← Talk Shop with Ariel Okin: A Fenimore Lane Production
Talk Shop with Ariel Okin: A Fenimore Lane Production
From the Mississippi Delta to Reed Smythe: Keith Meacham’s Story of Friendship and Craft
00:47:41
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- [00:00]
A
Before we dive in, I wanted to take a moment to thank this season's presenting sponsor, Shopmy. Shopmy is a platform that connects designers, tastemakers and creators with shoppers who trust their style and recommendations. With Shopmy, you can discover and shop the pieces experts actually use and love in their own homes, all in one beautifully curated place. And now shopping is even easier with the launch of the new Shop My App. Create circles with your favorite curators like myself or today's guest. Discover new products tailored to your taste and save everything you love with wishlists and snapshot right in the app. Download the new Shop My App at the link in the show notes. And now on to this week's episode.
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B
My advice is trust your gut. Whether it's about design or about life decisions or about parenting. I mean, I think it's really something that cuts across all areas of life. It's just don't let anybody else tell you what's right for you. Even if you're working with an amazing interior designer, I think you're only as good as your client and you're only as good as the collaboration you have with your client.
- [01:09]
A
Welcome to Talkshop. I'm Ariel Oken, a New York based interior designer, writer and editor looking to bring a little bit of magic into our homes every day. After years as a writer and editor in the interiors world, I founded my own editorial site, Fenimore Lane, in 2020 and the TalkShop interview series was born. Each week I delve into the personal experiences of the top interior designers and tastemakers and around the globe. This week on Talk Shop, we're heading to the heart of the American south to welcome Keith Smythe Meacham, co founder of reed Smyth and Company, the HomeGood shop she launched in 2018 with her dear friend and fellow Mississippian, the late Julia Reed. A beloved industry legend, reed Smyth & Co. Partners with artisans and artists from across the south and beyond to craft uncommon goods for house and garden. Reflecting the elegant yet eclectic design of the founders Mississippi Delta roots, Keith co founded the brand after a long career in public education and a stint on the founding team of an education technology startup. Bringing the same thoughtfulness, rigor and curiosity to her creative work that she did to her previous careers. Keith's designs and her home have been featured in Branda, Elle Decor Flower and Southern Living, and she's been recognized as a Southern Living tastemaker and a judge for the Garden and Gun Made in the South Awards. Please join me in welcoming the fabulous Keith to the podcast. Keith, thank you so much for Coming on the show. I'm so happy to have you.
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B
On. Oh, my God, I'm so grateful. Ariel, I love your work and I'm so excited to talk.
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A
Shop. Well, to kick off the conversation, can you describe your style in three words or.
- [02:46]
B
Less? Yes. So I would say classic, casual and.
- [02:52]
A
Comfortable. I love that. And it definitely translates to your retail offerings for sure. For those listening, tell us a little bit about yourself, because I love your story. You have such an interesting path into design. Tell us a little bit about yourself and where you are at this point in your career right.
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B
Now. Of course. Well, I, you know, I loved talking with you a little bit before the podcast started about your life and little kids and work. So I'm in this sort of interesting second phase of life. So if you had asked me to tell you about myself, you know, five years ago, I think it would have been a very different answer than I have now because at, I guess, age 49, I sort of decided to leave a 25 year career in education and public education, most of that in the city, in New York City, some of that at the New York City Department of Education. And I reinvented myself in this role of shopkeeper. And I think that the, the impetus for leaving was a. I had been part of a founding team of an education technology startup, and we sold the startup. So that was sort of a moment of, let's pause, think about what the next 50 years, if I'm going to live as long as my grandmother did. And let's think about what would be an interesting path, whether it's an education or in something else. And really right around that same time, my best friend, Julia Reed, who passed away five years ago, who is very well known, I think, in the design world and in the food world and in the journalism world as this powerhouse of style and great taste and great food. And she and I grew up in Mississippi together, and then we reconnected in New York when I was in my 20s and she was in her 30s. So we were 10 years apart. And she took me under her wing as this fellow Mississippian who'd grown up in the Mississippi Delta in a small town. And she really kind of shepherded me through those first years of being in New York, which, you know, I think can be kind of overwhelming when you're.
- [05:03]
A
Young.
- [05:04]
B
Yeah. But she, at that moment, when I was leaving Homer, which was the reading app that I helped create with a bunch of education folks in New York City, she was trying to figure out how to make this dream of owning a Shop online, a reality. And so she asked me if I'd help her, because I had by that time some experience in marketing and technology. I knew enough to be dangerous, I guess I would say. But in this kind of crash course in marketing and digital advertising and all the things that I really had to teach myself how to do when I was part of this group, founding an education app, I learned enough to sort of say, sure, sure, I'll help you bring this dream to life. And the more we got into it, the more I fell in love with her idea. And we got to this point where she said, I don't want you just to help me. I want you to be my partner. I want you to be part of this. And the this that I'm talking about was what became Reed Smyth and Company. And Reed, obviously, was Julia's last name, and Smythe is my maiden name. And so because our families were really close friends, we thought that would be a really nice way of bringing the two of.
