the School of Visual Arts. I began as a commercial sculptor and model maker, and in 1998, I launched Robin Reigi Inc. (without any formal business experience) to assist architects and designers in sourcing sustainable, hard-to-find materials.

Robin Reigi, Inc. specializes in innovative finishes that solve real-world design problems like acoustics and durability without compromising creative intent. We’ve worked across industries, collaborated with many major brands, and hold a design patent for the Plyboo Louver Collection, a bamboo-based acoustic product we developed with Smith & Fong.

This fall, I’ll teach a course at the Fashion Institute of Technology called Innovative Materials for a Sustainable Environment. I also host segments on CBS’s America ByDesign: Architecture, where I’ve presented projects designed by many of my long-time architecture clients.

What’s kept us going all these years has been more about how we collaborate than simply what we sell.  We’ve stayed intentionally small, relationship-driven, and built a reputation as a trusted industry leader. That reputation didn’t come fast or easy. It came from decades of showing up, doing the work, and owning up to those inevitable challenges, even when it was uncomfortable.

Our team includes family, a diverse group of wonderful interns, and friends who have grown with us. That kind of history can’t be manufactured, and it’s the heartbeat of everything we do.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Running a small business in New York is a master class in resilience. But 2009, post-crash, was something else entirely. I’d walk into once-bustling architecture firms and find just one or two people holding it all together. Projects had vanished. Teams were gone. It was really scary.

Jennifer and I used to say we were ‘too small to fail.’ We didn’t have a safety net, but we had grit and one another. So we cut corners, lived lean, and kept on going through those tough times.

One day, I was commiserating with a longtime client and mentor, sharing how overwhelmed I was feeling. He told me, ‘You don’t need certainty. You need clarity. Fear will paralyze your thinking. Let go of the fear, even just a little, and you’ll start to focus.’

I took that advice to heart. Resilience isn’t about pretending everything’s fine. It’s about staying in motion and not letting fear overwhelm you. That mindset has carried our partnership through a lot: recessions, kids, marriages, divorce, inflation, and the pandemic. Here we are, still standing, closing in on 30 years.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

When I started in the ’90s, I thought I had an obvious picture of what success looked like. I wore Prada suits every day, had hundreds of employees, jetted around to my global showrooms… and I was somehow a few inches taller in my mind. I thought I’d have it all.

Entrepreneurs don’t usually set limits for themselves, but eventually, you bump up against industry realities and your limitations.. I knew I had to figure out what I truly wanted to accomplish. After a few years of growth and multiple investor conversations, Jennifer and I realized that we valued creative control, flexibility, and the long-term relationships we had built and cherished. We didn’t need to scale to feel successful. We just needed to stay connected to what mattered and protect what was essential to our personal happiness.

That clarity also helped me carve out a space in an industry that wasn’t exactly designed for people like me. I’m not an architect or an interior designer. I come from what’s known as the “dark side”.  We’re the sellers, the industry and business folks, not the “creatives”. In this field, people like us aren’t usually asked to teach or host an architecture program. Those doors weren’t exactly flung open for me either. Over the years, I’ve been turned away many times, and I’ve ruffled more than a few feathers. But through perseverance and a lot of patience, I’ve been given opportunities I didn’t expect. And in many cases, those moments of access opened the door for others as well. What started as a way to carve out space for myself has become a way to make room for others, and that’s the work I’m proudest of.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.robinreigi.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robinreigimaterials/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinreigi/