How Brand Partnerships Influence Design, Shape Trust, and Drive Cultural Trends

Curator of Interior's, furnishings, and lifestyles.

“Hosted by Tiffany Woolie, an interior designer, and a style enthusiast, along with her serial entrepreneur husband Scott.”

Eye Design Lab is your ultimate design podcast, where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design, and its constant evolution in style and trends. Welcome back to the Eye Design Lab podcast. Today is a tidbit day, but a little bit longer formed tidbit day.

We've got an eye here in the studio to discuss a topic that we are kind of honing in on to in 2026 as a huge component to business.

I believe today you do not need to necessarily pick a lane and stay in your lane. Collaboration, meaning our lane is design and construction, and now podcasting, and the beauty of opening yourself up to new lanes means you can collaborate with other brands and that essentially builds your brand. So as we often like to discuss that, you know, we are our own brand and social media is a huge component to that, as we're exploring new ways to evolve that for our own businesses in house. We just thought it would be an interesting conversation to broaden everybody's horizons on not necessarily needing to stay in a lane.

A trend that's happening with collaborations between multiple different types of brands. Correct. And together to build a stronger marketplace for a stronger marketplace.

“I think it sets trends. I think it sets color palettes. I think it is a huge insight into where business flows.”

So let's give a couple of examples of what we mean by collaborations that we're seeing like it at market and in multiple, in almost every industry. So, and the interior design industry, visual comforts. A big one. A big lighting company has done collaborations with a lot of people and one in particular. Kelly Worstler. Right. And we got to see firsthand that, you know, a Kelly Worstler visit to the visual comfort show room was created a huge line of people.

“And we're defining up to meet her and see her and see her collaborations and her designs that she's partnered with visual comforts which creates a lot of new business for visual comfort just like forehands with an interior decorator and below us.”

Right. Then you have, which that was their first collab. So forehands wasn't necessarily a company that, you know, used collaboration.

So when you see a big company like that diving into this opportunity, you kind of know that there's continuing trends. It's not just the pottery barns of the world. But you're even seeing with plumbing companies like all of the above literally, I mean, from wallpaper companies to the rug companies and it, and it, it's not going to stop. So brands are on sitting on their own with their own designs just kind of coming out saying, well, this is a forehands couch and this is forehands chairs or this is visual comforts lighting furniture and it lighting, you know, fixtures.

Now they're kind of touting it with a personality or another brand, which is what it's creating more trust to its barring trust for each other. Why do you think it's borrowing trusters actually going to just see that I think that, you know, you trust a brand for their quality for their, you know, customer service. And then you also seek a designer or a brand maker or a strategic partner. You seek those people out so that you kind of get to offer their expertise and their aesthetic or their vibe to, I hate to say the masses, but well, which is basically what it's doing is it's tapping into a new audience.

So each brand, Kelly, where is this brand? And the visual comforts brand are tapping into each other's audiences to kind of cross and each other and both build each other. Totally in the beauty that I've been witnessing is it's not a delusion of the brand either. It's really a way for these brands to tap into new markets. It could be offering it to a different, you know, sex. It could be offering it to a different age group. There's just so many avenues that this collaboration is really revolutionizing.

I mean, even plumbing has this has this going on. It really could be in any any industry. And it's something that people should everyone should be looking at.

We're running if you're running a company, you know, who can you collaborate with to grow your audience and grow the social media stories. I really enjoyed tagging along to our guests is what we do through this voyeuristic life that we are not living. But so Aaron Lauder who is a trusted source in beauty as her family was, you know, as they Lauder. She's also created a very huge lifestyle brand taste maker brand and you know, it started through beauty in that palette and then it was carried through to, you know, you're setting a path vanity, you know, where a woman does make up.

“She became aesthetic, you know, so the surrounding where you sit and do your makeup every day. So became the tray that you set your a stilater perfume on like she actually was able to tap into so many little details evolving her brand.”

That went to the picture frame on the vanity the tray that like I said, you're setting it down to I read recently saw she was behind the scenes at Colour.

Obviously in our industry and for me, Colour is like kind of exciting because of its history and it's staying power and through the years having opportunities to work on homes that were renovating and have these sneak peaks into history of a design detail.

