Meet The Designers & See Their AR Entries!
Earlier this month, Thompson, the manufacturers of my AILA sink, came up with the very fun idea to hold an augmented reality challenge, utilizing the AR technology embedded into the AILA product page on their site.
This technology allows for anyone to view a virtual version of the AILA sink - in any setting, just by pressing the button on their product page that says View In My Space on a mobile phone.
The challenge was for 2 weeks and was open to anyone in the USA or Canada 18 years of age or older. The grand prize, won by Emily Cathcart, was $1000.00 in cash, to be used in any way she desires.
At the last minute, Clifford Thompson, the President of Thompson, decided to award an additional $1000.00 that got split between the two runners up, Linda Allen and Judith Taylor.
All 3 designers will also be featured in their newsletter in the coming weeks, as will some of the other participants, too.
There were over 50 entries, many from people I don’t know, but this post is focused on the entries from the 14 designers who entered the challenge and who are also members of my private #designwealthcommunity on Facebook.
I thought it would be fun to share with you how creative they got with their entries!
ARE YOU READY?
These entries are being shared in the order these designers appear in my opening graphic, above, L to R, top to bottom.
I’m starting with Minneapolis based designer, Lisa Peck, principal of Lilu Interiors and founder and designer of textile and rug line, Sylvie & Mira, who was an early entrant with these two beautiful designs, both showing AILA in bathrooms of her actual clients.
Next is the entry from Monson, Massachusetts based designer, Wendy Woloshchuk, principal of Detail Full Service Interiors, who took this image on her back deck.
Crystal Hackl, principal of Inspired Haven Design, serving San Francisco and the East Bay, entered this image of the AILA sink nestled among the branches of a snow laden tree.
Interior designer, Kimberly Kerl, based in Greer, South Carolina, and principal of Kustom Home Design, entered several images into the challenge. These were two of my personal favorites.
The grand prize winner of the AILA challenge was Bend, Oregon based kitchen and bath designer, Emily Cathcart, principal of Emily Cathcart Designs. Emily entered 6 different images, but this is the one, created with AI, that captured the imagination of the Thompson family, who made the final selection of the winner.
They loved the way Emily embraced technology, by using an AI generated image she created [ since AILA is the first kitchen and bath product ever manufactured in real life from an AI generated image ] and then how she placed the virtual AILA sink in this setting, using AR.
Emily: thank you for all of your online support not only for the challenge itself, but for the entries of your fellow designers, too.
Congratulations!
There were two runner ups in the AILA AR challenge. They were each awarded $500.00 cash to use any way they would like.
Below is the runner up winning entry of interior and outdoor lighting designer, Las Vegas, Nevada based, Linda Allen, principal of Linda Allen Designs. Linda was a past client of mine and she produces a line of wireless indoor/outdoor lighting that was seen at Modernism Week, and is a darling of designers who have clients who can afford the best. See it here.
Linda’s entry came from a presentation she made to one of her clients. Linda’s a genuine fan of the real AILA sink and I can’t wait to see it appear in one of her client’s homes one day.
The other runner up was Toronto based designer, Judith Taylor, principal of Judith Taylor Designs. Judith’s entry was a video and if you click on this link,, you’ll be able to play the gorgeous video of Judith’s entry.
Judith’s grandmother was born in Japan, and I personally loved how she incorporated her family’s history into her entry. Judith has traveled extensively in Japan, and her entry was taken from images she took while on one of her trips there. If you love Japanese arts and culture, make sure to read her Postcards From Japan blog, here.
Boston, Massachusetts based interior designer, Linda Merrill, had a unique take on her entry. Linda has designed and is making every element of a dollhouse and she placed the virtual AILA sink in her dollhouse’s bathroom and kitchen areas.
Linda also wrote a fabulous blog post about AI and the real AILA sink, for which I was very grateful, and you can read that here.
Jake, an interior designer based in Southern California, and principal of Ilustration by Jake, Corp., shared this entry. Jake is an extremely humble designer, but take a minute to read the ABOUT page on her website to learn of her deep experience in the world of interiors, worldwide.
Boston, Massachusetts based interior designer and blogger extraordinaire, Janet Lorusso, principal of JRL Interiors, submitted several entries. These two were my favorites.
Janet also wrote a brilliant and colorful wrap up blog post about all she saw at #KBIS2024, where she included the real AILA sink, which I greatly appreciated, as did the Thompson family.
If you’d like, you can read that here.
Orange County, California based designer, Linda Tom, principal of Linato Design, submitted this entry. Linda is always a kind presence in my online life and I’m grateful she took the time to enter. Linda has been very involved in various aspects of ASID’s Orange County chapter over her career.