- [06:19]
A
Us. That's so.
- [06:21]
B
Beautiful. Oh, thank you. And the. The vision was, let's create a shop. At the time, it was just going to be. And was for years, just online, where people can find really unexpected things that they might be missing on their table or in their garden or in their house that aren't available on the market. And we had these wonderful makers and artisans, both in the town where we grew up and just across the south, really, at first. And we would kind of come up with these ideas and say to a metal worker, for example, we have this vision for a table, a bar table that would go on a screened porch. Can you help us? Or we would say to a glassblower up in Vermont, we would love to take these antique Victorian glass bulb vases and get you to recreate them. So it was really about creating at that point. Point. And really just getting it online and seeing what the response was. So that's kind of the origin story of Reid's.
- [07:28]
A
Life. It's such a beautiful story, and it's really so much about the power of female friendship. Honestly, hearing that story is just so heartwarming because you hit a career inflection point, and someone who had been a longtime friend of yours sort of, like, took you under her wing, and together you start this just beautiful company that uplifts people because it's really supporting.
- [07:55]
B
Creators. Yeah. I mean, and I think that was. I mean, I have to say we weren't thinking about the supporting of the creators as much as we were thinking about, like, oh, how can I get A glass that I love to go on this particular table. Yeah. But, yeah, it's been so interesting to establish relationships with these amazing makers. And now, really across the world, I mean, mainly in the United States and very focused on the south, but also we work with a potter in Italy, a couple of potters in Italy. We work with someone in Portugal. We work with a lot of folks in the uk. So it's. It's been interesting finding these makers who are already doing work we love. But it's really been fun working with makers and artists who are willing to, you know, kind of collaborate and say, you know, we come up with an idea and then they design it and say, what do you think? And so there are all these iterations on an idea that come to life. And then it seems to me that the people that are shopping with us, who are shopping with us, really are responding to what we're doing, kind of the stories that are a part of our.
- [09:00]
A
Offerings. It's really. It's an amazing thing. And I know that you guys started by curating makers in the Mississippi Delta at.
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B
First.
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A
Yep. And both of you are from there. How did growing up there shape both of your sense of styles? I know Julia is really an icon in the industry for, you know, Southern interiors and Southern design and Southern entertaining. And how did that translate sort of into shaping both of your sense of styles and your sense of style and how it crafted the ethos for Reid.
- [09:30]
B
Smythe? Yeah, I think very much. I mean, in the first place, the place itself brought us together in New York City, which, you know, I think a lot of people who come from the same place connect in a big city. But this was a particularly powerful connection because we were both from this really tiny place. So that, you know, is part of the really important connection that Mississippi had for the two of us because we had immediately kind of identified each other because she was older than I, than I am. It was definitely kind of a big sister, little sister type of thing. My husband said that I was in a state of perpetual sorority rush with Julia, and finally, I think finally I got a.
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A
Bid. That's.
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B
Amazing. Yeah. But so I think that Mississippi was a place, or at least the part of Mississippi that we grew up in which was very rural and very farm based. Like, my dad is a farmer and my brothers are farmers, and my grandfather was a farmer. So you're really kind of out in the middle of nowhere, and there's not very much to do and not very much to see. And so you make your own fun and I think even over the generations, that meant women in particular, but men also had reasons to entertain at home because there wasn't really anywhere else to go. And so I think this tradition of hospitality and welcoming and entertaining at home has a lot to do with the sensibility that both Julia and I brought to our own houses and to Reed Smythe and Company. So I always going back to what I think is timeless style, I think classic, but also comfortable and welcoming and warm, is really part of what we were trying to do in creating all of these beautiful pieces. But it was also just kind of the way we lived and the way the people we grew up with lived. It was always about, you know, let's have the dogs on the couch and the tattered, you know, oriental rug over the sisal rug and the screen porch, and nothing had to be perfect. And, you know, I think for many years, the south trailed behind the rest of the United States in terms of wealth. And so you didn't have these professional decorators in the South. And so there was always kind of a put together by the woman of the house look about these houses. I keep saying women because I think, you know, there's a strong line of Southern women running through our story, but men, too. Yeah. So I think that is. Yeah, really what I would say is through the thread of Mississippi running through our. Our store, our shop, our.
- [12:10]
A
Offerings. It's so interesting, and it's so interesting. When we had Caroline Gary on, she was talking about how similarly, like, there was this history in her family of her grandmother and her mother, and the. There weren't decorators in their town. And so they knew how to be seamstresses. They knew how to make a home really beautiful. And that it's part of, like, Southern culture. And it's so interesting to hear how even in different states, it kind of translates, which is really.
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B
Fascinating. Yeah. I love her new book. It's so.
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A
Pretty. It's so good. She's so fantastic. I love.
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B
Her. Yeah. Yeah, she's.
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A
Great. So tell us the story a little bit about how you guys decided to start. I know Julia kind of had the idea percolating, and together you sort of merged your past career expertise. Were some of the early days, like, what was it like launching a home goods brand in 2018 and what was. What were those early days.