“She was actually taking us along as she was now going to collaborate with Colour. So you have like this huge beauty entrepreneur from this, you know, amazing family dynasty and legacy crossovering crossing over trees to to plumbing.”

You know, and it just feel like we get so, you know, in this world of easy consumption and NAI and, you know, these sometimes, you know, architecturally void houses that I really am totally in appreciation and support of really going back to archives and continuing to educate consumers on these design details. Not only just for your home but for your life and I do think that this collaboration is key continuing moving forward. I don't think it's necessarily a new thing. It's obviously marketing, but where we are our own brand now, you know, even we've had conversations creating our kids, you know, just starting things from the ground up.

“I believe that these collaborations are a lot of these collaborations, but they also generate in these days, you know, now is content.”

Scrollability, scrollability, and in terms of being able to create a lot of interesting content on the collaborations that are then used for TikTok and Instagram. So it's one of the reasons why collaborations are growing also because it does give all of that additional content that can be used for the short form little scrollable videos and content. And one thing living in South Florida as we do, it is an area where, you know, there is a lot of traffic and people do come and go, it's a, you know, a town that area that people like to visit, there's constant pop ups.

So all another aspect that's almost like collaboration, but it's unique kind of collaboration. Yes. Collaboration where a brand doesn't go into its normal storefront with a five year, two year, six year lease, but it's popping up somewhere for a month or two weeks, which again becomes scrollability.

I keep on using that word because it's more visual content for Instagram and TikTok and the way in which a lot of these brands are popping up for a short period of time.

And as I was doing some research and homework on, you know, is people that we would do want to have on the podcast. There is a company that we purchase from called society social, which is a furniture company smaller venue, a smaller business, whims a call, as I was researching the couple, it's owned by a couple.

Okay, we're only going to be here for a month in this really cool place, come take some visual pictures, bring your family, bring your kids.

“Well, and as they're creating these pop ups, they are becoming destinations and creating urgency. So it drives a consumer thinking, oh my god, I don't want to miss out on this. Let's go see this.”

So that kind of is lending to where industries get blurred a little bit, whereas I started, you don't need to stay in your lane, which is exciting, because that does keep things fresh.

It keeps things evolving, there is growth to be to have, you know, in this, I feel like sometimes we get a little stunted at least, I feel like when I hear, like, you know, talking to our kids, like, oh, so what are you going to, you know, like, where do you want to, what do you want to study going, you know, and family. Business and all those good things, and, you know, you talk about AI and is AI going to be printing home, like, are we going to have, like, homes printed from these mask scale, what does that we saw this on the Sunday morning show, those 3D printing, you know, concrete, we don't want to allow that new function to.

All our life. I want to create a platform where we support and continue to thrive with brands that really, you know, focus on standing out, doing their thing, being creative, being innovative, but staying creative and not falling into a easy cookie cutter life.

“I think that these collaborations as they continue to evolve and continue to cross over, it just creates more lanes.”

And when one, you know, even if it time span runs out, it's not a bad thing. I actually like that there is that consistency of, you know, keeping it interesting and exciting that this is only available for a short time.

So it keeps it fresh, it keeps innovation going, and I have a lot of appreciation for it. And I look forward to doing it ourselves as the future.

“But it's an aspect to anyone who's running a business doesn't matter what the business is or they have a business. Is there a collaboration that you can do that will help grow your business?”

Is there someone who are in another entity that you can somewhat team up with? Maybe it's just a short term, you know, team up like a pop-up that creates an excitement in awareness for your business. Either short term all our long term, you know, or is there someone that you could partner with and bring in that's going to help elevate because of name recognition and so forth? And we do look forward to having feedback from, you know, our listeners and we do often, you know, open up people to, you know, chime in through social media themselves through our website and other avenues because we would love to collaborate.

We would love to get feedback on other people's thoughts on collaboration and, you know, where are they? So anyone has any interesting collaborations or ideas they'd like to run by or pass by us, hit us up at [email protected]. Sounds good to me. Yeah, so we'll kind of wrap up all the little crowd collaboration today. Exactly. Oh, thoughts and pertaining to the subject. Thanks for tuning in to the iDesign Lab podcast. iDesign Lab's podcast is an SW group production in association with the five star and TW interiors to learn more about iDesign Lab or TW interiors. Please visit TW interiors.com.