I chuckled when I was asked to author this column, as I have been known to have the last word from time to time. As I prepare to leave the industry that has given me so much (I eagerly accepted the opportunity to work in the gift and home area in 1986), I can vividly recall the excitement I felt when I first entered the creative space that we get to live and work in every day. I have been exposed to scores of creative people; I met and worked with artists and buyers who were inspired and inspiring, filling me with ideas and plans to create products and retail programs that have resonated with consumers.
A few years after my launch in tableware, I seized the opportunity to open my own company, Los Angeles Pottery. We were a small group of nine who had worked at another pottery, and we knew each other’s strengths and abilities. Those initial shows yielded great feedback and orders, and I knew I had a business with promise. We expanded quickly with showrooms in Atlanta and Chicago as well as temp space at the Javits New York Gift Show, which was a tremendous market for me. Soon my line was found in thousands of small and large independent stores as well as department stores, where excited buyers said my designs had a place on their sales floors. It was an exciting time in my professional life.
Spending the last 35 years in this industry has been filled with amazing opportunities. Design has been one of my passions, and discovering friendship has been another. Life’s journey has many paths for us, and each path is always full of challenges and successes. Even missteps are filled with learning, leading to better-informed choices and improved outcomes. I am deeply grateful to the many friends and co-workers with whom I have been able to collaborate on multiple projects and programs and from whom I have learned much daily.
Along the way, I have never forgotten that this is an industry of people and relationships; relationships with common goals where success is shared among colleagues, buyers, management, suppliers, and factories, because we all play key roles in this business of home fashion commerce. Like all of us, I have memories of the many important milestones of my career, including my first selling season, when the response was beyond what I could have ever hoped for and led to substantial growth in business for my ancient, ramshackle West L.A. factory.
I have photo albums filled with cool people who came to the factory, like Julian Tomchin and Karen Luehr from Macy’s, as we embarked on a longstanding relationship. Alf Blake, Mikasa’s visionary leader, asked me to design dinnerware that included accessories made in my L.A. factory. He sent me to Japan to work with factories, where I learned about reactive glazing, which I hadn’t touched since my college days. We followed that adventure with a long trip to factories around Italy, which further charged my creative energy. And, fun fact, Dionne Warwick used to come to my studio to handpaint pieces for her home.
When I left domestic production to grow the business further, offshore production gave me a different audience for my designs with national retailers like Macy’s, Bed Bath & Beyond, Belk Stores, Costco, T.J. Maxx, Selfridges, and Harrods. I met incredible people all along the way in retail, design, and on the selling side. After a few decades at this (which included me photographed with my dogs for many covers of Tableware Today), I started to think about an exit plan, ready to move on to new adventures.
This was eight years ago, in 2015, and I got sidelined when Sal Gabbay, one of the owners of Gibson Homewares, called. We had had casual conversations for years about doing something together, but nothing happened. That day he said: Laurie, when are we going to do this?
................................ In full disclosure, this magazine’s editor is one of our guest columnist’s greatest fans and a longtime friend. Still, objectively, Gates has been one of the industry’s most prolific and strongest designers. His gifted eye and inventive vision will be missed.
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The timing was right; I was ready. We met a week later, and with a handshake, I joined their business. It’s been an amazing coda to a life of design in tabletop. There couldn’t have been a better place for me to use and further develop my creative skill sets. Spending time with buying teams, professional press, and licensor design teams working on a slew of exciting and challenging projects has allowed the forging of deep friendships that add richness to my life. And now I prepare to move on to my next adventure: retirement.
The many reactions to the news have prodded me to reflect on what the coming chapters mean. They will be filled with adventure, which will certainly continue to fulfill and nurture my creative juices. There are many lessons learned that will continue to inspire me, but the greatest is that kindness and caring are the glue that holds us together and allows us to enjoy our work and build successes to share. I loved filling my literal and metaphorical photo album with all the people I met and worked with. Thanks for the memories!
................................ For the last eight years LAURIE GATES has been the senior V.P. of creative merchandising at Gibson Homewares, spearheading the direction of all creative content. Prior to that, Gates spent three decades developing his own tableware brand to great success. The itinerant adventurer now looks forward to traversing the world (Spain, Greece, and Australia are up first) and continuing to fill his photo album.