- [13:07]
B
Like? Well, first of all, they were so fun because we both were doing, you know, we were doing something that felt really crazy because neither of us had run a business before. I'd been in the nonprofit world. Julia was A journalist and a writer. And so we really had absolutely no idea what we were doing. And so.
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A
That. I love that.
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B
Though. Yeah. Well, I just ended up making it fun. And we were making it up as we went along. I mean, we did. I did, from my past career, have a really good stable of folks that I knew to work with. You know, I had some branding people and I knew folks that were website designers. So we had really good people to lean on. But it was hard, but it was fun. And we really kind of faked it a little bit in the beginning. And one of the big challenges, I think, in the beginning was that we just didn't have enough stuff. Right. And we were very committed to this idea that we're not going to go to market, we're not going to go, you know, buy up a bunch of stuff that you can get at other.
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A
Places. And that's what makes it so.
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B
Special. Yeah, I mean, we. It's been. That's been a really learning experience for me because you kind of have to have a mix of the handmade and the bespoke and the very unique to you stuff. But you also just have to find people who are doing things you love and get behind them, too, because otherwise you would be crushed by trying to, you know, make everything. And someone says, oh, it's going to be ready in a month. And then eight months later, it's, you know, coming to you on a palette from.
- [14:34]
A
Italy. Yeah. That doesn't work with retail.
- [14:36]
B
Timelines. No. And we. We really started out without any kind of home in terms of Mississippi or New York or. At that point, I had moved to Nashville and Julia was in New Orleans. So E Commerce really worked well for us in the beginning. But the other thing that really shaped those early experiences came a year into the endeavor, and that was when Julia got sick. And so that shaped our work together in a couple of ways. It was. One, it was incredibly, incredibly challenging for her because she was undergoing treatment here in Nashville. But also, I think it was this embracing of life and embracing of all the things that she loved and embracing a friendship and just saying in the face of something really scary, let's still do this. Let's create.
- [15:28]
A
This.
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B
Yeah. She died in the middle of COVID And it was, you know, it was kind of. I didn't really know if I would want to continue doing this without her because it was so much something we had done together. And then the outpouring of love for her and support of what we were up to was just kind of overwhelming when she died, and it coincided with a moment in history. I think history will look back at Covid and, you know, think this was very, very strange time for.
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Everyone.
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B
Yeah. But people were really hunkering down at home, and they were thinking. They were looking behind their screens and thinking, oh, I need a new bookshelf or I need, you know, a new tablecloth, or thinking about, you know, nesting. And so I think that that also in Covid, when. When Julie was alive and also after she passed away, I think people were really responding to the, you know, the home goods space. And so that those two things really kept me going and kept me interested in growing the business and really kind of trying to take what we had dreamed about even further. And so that's kind of where we were at that.
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A
Moment. That's so beautiful. And it's also such a testament to the friendship that you had that you want to continue it partially to, you know, honor her memory and, you know, continue the vision that you guys shaped together for the brand, which is so.
- [17:08]
B
Beautiful. Yeah. It's funny because Julia was very opinionated, and so I definitely have had to go forward and do things that I'm pretty sure she would not have liked and make decisions that I think are going from my gut. And that's been hard. It's been hard not to, you know, to try to trust my own instincts when the two of us created this business. But I think I've gotten a lot better at it. And I think that she would probably be pretty proud of my finding my own footing and my own voice in what we started out to.
- [17:45]
A
Do. I love when we have people who've career pivoted on, because there's no wrong time for a career pivot. And it can. You can bring so much of your former career to whatever you do next. And then also that opens up so many new pathways and doors and opportunities for growth, both, you know, professionally and personally. And it's just so interesting to hear how it impacts people's lives and trajectories in that.
- [18:12]
B
Way. Well, it's been so great for me. I have two daughters and a son. And for my daughters who are now one's in college and one's about to finish high school. But at the time that we were founding Reed Smythe and I was moving on from education, I think it was really eye opening for my daughters to see that you really don't have to stay in the same career for your entire life and that you can take risks, and even when you're older, you can take Risks. And yeah, I'm always saying to some of the young women who work with me on the, you know, both on the E. Commerce side and also on the brick and mortar side, you know, just feel confident that you do not have to do this for the rest of your life and that if you have some other dream or there's something that you found that you loved doing outside of your career, you know, pursue that. Because I always loved playing around with houses in my own house and entertaining and, you know, they say, do what you loved to do as a child. And my entire childhood was wallpapering my dollhouse or me too, building Barbie dream houses that were not plastic, but, you know, kind of use stuff around the. Yeah, I do think that mid career changes, midlife career changes are pretty.
- [19:25]
A
Inspirational. What draws you to certain artisans or artists for collaboration because you have so many unique sort of bespoke offerings and things that you really can't find elsewhere. What are you looking for when you're creating those things to sell at the.
