Meet Bonnie Mackay
What inspires you day in and day out?
I observe to discover and define trends in design and business. My father was a cartoonist, ventriloquist and did animal voiceovers for television. He taught me to observe people -- how they dressed, talked and walked. We would sit together on the blanket at the beach or on a bench in the park . He would point to someone and ask me what I thought they were saying or thinking. Then he would quietly imitate what he thought their conversations were or how they sounded, then ask me to do the same. We did this together when I was 3-8 years old. He died when I was 9. My parents loved art and museums. One of my earliest memories was being held up by my father to observe Monet‘s Water Lilies at MoMA. This was my amazing education…Each day holds a discovery for me.
What do you do?
I am highly skilled in mentoring, developing and managing brand identities for designers, new businesses and retail and wholesale organizations. I define design for cross generations resulting in the creation of successful products with Inclusive Design.
I am the author of Tree of Treasures: A Life in Ornaments – a memoir of my tree and the stories of 100 of my cherished treasures from my collection of 3,000 ornaments.
Why are you great at it?
Discovering new product categories and designers, developing and introducing new brands, rejuvenating old brands and leveraging product trends. I have extensive experience in branding, marketing, visual merchandising, sourcing, product development and production. My unique understanding of brand identity helped to create a successful retail relationship with MoMA Retail with a roster of brands, which included MUJI, Alessi, Issey Miyake, UNIQLO, Kartell and Vitra.
Why did you join IFDA?
I joined to connect with members of the home design, and furnishings industry and learn more about their businesses. My concentration was retail. By joining IFDA I knew my home design expertise would expand. It did and continues to do so. I love being a member.
How can we learn more about your business?
My website is BonnieMackayConsulting.com. It visually shows my additional brand collaborations in catalog redesign and product placement in print, online and in-store channels.
I am a big believer in personal interaction. We are a now a culture of screens. Meeting and speaking can create a great understanding of new projects we can define and create together. The successful partnerships I mention above were created that way by meeting, speaking and discovering.
Little-known fact?
1) I created the first dated crystal ornament by Baccarat for Bloomingdales, which led to the development of hundreds of collectible branded crystal ornaments.
2) In the film “Ground Hog Day” Bill Murray sleeps under a quilt I developed for Bloomingdale’s.
I had no idea the quilt was in the film. (The set designer bought it at our store, in LA).Sitting in the theater with my husband Bob and then seeing my quilt on the screen … I screamed to Bob …OMG ! The audience all turned to look at me. I said “That’s my quilt!!!” Some applauded….Some shushed me…My film editor husband told me to be cool…I followed his advice….but was thrilled. Still waiting to meet Bill Murray !
3) I have 10 Special Thanks credits on 10 award-winning documentary films.
(FYI, her husband’s name
Bob Eisenhardt, award-winning film editor)
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