A Love Letter to High Point Market
A new documentary turns the camera on the people, craftsmanship and creativity behind the industry’s twice-yearly destination.
High Point Market rolled out the red carpet, literally, as a crowd of interior designers, manufacturers, retailers and other market insiders gathered on Friday, Oct. 16 for an industry-only sneak peek of a work-in-progress documentary focused on the market.
Some, I’m sure, were eager to see themselves on the big screen. But the screening came with a request for discretion: The filmmakers are pursuing film festivals, where advance publicity could affect the documentary’s chances of acceptance.
But that didn’t dim the audience’s enthusiasm to see a film focused on the High Point Market — the place that draws them and tens of thousands of others from more than 100 countries to a small town in central North Carolina twice a year. It’s remarkable, really. And deserving of a documentary.
My first High Point Market was before the turn of the century. These days, the trip is a familiar one: I live just 22 minutes away in Winston-Salem. Yet even my friends and neighbors in the Piedmont Triad rarely connect what happens at Market with the interiors they admire on Instagram and the furnishings they buy for their own homes.
They know it’s harder to get a restaurant reservation and that traffic picks up a little. Those really tuned in know that they can sometimes pick up a good deal on furniture at the end of market from vendors who’d rather not ship market samples back.
But my friends and neighbors don’t know that many of the home technologies that they will soon find indispensable debut at the show, or that the hues that will define their interior design will take root here first.
And if people who live just minutes from High Point don’t understand the role of the market in the home furnishings world — and the energy and the work and the creativity and the craftsmanship on display every April and October — the rest of the world certainly doesn’t.
The documentary, in the works for about 18 months, is billed as a joint project of the High Point Market Authority, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts’ School of Filmmaking and Notable Human Films, a film company led by Alexis Brunnert and Nathan Knox, who both attended the screening, along with Deborah LaVine, dean of filmmaking school at UNCSA, and interior designer and HPMA Board Chair Christi Barbour.
“I grew up with a dad in this industry, and I’ve spent nearly 25 years with the (High Point) Market Authority. You could say I do have sawdust in my veins,” said Tammy Covington, HPMA president and chief executive officer, when introducing the film and filmmakers. “So, when we began this project, I knew it would be impossible to fully capture all that High Point Market is in 25 minutes of film. How do you capture decades of success stories? Can you fully express the global market? Who can best share the inner workings of such a large event? … I can truly say our partners in this project clearly have the same appreciation, and they capture the essence of our industry beautifully.”
Brunnert, editor and producer at Notable Human Films, called the film a “celebration” of the work of the home furnishings industry and Knox, a UNCSA alum, told the audience the documentary is “a love letter to you all.”
“You literally make the world a more beautiful place and it’s a pleasure to be part of your story,” he said.
Covington said the HPMA is looking for ways to bring the film to a wider audience, and if you’ve got a film festival in your area, keep an eye out for it.
Should the documentary reach a festival near you, take someone who has never been to market. You may know the faces on screen; they may finally understand why you return every spring and fall.
Note: Lead image High Point, North Carolina. The Ragan and Millis Building, used as a furniture showroom for the first market at High Point in 1909. (highpointnc.gov)