- [19:39]
B
Shop? Well, you know, I mentioned that I hear Julia's voice a lot and that I'm trying to follow my own instincts. And I think that my gut is really what I follow when I'm looking for things. And I do a lot of travel for Reed Smythe and Company, so I've traveled around the south particularly, but I also have started traveling in the UK and Europe looking for unique makers. And that's been really fun. And I guess it's a little bit of. I know it when I see it. If I see something that I think is beautiful and I think our customers would love, I try to go for it. But I also think that one of the things I've enjoyed the most is getting an idea in my own head. And here's an example. So I wanted to do an oyster knife because we have a lot of people from New Orleans and South Carolina and people that are, you know, kind of used to having oyster roasts or shucking oysters at Easter. And yeah, I wanted to. This oyster knife with a handle that looked like an oyster. And so I knew immediately who to go to. We have this. This wonderful sculptor in New Orleans. It's also a friend. And she's a. She does big civic sculptures. So, I mean, she does a massive stuff that sits in public parks. But she's so. So incredibly talented that she also can do anything. She can sculpt anything. And she's been the force behind our dog head bottle openers and our ginkgo dishes and all these. Yeah, so she was able to. To sculpt this beautiful oyster shell. And then we have a foundry that we work with a bronze worker down in Houston. Like third generation family of bronze.
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A
Workers. So.
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B
Cool. Yeah. And they were able to attach a blade and sculpt it. And what you have now is this beautiful oyster knife that so many people love to give as a gift for their husbands or their dads or boyfriends because it's very masculine, but it's also. It really.
- [21:40]
A
Works. Yeah. And it's just. It's touched so many different hands and makers before it even gets to you guys. Which is really. That to me is the coolest thing about shops like yours. You're really helping to buoy so many of these lost arts that in a mass produced world, it's a special thing. There's not a lot of that and I think it's really.
- [22:03]
B
Cool. Yeah. Another part of the work is, you know, looking back at the antique pieces that I have or that we have and thinking about, you know, what's, what's only available in antique shops at great cost that, you know, were. Were very available in the early 19th century. And a couple of examples of that are mocha ware. So I have a collection of antique mocha ware. It was an art that was invented in Wales kind of by accident by some potters. And it was really in the 19th century a tavern built Keepers pottery. And so you would see it in tankards and big mixing bowls and you know, if you went to the local tavern, you might drink beer out of a mocha ware tankard. And so it is a lost art. And this guy in Massachusetts kind of revived it and he passed along the tradition to one of his colleagues. And this guy is in Saylesville, Arkansas. And after a lot of research, I connected with him and his wonderful wife. And he has been making milk aware stuff for us for about five years. And that is such an important relationship to me and that he and his wife run their studio and they've been really wonderfully willing to collaborate and you know, come up with different shapes and different ideas with me. And so that's just an example of how we're kind of bringing back art that has not been in the marketplace and has only really been found in antique.
- [23:35]
A
Shops. Yeah. That is so cool and so special. Is that one of your favorite things about working within design? Like what is your favorite thing about working within design? I guess I should say, is it the curation? Is it, you know, working with the artisans? Like what, what's your favorite aspect of it.
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B
All. Well, you're so generous to say that I work in design because I know how. How hard. Well, I mean, I'm certainly not trained in any way in.
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A
Design. Well, I'm not.
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B
Either. Well, but you've. You' the work. Right. I've never gone into someone's house and said, what do you want this to look like? And then brought that to life. So I definitely have to hand it to the decorators of the world and the architects for, you know, both having the experience and the training and the design world. But I do think that I have a pretty good eye, and I think I have a really strong sense of what I.
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A
Like.
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B
Yeah. And what I want in my own house. And I've been fortunate in the decoration of my own house and, you know, other. Other people's houses to have watched great designers at work. And so that's been a really special part of building this business is these decorators that I know and love. And I worked with a design firm that was in New York and is now in New Orleans called Brockschmid and Coleman, and they helped me with my household. Yeah, they're so great. And they helped me with my house in Nashville. And it was just this immediate friendship. And I guess what I love working and, you know, what I love doing in design, if I could call it that, is really thinking about what is it that I love, what is it that I think looks great in the house and trying to offer that to other people and give them the confidence to say, I'm gonna go and buy this thing for my table, or I'm going to go buy this piece of antique furniture for my sitting room, and I'm going to have the confidence to buy it because I love it and because it tells a story that I want to tell. So I guess, yeah. One of my favorite parts of doing this is having this brick and mortar shop and having these wonderful people who come in and want our help in realizing something for their own houses and not having any real decorator helping.
- [25:44]
A
Them. You know, it's so much about relationships, too, like, and point of view. I think one of the things that. When we had Kate Reinstein Brodsky on from krb, which is another.
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B
Shop. Oh, she's a good friend of mine, and I just love everything she.
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A
Does. She's so awesome. And we were talking about, you know, having different creators making things, and it is. Even though you're not designing homes, it's like you're part of the ecosystem. Right. Like, you're working with the end customer. You're working with designers that are buying from you. It's all about, like, these amazing relationships that you guys build, and the way that you curate is so unique to your individual points of view, and it's just so special. Like, we don't have a ton of shops like that left in America, and it's a really important part of the fabric of the design.
