| BIDS YOUTH INITIATIVE 2008 One of our primary goals is to expose African-American youth to the fields of architecture and interior design. Here are shocking statistics which you may be unaware: ** Of the 120,000 licensed architects in the U.S. barely 2,000 are African-American and currently practicing. ** Of the 40,000 members of the American Society of Interior Designers, less than 1,700 are African-American. With your help, BIDShowcase is determined to make a difference! SUBSCRIBERS CAN JOIN BIDS FOR FREE USING THE FORM TO THE RIGHT SUPPORT US SO WE CAN SUPPORT OUR YOUTH! Thank you! |
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HOME l EDITORIAL l ABOUT US l SUBMISSIONS l POLICIES l PRESS l PARTNERS l CONTACT US l CONTRIBUTORS l Black Interior Designer Showcase C/O Lifestyle Design Interiors 4330 W. Desert Inn Rd. Ste J Las Vegas, NV 89102 P: 702-408-5099 F: 702-257-0901 Black Interior Designer Showcase online magazine. Your source for: LIFESTYLE interior decorating, residential design, commercial design, design trends, interiors, decorating advice, home decor, decorating articles, home, furniture, home furnishings, designing rooms, floor plans, room plans, affordable interior decorating ideas, redecorating, home improvement, contractors, office design, real estate staging, home office, kitchen design, kitchen products, bathroom design, bath products, remodeling, accessories, art, artwork, wall decor, antiques, flooring, window treatments, lighting, and outdoor living. |
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| WE ARE PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE 2007-2009 BIDS ADVISORY COUNCIL Designers who exemplify determination and progress in the fields of commercial and residential design. They are respected educators, community activists, business owners and team leaders. We are honored to have their guidance as we embark on developing our publication, increasing our networking and organizing the formation of a nationwide BIDS Youth Initiative Program. Jack Travis, FAIA, NOMA Principal, Jack Travis Architects; Bronx, New York Marsha Kelly, Asst. Editor, Essence Magazine, New York Meshella Woods Johnson, IIDA, Assoc. AIA, NOMA; Principal, Contract Interior Concepts; DC/Maryland Denise Rush, ASID, Interior Design Instructor, Harrington College; Chicago, IL Gwen Williams, Allied Member ASID Director of Communications, Project Osmosis; Owner, Eclectic; Chicago,IL Thomasine Johnson, Allied Member ASID; Chair, ASID Community Involvement Committee; Owner, Thomasine Johnson Designs; Houston, TX Lisa Turner, Bravo's "Top Design" participant; Founder, Society of African American Interior Designers; Principal, Interior Obsessions; Beverly Hills, CA Deana Murphy, Allied Member ASID; Author and Lifestyle Writer; Owner, LivingDesigns Associates; Philadelphia, PA Shirley Holden, Green Interior Design Expert Global Society of Multicultural International Design, (GSID) SallisDesigns, Albuquerque, NM |
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As founder, president and creative director of Courtney Sloane, LLC and Alternative Design, Inc., Sloane is an
innovator who devises synergistic situations for those who seek a multi-disciplinary design studio that
specializes in environments, visuals and ideas. Providing a broad range of services – interior design, graphic
design and concept and industrial design – Courtney Sloane thrives by constantly adapting to meet the demands
of every shift in taste and technology that arises. At the same time, she and her colleagues take seriously their
roles as mentors to young students of color interested in the possibilities available to them as interns in the field
of design.
“I’m a bit restless,” Sloane told Interiors magazine in the 2001 cover story. “I love the idea of moving out of a
vacuum – a narrow design base – and into a whole new dialogue that’s not only aesthetic but addresses
functionality, mission, utility.” As she achieves her goals and continues to sets new standards of achievement,
she never forgets those who rely on her good counsel. “It’s my obligation. The landscape of the industry has
changed, even in the last five years, and I want to keep that momentum going for the next generation of women."
Educated at Rutgers University, the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), and Pratt Institute, she came to realize
that travel and observations were really the best teachers. “I learned how things got made,” she told Interiors &
Sources magazine in a cover story. “I went into cabinet shops and fabrication shops and to construction sites
just watching and asking questions…The best part was that I began to understand the work done by people I
would someday be hiring.”
In 1996, Courtney Sloane began a three-year stint as contributing editor at Essence magazine, dispensing advice
and informational services in her monthly column, “By Design.” Another publication benefited from her
expertise, when the renovation of Vibe’s Lexington Avenue offices won New York magazine’s Best Lobby in
New York City award for 1996. That same year, Courtney Sloane won her first major award from Philadelphia’s
prestigious Moore College of Art & Design, honored alongside noted women designers Clodagh, Eva Jiricna,
Debra Lehman-Smith, and Lauren Rottet. It was a significant commendation for the young African-American
Jersey girl, in the company of senior members of her profession with decades of background experience
between them.
The publication of two new books will soon be announced by Sloane. How You Livin’ is described as “a look at
hip-hop lifestyle and culture from an interior standpoint,” as reported by a designer who has worked with rap’s
premier A-list of artists and producers. Designers of Color is “more of an educational book,” she explains, “to be
more inspiring and encouraging to kids of color, to embrace the business of design as a career option. The two
new titles join previous design books that have featured Courtney Sloane in a variety of settings, among them
Style and Grace: African-Americans At Home (2003), Spirit Of African Design (1996), Harlem Style: Designing For
the New Urban Aesthetic (2002), Essence’s Making It Happen (2004), Bathrooms By Vinny Lee (2000), and
Kitchens by Vinny Lee (2003). Her work was also featured in Women Designers in the USA 1900-2000: Diversity
and Difference, produced by the Bard Graduate Center for Studies in the Decorative Arts.