Interior designer, Charmain Bibby, principal of Bibby Fine Interiors, submitted several entries, as well. Charmain lives in Nelson, British Columbia. Ask her about her sailing adventures! She and her husband sailed around the world for 8 years before having twins.
These two were my favorite entries but all of them were excellent. The Thompson family especially loved the one on the lower right, too.
Charmain: thank you for all of your beautiful entries!
Los Angeles, California based interior designer, Avril Martin, principal of The Silver Lining Interior Design firm, has a profoundly spiritual way of approaching her design work for her clients, and her entry into the AILA challenge is indicative of that.
I had the pleasure of meeting Avril in person at the National Kitchen and Bath Industry show in Thompson’s exhibitor space.
Marina Umali, the current President of the New Jersey chapter of ASID, and principal of Marina V Design Studio , entered the AILA challenge in the final week, with these creative and fun images of the 6 year old Husky she and her family adopted from a neighbor who was moving out of town.
The husky’s new name? Dancing In Stardust Chelsi. I just love that name.
Marina: I hope Chelsi and your cat are starting to get used to each other now! Thanks for entering!
To announce the winners, Alex Thompson, the VP of Sales and Marketing for Thompson, and her Mom, Alejandra Ochoa de Thompson, the founder and Creative Director of Thompson, held an IG Live with me last Monday night.
To our mutual surprise, it’s now been viewed over 2000 times, and if you’d like, you can watch it on this link or by scanning the QR code below.
[ TOP TIP: Did you know you can create a QR code for any reel and then reshare that QR code, anywhere, as I’m doing here? ]
For any of you reading this that entered the challenge and that would like to purchase or specify the real AILA sink, Thompson is making available a 10% discount through the end of 2024. Please make a note.
Below is the real AILA sink, and a picture of the beautiful, loving and generous Thompson family, along with Andrew Holben, National Director of Sales for Thompson - whom I will be speaking with next month in May at the Midwest Design and Furniture Fair, in Kansas City, which the Thompsons are sponsoring alongside other well known brands - as well as William [ Bill ] Cook [ far right in the below image ], in charge of their PR and also a professor at Temple University.
It was Alex, Bill and Andrew who dreamed up this fun AR challenge as a way to make more people aware of the AILA sink, and I couldn’t be more grateful for their efforts at getting the word out there.
The Thompsons are known for their Unreasonable Hospitality [ the name of a great new book I’m reading right now, recommended by Business of Home’s new Book Club ] by everyone in the industry.
Proof of that can be seen in the #TTweekendretreat they co-hosted with me [ and underwrote ] for 12 of my Texas based designer friends in the Texas Hill Country a year ago next month. I wrote a recap of that memorable 2.5 days here.
Lastly, I want to thank YOU, all of you, for playing along and helping us spread the word about my AILA sink for Thompson. All of your entries [ and all entries ] can be seen in this IG Highlight on the Thompson’s IG feed.
It was so appreciated and I hope this post - which focuses on the members of my #designwealthcommunity who entered - helps to express my/our deep appreciation and gratitude.
I couldn’t enter, of course, but I did have some fun playing with the View In My Space button, too, on AILA’s product page, here, over Easter weekend.
Besides the obvious marketing aspect to the #AILAchallenge, we hope all of you who entered had fun learning how to use augmented reality, if you didn’t know how to before. It’s available for so many products on so many major lifestyle brand’s websites already and consumers are coming to expect it.
[ NOTE: AR functionality is also embedded in the Metaverse Lighting Trendhouse, too. You can see all 21 highlighted lighting fixtures in your own environments by clicking on the lightbulb icon next to each highlighted fixture and using your mobile phone to scan the QR code that pops up ].
For any of you interested in the AILA sink and how it came to be, I’ve written several blog posts about it since last June, when I was first approached by the Thompson family to see if I was interested in this Crazy Idea Andrew had to design a sink in Midjourney that their artisans would then produce.
Here are those posts:
How It Started: The Backstory
https://www.savourpartnership.com/blog/2023/6/29/leslie-carothers-partners-with-thompson-for-ai-designed-sink
AILA’s debut at KBIS 2024
https://www.savourpartnership.com/blog/aila-worlds-first-ai-designed-sink-kbis2024-recap
Serendipity In Nature And Design
https://www.savourpartnership.com/blog/nature-and-design-a-story-of-serendipity
Lastly, if you’re a homeowner [ and not a designer ] reading this post, and you’re interested in purchasing an AILA sink for your own home, please contact Andrew Holben at afh@thompsontraders.com to find the Thompson dealer partner nearest to where you live.
Thank you again. You are appreciated.
Leslie Carothers, Principal
Savour Partnership - digital marketing innovation for all stakeholders in the home related industries
IG | LI