- [26:31]
B
Community. Yeah. And the people that are doing this kind of work there, I think there are a lot of great small shops that are both brick and mortar and online that are doing really interesting things with artisans, and Kate is certainly one of them. And, you know, John Darien is, my gosh, the, you know, the gold standard for small business and keeping it beautiful and unique. But there's so many folks right now doing this kind of work with artisans and artists that I can't claim it's a unique idea, but it is really special, I think, when people are willing to stick to their guns about it and not feel like they have to go mass and have to grow and become something that they didn't start out as. And, yeah, I admire everybody who works in this space where they're keeping it small, keeping it local. It's not easy. No, it's very. As a business, it's really.
- [27:27]
A
Challenging. It's really hard. And also, it's so unique to all of your different point of views, so that even if you guys are operating under similar general idea, you know, concept of, like, okay, it's a small business, but, like, every single one is so different because it's under each of your personal tastes and your point of view, and you're creating a world within your shops, which is so cool, and that is so.
- [27:51]
B
Fun. It's like having another house to decorate when you have a brick and.
- [27:54]
A
Mortar shop, of course, it's so much fun, and it's like a world that you're creating that people can walk into. What does your home say about you? What do you think your home says about you or the.
- [28:05]
B
Shop? Well, I love my house, I have to say. And I think, you know, after. After living. I mean, I know that you can live in an apartment in New York, and it's home, and it's, you know, you can have a wonderful, wonderful space, but it has been such a gift and such a joy. And we were talking about this earlier to have an outdoor space. An outdoor living.
- [28:25]
A
Space.
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B
Yeah. So I. I love my house in Nashville, and I think I love it more because I didn't, you know, for the first, I guess, 15 years of my marriage, we lived, you know, we're always in an apartment without any more.
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A
Space.
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B
Yeah. And in an apartment that wasn't maybe big enough to entertain, you know, many, many people. So I've really loved that about my house, is that it's a place where I can welcome my friends for, you know, supper in the kitchen, or I can have a big party and tent the terrace. I love that about my house, that it's very welcoming. And I do think that we've created, my husband and I and our kids, I guess, too, but that we've created in our. Our house in Nashville, this space that feels both well curated and carefully designed, but also really comfortable and not pretentious, I think, where people feel like they can come in and they can put a glass on the table next to the couch, or they can put their feet on the coffee table, or, you know, if they spill a glass of white wine, I mean, red wine is not going to be the end of the world. And I want people to feel like that when they come in my house or when they come in the shop. I want them to feel welcome and comfortable and where they're not in some sort of museum.
- [29:38]
A
Setting. Yeah. I mean, that goes back to what you were saying about sort of Southern design in general. Like, the ethos behind the way you and Julia grew up and how you guys approached home from a very early age translates into all aspects of the home. And also how you guys think about the shop and how you. How you curate the.
- [29:58]
B
Shop. Yeah. And the shop has become this really fun nexus of, you know, creating and having authors come and talk about their books. So on. On Friday, and this is sort of random because it doesn't have anything to do with design, but my really good friends Christina and Willie Geist from New York are going to be here because they have a daughter. Yeah, they have a daughter at Vanderbilt. And Christina has just written this wonderful book that everybody needs to go get. It's called before you fly away. And it's, you know, lessons and advice to a daughter who's going away for the first time from home. And.
- [30:33]
A
It'S. Oh, my God, that makes me want to cry. That's so.
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B
Sweet. Yeah, it's a great gift to other moms, I think, just as much as it is to your, you know, your daughters and sons about kind of what are the values you carry. But anyway, on. On Friday, we're having an event with them where my husband, who is a writer and historian, has no business being in a home goods shop. Is going to talk to the two of them about kind of life and career and being a parent and you know, we've got a lot of folks coming for that and it's really going to be kind of a holiday cocktail party with a book signing and a little chat. That's so fun. Yeah, so that's been a really fun part of having a physical store is being able to invite people in and yeah, I mean we have the next, you know, a couple of weeks. We have a good friend of mine who makes these gorgeous sequined holiday ornaments and we've got, you know, 25 make sequined ornaments and have cocktails. So that's.
- [31:27]
A
Fun. Yeah, it's special. I think one of the coolest parts of being being able to have brick and mortar is being able to create that community around your.
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B
Brand. Yeah, it's so fun and it's, it's something that I think people have really responded to and it's another way that I know people that are doing cool things that, you know, are not sold in my shop but people are interested in flower arranging or. A couple of years ago we had a, a stitching class where this.
- [31:55]
A
Wonderful. Yeah, it's.
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B
Fun. Yeah, it is fun. I enjoy.
- [31:59]
A
It. I also think post covet people want to do so much more, you know, in person things. I mean that was why we started the summit. People really are itching to get hands on workshops and you know, convene together as a community. And it's really nice to be able to do that under the umbrella of your brand and to kind of also uplift, you know, some of these makers or artisans or floral arranger, you know, classes like that. It kind of brings people together in a really different and unique.