As the work continues, Courtney Sloane has begun to “give back” to the community, via philanthropic activities
and various non-profit ventures. After being chosen by DIFFA/Steuben as one of eight designers to create
vignettes representing Steuben glass for display in May 2000 at the opening of the flagship store in Manhattan,
she later participated in numerous DIFFA events to benefit AIDS. She was chosen to design the Arthur Ashe
Institute for Urban Health annual commemorative award that honors contributors to sports, health and humanity.
The following year, she received the Emerging Designer Award from the New York Design Center. She serves
as benefit chair of the African-American Design Archive of the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum,
Smithsonian Institution, in New York. She also designed the annual 2005 fundraising event of Dress for
Success, the New York-based organization that provides clothing, job training and job placement for women.
In Brooklyn, where Sloane once resided, she was commissioned by the Bridge Street Development Corporation
(BSDC), a church-based community group that has created show houses as a symbol of affordable housing, “to
keep the people who live in the neighborhood in the neighborhood.” In 2003 and 2004, Courtney Sloane served
as chairperson of the show-house in the Bedford-Stuyvesant community. After the showhouse was open to the
public for one month, a lottery took place and a neighborhood person won the privilege of moving in. In 2004,
Courtney Sloane was given the Design of Excellence Award from Bridge Street Development, on whose
Executive Board she now sits.
Courtney Sloane has built one of the most critically acclaimed studios in the world. The Washington Times
declared Courtney Sloane to be, “way ahead of the pack…truly a designer for the millennium.” Sloane’s unique
and visionary approach has transformed her into an international brand launching a series of products and
trademarks in the decorative home accessories and furniture categories. Additionally Sloane has created two
new services, the Total Design Prescription and Group Therapy, both of which are elaborated upon in her new
website www.courtneysloane.net.
Sloane has won unanimous praise from an illustrious roster of clients who range from well-known personalities
(Queen Latifah, Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs, Jay-Z, among many others) to some of the world’s biggest corporations
(Sony Music, Disney, BET, Viacom’s Spike TV offices and Essence Communications), and other key and historic
projects such as Essence Homecoming 35th Birthday Showhouse, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s “Roots,
Rhyme & Rage” exhibit, UPN’s “America’s Next Top Model” to name a few. In addition, Sloane has been
commissioned to design residential projects by a diverse clientele, both nationally and abroad.
In September 2005, she joined the cast of the internationally known designers featured on Material World (via
the BBC) that takes viewers on an irreverent, voyeuristic romp through the spectacular world of high-end
interior design in the homes of the super-rich, from the Hamptons to the Hollywood Hills. The series revolves
around glamour and glitz, huge budgets, demanding clients, and the teams of high-end designers who serve
them, also, including Jason Bell, Martyn Lawrence Bullard, Susan Cohen, Elaine Culotti, Vincent Jacquard, Jack
Levy, Benjamin Noriega-Ortiz, and Bobby Trendy. Material World is currently being aired in 48 countries on the
Travel & Living network and aired in the United States in 2006. In 2007, Sloane was featured on Slice Network’s
popular program “Women on Top”, a weekly series celebrating dynamic and successful women in the
entertainment industry.
On the academic side, Courtney Sloane has presided on the Pratt Institute’s Interior Design Advisory Board
since 1999. She has also spoken at Pratt Institute, Parsons School of Design, Kansas City State University,
University of Virginia, North Carolina State and she continues to receive numerous requests as a keynote/guest
speaker at universities, colleges and educational institutions across the country.
Courtney Sloane, award-winning and internationally-known interior designer, whose extraordinary sense of style
and aesthetics have cast her influence into the worlds of entertainment, media and popular culture, transforming
her into a-- cultural trendsetter, a 21st century business woman and a role model.
Photos Courtesy of: AD/Courtney Sloane
| BIDShowcase Now Offers: Lifestyle Design Services It's in demand. It's changing lives. One room at a time. |
| BIDS Designers will professionally design your space and provide color boards, furniture layouts and finish selections. Visit our FOR CLIENTS page to learn more. Email us for more info: designers@blackinteriordesigners.com |
| Our Latest News: BIDS Designers interviewed for upcoming Essence Magazine article. Check back for the issue! ---and--- BIDS is a new member of the Planning Committee for the 2008 NOMA Conference Oct 2-4, 2008 Wash., DC |
"The Alternative Designer," Courtney Sloane :
An American Success Story
An American Success Story
| NEW BIDS MEMBER BENEFIT! BIDS CASTING SERVICE for Professional Designers BIDS is frequently approached to assist production companies in their search for interior designers and decorators for many types of television shows. We want to make these opportunities available to BIDS Members more efficiently. There is NO FEE to be registered in our database. There is NO FEE collected from you by the production companies seeking talent. We will only book and/or forward our member's information for projects we are approached to assist in casting. BIDS is NOT a talent agency and do not promote talent. We will recommend designers based on the casting requirements of each specific project. BIDS designers hired for a project will become the employee of the production company. Email us at: casting@blackinteriordesigners.com We are currently seeking BIDS Designers in these cities: -Concord/Manchester, NH -Cincinnati, OH -Fargo, ND -Louisville, KY -Oakland/Bay Area, CA -Sioux Falls, SD -Los Angeles, CA - Kansas City, MO -Indianapolis, IN -Chicago, IL -Minneapolis, St/Paul, MN -Seattle, WA -Portland, OR - Sacramento, CA -Boston, MA -Portland, ME |