We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alexandra Powell a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alexandra, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
The biggest risk I ever took was moving to Hong Kong at the age of 23. My grandfather and father encouraged me to go work in Asia for a tenure of 6 months to in order to learn product development for a family run Asia Import business. The goal was for me to learn our product development at factory level in order to understand our family business, Heritage Mint Limited, which distributed non food products to 30,000 grocery retail chains across North America. Six months turned into twelve of the best years of my life where I was immersed in the Asian culture and met incredible, intelligent, driven like minded people from around the world.
Working in product design and visiting 2-3 manufacturing facilities a week over the course of 8 years gave me an incredible in depth understanding of global trade and product design. I became addicted to travel, culture, colors, textures, architecture and continue to source inspiration through travels.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
I found a strong niche with Target brands in the US and other emerging retailers that loved having a trained western eye to work on product development and designing products directly at the factory production level. Through my interpretation of their trend packages and my designs, our business grew at a Target from one line of dinnerware to dominating the entire aisle with our patterns. It was thrilling to see my designs in the aisles and in the end users home. I remember spotting my Cherry Dinnerware pattern for Target in the movie Bridesmaids and doing internal backflips.
My love for home started at a young age. My Mother operated Jennifer Lenz Wright Interiors from our home. From a young age I enjoyed using her Wallpaper Sample books for scrap booking materials. She would list me color in her office and I remember watching her drafting homes to scale on her drafting table from a very young age. She always put thoughtful attention and detail to everything she did for my brother and I. Dinner was always a family affair and she continually went the extra mile to place beautiful flowers from her garden on the table. Her thoughtfulness amplified her approximation for the world around her. The take away, taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary. She and my father have a deep appreciation for people, places, and nature. And this ability to truly appreciate, not just experience the world around us fed my product development passions. In design every details matters. On a dinnerware pattern the placement of every stroke of paint matters. The size, the scale, the proportion.
Growing up with an Interior Design driven mother, there was always a keen awareness to our surroundings, founded in genuine interest and appreciation. It was an innate quality instilled in me from a young age that made me enthusiastic about the world around me, and how to share that joy with other people, through designing a product or a space.
I did grow leery of the environmental impact and remember wanting to call Oprah and send her videos of everything I was seeing at the manufacturing level. While I did not reach out to Oprah, I did design to transition from mass manufacturing of products into a more thoughtful approach. Hong Kong was a bustling metropolis, a true concrete jungle. I had designed my own roof garden as a place to retreat and seek solace at the end of my busy days running over the border to China. When you stepped out of my flat you were immediately immersed in a sea of people. I loved the solitude that my roof garden provided, in addition to serving a place for my friends to gather.
In 2008 I made a life shift to continue perusing product design to roof top design. I was working with an outdoor furniture factory at the time, pitching outdoor lines to Kroger, Winn Dixie, and Marsh Supermarkets. The factory owner asked me if I would help him standform his 20,000 square foot showroom from what looked like a Whatehouse full of dusty furniture into a showcase. I was posting photos of transforming the furniture Wharehouse with live chickens running around inside, into a beachside, cafe, and lake side oasis. In doing so friends in Hong Kong asked me to help utilize the furniture to design their own rooftops. Soon I was coordinating more than outdoor furniture but also working with contractors and landscapers to make roof top garden retreats. I felt revitalized and encouraged that in my own way I was giving people solace, and at the same time giving the city lungs by bringing in more foliage. Many days air from the manufacturing going on in China would blow into Hong along creating a thick visible fog. I told myself that if every window box in Hong Kong had 7 plants and every roof top had a garden, we could clean Hong Kong’s pollution index astronomically. While this didn’t happen, I did get to do the roof top garden for the Australian International School, which was done to educate children on gardening food and oxygen giving plants. Many restaurant and hospitality groups started doing vertical gardens.
While working on roof tops, clients would then ask me about their home. When friends loved spending time on my roof top they wanted me to help them feel like them at home. My career transition was seamless and my passion truly found my bext career transition for me naturally. I truly believe if we love what we do, we are passionate and excited about it, then others want to feel the same way. They say that if you love what you do, then you never truly work a day in your life. And I feel like that (most days) 22 years later.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
A huge pivot for me was moving back to the United States. I went from one of the most wealthy economies in the world to an emerging economy in Tennessee. In Asia I had clients paying 40,000 USD a month in rent to clients that would likely make that amount in a quarter or maybe even a year. My knowledge of both designing products for the masses, and creating luxury real estate for the ultra wealthy, led me to see a major need in my new market. I set out to bring luxury goods at a fair and reasonable price to clients in Jackson, Tennessee. In 2020 at the height of COVID I opened Alexandra Lauren Home Collection. I was amazed to see everyone was shopping at Pottery Barn. I had been using their factories to draw and create unique one of a kind pieces from these very factories for my clients in Hong Kong for years. I felt compelled to open a store offering designer furnishings at an attainable price to open the door for more creative bespoke homes for the lovely people of Jackson, Tennessee and beyond. No longer is there a need to venture to Memphis and Nashville, as we have become the Design Center for Window Treatments, Wallpaper, Home Decor, Lighting and Furnishing for West Tennessee.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
Every client I have worked with has come from word of mouth. I take an in depth, bespoke approach to every project that I take on. Clients become my friends, and naturally through the outcome of our work we are. privileged with referrals. If I take on a project I am passionate about it resonates with the client and the progression is natural. I am still thrilled 22 years later to draw something from imagination and get to walk through the physical space later. I truly believe that designers are the doctors of well being, and that artists have had an incredible impact on our lives through history. Whether is is a texture that engages the senses, a color that enhances your mood, or a carafe placed at your bedside table to nourish you in the night…. All of these elements combine to create a comfortable, nourishing, rejuvenating home environment for individuals and families.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.AlexandraLauren.com
- Instagram: @alexandralaurenhome
- Facebook: @alexandralaureninteriors/facebook
Image Credits
Photo by Jennifer Wright
Interiors by Alexandra Lauren Interior Design