- [32:27]
B
Way. Well, and I'm learning and that's the other thing I love about. You know, you talked about career pivoting. It's just if you're not learning, it's not worth it, you know, if you're not doing something you're scared of. Yeah.
- [32:39]
A
Exactly. Let's talk a little bit about your. Some of your favorite places to shop for home besides the shop.
- [32:45]
B
Obviously. Well, I am very, very committed to and drawn to small shops and that, you know, I can say that that was the case well before I got involved with Julia and Reed Smythe. So krb, I mean Kate has been a great friend for a long time and I knew her mom and she and her husband, Kate's dad and my husband and I and Julia and her at the time husband had a great group of well, we were a group of friends and our husbands called us the Edgewise Club because Suzanne and Julia and I would just talk so much that the guys couldn't get a word in edgewise. So anyway, I've loved.
- [33:23]
A
You.
- [33:23]
B
Hysterical. I mean, one of my favorite shops in the whole world was Kate's mom Suzanne's store in LA called.
- [33:29]
A
Hollyhock. Yeah.
- [33:30]
B
Hollyhock. Yeah. I still have furniture in my house that I bought at Hollyhock and got, you know, transported across the country just because she had the best.
- [33:38]
A
Eye.
- [33:38]
B
Yeah. So I love, I love Kate's shop. I think I already mentioned John Derry and I just think everything he does is so chic and wonderful. I love Nikki Kehoe. I think they, everything they do. I don't know them personally, but I think everything they do is so.
- [33:53]
A
Cool. Yeah, me.
- [33:54]
B
Too. I love a lot of the little small shops in, in the uk. I love Pentreath and Hall. Those are some of my favorite shops. I, you know, I still, still love the, you know, bigger stores. I have to say. I love, you know, anthropology and Creighton Barrel and yeah, I think it's always great to have those resources too when you're trying to find a great desk for your kids room or so it's not just all, all small spaces. And then I, I love auctions. I have been obsessed with live auctioneers for several.
- [34:28]
A
Years. Same my Achilles.
- [34:30]
B
Y'.
- [34:30]
A
All. It's so.
- [34:30]
B
Bad. I get myself in so much trouble and you know, when that 26 fee comes in, I'm like, oh, I didn't get, I didn't get as great.
- [34:37]
A
Of a deal about it every.
- [34:39]
B
Time. Exactly. So. And I love shopping antique antiques fairs and antique shops. I love to go to Paris to the flea market Ilesula. So get down in the south of France which has such a beautiful antiques fair that's kind of always.
- [34:55]
A
Up.
- [34:55]
B
Yeah. But yeah, that's, that's kind of my go to spots for.
- [34:59]
A
Home. Well, this season is sponsored by Shop My. And I was looking through your curation on your shop, which is so, so cool. And I love that you broke it down by gifting categories which is so perfect and timely for everybody listening because we're right in the thick of holiday purchasing. Is there anything on there that's currently on your wish.
- [35:18]
B
List? Well, I think one of the things I put on the list I'm sure I'm not going to get from anyone for Christmas, but I want it and maybe I'll save a, a bag, this gorgeous leather bag from the row which I think is such a beautiful, beautiful brand. And although very expensive and I'm not always in a position to treat myself to what they're offering. I just think everything they do is so well crafted and beautifully thought out. And so that was one of my big things on my wish list. But you know, in terms of gifting, I mean, I have so many different kinds of friends and I'm sure you do too. And it's, it's so fun to think about, you know, who are they? What would they love? And pick something out that is, you know, really speaks to who they are. So I have, you know, a friend who loves to cook and I love to think about Le Creuset for her. I actually last year I was invited to one of those Dirty Santa parties with a bunch of friends and I brought as my, my gift a Le Creuset, A little tiny kind of stew pot.
- [36:20]
A
Yes. They're so cute. I've seen.
- [36:22]
B
Them. Yeah. And then my recipe for a boeuf bourguignon, which I love and everybody loves. And it was sort of the most popular gift at the Dirty Santa.
- [36:32]
A
Party. Yes, that's such a good.
- [36:34]
B
One. But on my own store, I of course love everything we offer, but I love particularly some of the things that we have brought in for the holidays. We have a lot of makers in Germany because Germany is such the capital country of Christmas and we sell these, these beautiful German carousels that I think are so unique and they remind me of my childhood. I love bringing in colored glassware to the table for Christmas day. And we have these beautiful rose colored goblets or green colored goblets that look great on a.
- [37:06]
A
Table. So.
- [37:07]
B
Pretty. You know, one other small brand that's kind of becoming a bigger brand that we actually carry is from the UK called Summerle and.
- [37:15]
A
Bishop. Oh, yeah. They have such great.
- [37:18]
B
Stuff. They do. They have beautiful stuff. And they have a very similar origin story to ours, which is that these two great friends wanted to create a shop that was all about entertaining and, you know, welcoming people. And one woman passed away, and then the friend passed away and her son has kept the business going and.
