A Story About Friendship, Kindness and Synchronicity

This is a story that will take a little time to tell.

I invite you to first pour yourself a cup of coffee, brew your favorite tea, or make some hot chocolate [the kind with the tiny marshmallows on top is the best, right?

Next, squiggle down and get comfy in your favorite chair, turn on a good reading light and sit back and enjoy this remarkable story of online kindness and friendship - and the amazing synchronicity that occurred when I attended Fall #HPMKT.

Ready?

22 years years ago, when I first joined WITHIT [ Women In The Home Industries Today ], I started hearing about Catherine and Richard Frinier. Why? They were the ones donating the money to fund the student scholarships that WITHIT was giving out to deserving students of interior and product design.

Shortly after this, Catherine, Richard and I became friends on Facebook, as I was very involved with WITHIT as their 2007 and 2008 volunteer National Leadership Conference chairperson - but we had never met face to face.

In 2010, Catherine received WITHIT’s Presidents Award for her outstanding service to the organization. You can read more about the WITHIT scholarships Richard and Catherine made available, here.

[ You may also know of the more recent honors the Frinier’s received as the honorees of the City of Hope’s annual June 2024 Golf Classic, held this past summer, where they helped raise almost 1 million dollars for the City of Hope’s cancer research activities. ]

Richard, Catherine’s husband, is a prolific and highly successful product designer. He was Chief Creative Officer for Brown Jordan for 21 years, before he and Catherine started their own design consultancy in 2002, where they continue to serve and collaborate with an international clientele through licensed and co-branded collections, including indoor/outdoor furniture, accessories, lighting, and hundreds of textile designs for Dedon, Century Furniture and others.

In 2016, Richard, the home furnishings industry’s most successful designer of outdoor furniture, was inducted into the American Home Furnishings Hall of Fame.

Here’s a video produced for that momentous occasion.

Fast forward now to 2020 and the beginning of the pandemic. As we all know, many industry events were cancelled that year, included the ARTS Awards, which are widely considered the Oscars Of The Decorative Accessories and Furniture Industry.

These awards are given out via a huge black tie gala production spearheaded by Sharon Davis and her Accessories Resource Team members during Dallas Market Center’s January tradeshow , but in 2020 the Hearts Awards were implemented instead, to take the place of the in person gala celebration.

The HEARTS Awards, hosted by Carson Kressley and Thom Filicia, were held in partnership with thirteen leading industry organizations and honored thirteen individuals or companies that showed outstanding leadership, empathy and service during the COVID-19 pandemic [ including my good friend, Caroline Hipple ], by going above and beyond in service to their industry and/or community.

A fundraising effort - an auction - supporting hunger relief by leveraging the creative skills of 100 celebrities and influencers also accompanied the awards.

Now, I regress a second…

During all the time between 2008 or so, when Catherine and I became Facebook friends, and 2020, we had exchanged many private texts and had many online back and forth conversations, but we still had never met in person.

Okay..back to the story.

So, Catherine and Richard were one of the couples invited to create an item for the Hearts Award auction.

What follows is what they created for the auction…. this beautiful Rosenthal porcelain plate that demonstrated the Japanese art of kintsugi, an art form I’ve always been in love with since I first discovered it back when I was an interior designer for Roche Bobois.

Immediately upon seeing what they had created for the auction, I shared with Catherine - on her Facebook post about it - how much I loved it and that I was going to start bidding on it.

But, the price on the plate kept going up and up, and at the end, I decided I couldn’t afford it at that time so I stopped bidding on it. I was heartbroken, because I really wanted it, but I didn’t need it, and in that first year of Covid, I needed to be careful with my $$.

However, the universe had other plans….

One day, arriving home, there was a box waiting for me on my doorstep. A BIG box. I had no idea what was in it or who had sent it.

Remember, this was year 1 of Covid, when I hadn’t seen anyone at all except for my immediate family all year + one friend. It was a lonely period of time.

So, you can only imagine my utter astonishment when I opened the box…and saw this plate inside it.

The Friniers knew how much I wanted it [because of all of my postings on their Facebook posts about it! ] and they bought it back at auction and sent it to me as a gift!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I seriously could not believe it!

But, there it was, wrapped in its beautiful Japanese cloth, with the loveliest message attached to it, as well.

I found a beautiful glass case for it and now it sits on top of my credenza in my living room, as you can see below.

I really had no words for their kindness in sending this to me as a surprise gift, especially since we had still never met….and I still don’t…but this story isn’t finished.

Fast Forward To Fall #HPMKT 2024.

I arrived about 10 minutes late to a presentation being given by Paula Oblen, Jessica Duce, Jane Dagmi, with Jaye Ann Mize moderating.

The presentation was being held in the American Home Furnishings Hall Of Fame building, as you can see below.

I took the first available seat [closer to the front because of my hearing ] since I was late.

About 5 minutes after I sat down, the woman to my right handed me a square business card. On it were the words, FRINIER.

I get chills even as I type this…

Unbeknownst to me, I had sat myself right down next to Richard and Catherine Frinier!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I looked over at Catherine - seeing her in the flesh for the first time was such a thrill - and I whispered,

“What are the chances?”

After the presentation was over, Richard and Catherine and I got a quick picture together [which you can see in the opening image ] and then they had to leave, but I will tell you that I will never ever forget that moment.

Richard and Catherine live in Santa Barbara, and the chances of me getting to meet them in person -ever - were so slim. Being able to do so, so unexpectedly and in such an unexpected way, was a sign to me from the universe does, indeed, work in very mysterious ways and that energy transfer is a real thing.

When Catherine and I stood next to each other, she rubbed my back. That’s who she is. One of the very finest woman in our industry - a genuinely caring person, a major philanthropist, and an extremely talented businesswoman.

She herself, deserves to be in the American Home Furnishings Hall Of Fame so her own business legacy can reside in perpetuity next to that of her husband and business partner, Richard Frinier.

They are the home furnishings industry’s First Couple and I am so honored to have finally met them both in person.

Catherine and Richard: when you see this: thank you so very much for all you have given to our industry, and to me, personally.

I will always, always be so grateful.

And for all of you ever on the fence about attending High Point Market [ or any tradeshow ] - it is serendipitous happenings like this one that make it so worth it.

And if you don’t know of the stunning body of work of Richard and Catherine Frinier, have a look here:

https://www.richardfrinier.com

Long live kind gestures to strangers.

Leslie