- [37:38]
A
Growing. Oh, that's so.
- [37:40]
B
Special. It really is. It's a great brand and we are so honored to partner with them. So those are some of the things on my wish list from my.
- [37:48]
A
Shop. Yes. Okay, well, now we're going to get into our take 10, which are our rapid fire questions. They don't really have anything to do with interiors, but we love to ask them. And, and I love hearing People's answers. So what is your favorite.
- [38:02]
B
Food?
- [38:03]
A
Cheeseburger. Ah, delicious. Favorite.
- [38:06]
B
Drink? I hate to say it. White wine. It's very tr. I mean it's very, very, very awful for a middle aged woman to admit.
- [38:15]
A
That. No, but it's classic. It's a classic for a reason. Who doesn't love a glass of crisp Sancerre? I.
- [38:20]
B
Mean. Yes, exactly.
- [38:22]
A
Exactly. Favorite.
- [38:23]
B
Film? It's called I Am Love with Tilda Swinton and it's one of the most beautiful films.
- [38:29]
A
Ever. Yeah. Favorite.
- [38:31]
B
Hotel? The Crosby street in New York. Now that I don't live in New York, I stay there as much as I possibly can. And now my son lives in the city so I get to come and visit.
- [38:40]
A
Him. Oh, that must be so fun too for you to.
- [38:43]
B
Come. Come back. Yeah.
- [38:44]
A
Yeah. Favorite.
- [38:45]
B
City? Paris. If I could live there, I.
- [38:48]
A
Would.
- [38:48]
B
I. And that is definitely a plan for later in.
- [38:52]
A
Life. I was going to say, you never know. Like you've had one life pivot, you may have a third life.
- [38:57]
B
Pivot. Oh, I have a whole empty nester phase ahead of me, so I have lots of plans for that. Favorite bedding, Schweitzer linen. You probably know them. Everything about their bedding is so beautiful, so.
- [39:10]
A
Good. And they have the best like optionality, like they just carry.
- [39:14]
B
Everything. Yeah, it's.
- [39:16]
A
Wonderful. Tea or coffee and how do you take.
- [39:18]
B
It? Black coffee.
- [39:20]
A
Always. Favorite playlist or music to listen.
- [39:23]
B
To. Americana. So, you know, living in Nashville, I think I'm so lucky in that sense. But I won't go on and on. But it. My playlist would also have a lot of Van Morrison, definitely some James Taylor classical. But yeah, Americana would be, I guess, the, the top of the.
- [39:41]
A
Playlist. I love that. It's like good vibes only. I like that. Favorite weekend.
- [39:46]
B
Activity? Reading. I'm so lucky I get to do it now because I. But my kids are.
- [39:51]
A
Older. I know my husband and I are because we're like so in the thick of.
- [39:54]
B
It. We're like, you're not reading a whole lot right.
- [39:56]
A
Now. No, we have no time to. We can't even. We don't have time to watch TV.
- [40:00]
B
Shows. I know you'll get back to it and you'll miss the little kid.
- [40:03]
A
Years. I know. My mom tells me that all the time. Okay, this last one is I think the hardest question of the T10. Favorite design.
- [40:11]
B
Book. Very, very hard ones because there's so many. I get. I always, you know, when I say I love reading, I mostly love novels, but I also have a Big stack of design books by my bed that are, you know, the new ones that I'm just looking through. And they're all. I think, right now, I would say Mika Tenhave's book about her styling is my favorite. An inspiration. And she was my student when she was in the eighth grade, and I.
- [40:37]
A
Was. No.
- [40:37]
B
Way.
- [40:38]
A
Yes. Oh, my God. Did you teach a.
- [40:39]
B
Nightingale? I taught at.
- [40:40]
A
Nightingale. Oh, my God. That's so amazing. Mika's the best. I love her so.
- [40:45]
B
Much. Well, she was the best as an eighth grader. I mean, I can tell you. She was so full of style and spunk, and I loved her family. And she came and did a reading. I'm not a reading. A signing. At the store last Christmas. And it was just so. I had literally not seen her since she was in the eighth.
- [41:02]
A
Grade. Oh, my God. That is so funny and so special. I can picture, like, the coolest eighth grader known to man. She's, like, the coolest person I know. That's so funny. Well, now let's get into a final few words. What are you working on right now? Are there any new projects you can talk.
- [41:20]
B
About? Yeah, mainly right now, I'm working on wrapping gifts and sticking things.
- [41:26]
A
Out. It's crazy elf season for you guys, I.
- [41:29]
B
Bet. Yeah. I have such a great team, so I'm. I'm fortunate that I get to focus on some of the future stuff. But I'm working right now with a potter that I think is so talented in Grotelia, Italy, and Puglia, and I met him through my cousin who lives in.
- [41:44]
A
Lecce. Oh, that's so.
- [41:46]
B
Cool. Yeah, he works in this tiny little backstreet studio, and he mostly does this sort of Moorish inspired lighting and lighting fixtures that, you know, you would only see in these kind of beautiful stucco houses with alcoves in that part of Italy. But he also does these incredibly beautiful earthenware vessels, and they're all kind of reminiscent of Greek shapes. And so I'm working with him to get, you know, some of the glazes that he does and the shapes that he does in the combinations that I love. So that's been really fun, and he's been so generous, and I, you know, fortunately got to go over there and see him in his studio and get to know him, and that has been a really fun.
- [42:36]
A
Partnership. Oh, my God. That's so.
- [42:39]
B
Cool. And there are lots of partnerships like that that I'm always finding new people, and it's. It's really amazing, the generosity of these really talented People and you know how they're willing to work with you on something that's not their particular.
- [42:52]
A
Dream.
- [42:53]
B
Yeah. You know, I'm always working with our glassblower in Vermont, a guy named Robert de Grenier. And he's always so willing to step aside from his massive glassworks and his, you know, fine art in glasswork and do these kind of crazy ideas that I have and see how they.
- [43:13]
A
Work. And also, what a great opportunity to travel. Like, you know, it's for work, but, like, you know, you're getting to go to some of these incredibly amazing places and just seeing and taking in and learning so much. It's really so.
- [43:25]
B
Cool. Yeah, it really is so fun and finding the places that are off the beaten path. We found this wonderful young potter in Portugal who's making some stuff for us, and he literally kind of taught himself to be a potter and really hasn't sold his stuff anywhere else. We work with this wonderful woman who. I keep saying pottery, because pottery is such. Has so many different forms. And we work with this wonderful woman in Vermont who makes these great butter keepers that we have that are French butter.
- [43:54]
A
Keepers. Oh, that's so.
- [43:55]
B
Cool. Yeah. And she's a homesteader, and she and her husband live off the grid. They homeschool their kids. He is a woodworker, and we carry his bowls, and she is a potter. And it's just. It's kind of like stepping into someone else's life a little bit to hear how they work. But they're amazing. So. Yeah. Yeah, it's. Those are some of the projects that I'm always working on and working on.
- [44:16]
A
Now. That is so cool. I can't wait to see the lights. That's amazing. Well, this is the last question that we ask everyone who comes on. Can you give us any advice for someone looking to define their own interior.
- [44:28]
B
Style? Yeah, I think always my advice is trust your gut, Whether it's about design or about life decisions or about parenting. I mean, I think it's really something that cuts across all areas of life. It's just don't let anybody else tell you what's right for you, even if you're working with an amazing interior designer. I think, you know, Courtney and Bill of Brock, Schmidt and Coleman always tell me, you know, and you know this, as a designer, you're only as good as your client, and you're only as good as the collaboration you have with your client. And I think that, you know, you guys in. In the field of interior design really want to help someone. Tell their story and capture their style. And without their trusting their voice and their gut, I think that, you know, it's harder to do the work. So I would say just trust it, and it can always change. You know, I think some, like, my dream in the future is to live in a, you know, a white box modern house instead of this kind of chaotic Georgian revival.
- [45:34]
A
House. That's amazing. And also I love that advice because it applies so much to your story, too, like your career pivot and. And how you maintain your point of view, which makes the shop so unique and stand out. So I really love that. And trusting your gut is so important in all facets of life. So I. I love that advice. Well, Keith, this is such a delight. Thank you so much for coming on. Where can listeners find out more about you and your.
- [45:58]
B
Brand? Yeah, we are@readsmythe.com and it's spelled Reed R E E D Smythe. S M Y t h e readsmythe.com and our handle on Instagram is eadsmythco. And I would say that even if you're not interested in shopping, we have a lot of other things that we offer. We have recipes and travel guides and house tours and stuff on our.
- [46:23]
A
Blog. Yeah, your website's amazing.
- [46:25]
B
Amazing. Oh, thank you. Well, that's still a little creaky, but, no, we're doing it on a completely shoestring staff, so I'm sure you know what that's.
- [46:35]
A
Like. Yes. We're a team of three, including myself, at Phantom.
- [46:39]
B
Orleans. Exactly. That is exactly where we are. And right now we have a lot of, you know, college and. And high school girls being our elves, but for the most part, it's three of us. Three of us doing it. So you know what that's.
- [46:50]
A
Like. Well, it doesn't look like it at all, let me tell you. And it's so beautiful. And I hope to one day come see the shop in person. It's so.
- [46:58]
B
Stunning. Yes. You got.
- [47:00]
A
To. Oh, well, this was such a delight. Thank you so, so much for coming on the show and have a very, very merry Christmas.
- [47:08]
B
Also. Well, thank you for having me, but I really, I really, really appreciate it and your support of our shop and. And letting me tell my story. Thank.
- [47:18]
A
You. Thanks again to my guest today for joining me and to shop my. For sponsoring this season of Talkshop. Head to the Show Notes to create your free shopper account and explore the curated storefronts from this season's designers. We'll be back next week with more thoughtful discussions and amazing guests. Follow us on Apple podcasts, Spotify and YouTube so you never miss an episode. And of course, follow me. Arielleokun See you next.