Lighting & Decor’s official launch celebration will take place at the Atlanta International Gift and Home Furnishings Market, the first market of the season.

We have partnered with AmericasMart to debut and celebrate our new brand at the winter show, which gets underway on Jan. 10. There, we’ll have our own Lighting & Decor Lounge, located at Building 1, Floor 5, B-1, which will be an open-all-day space with seating; charging stations; food and happy hours Thursday-Sunday; as well as some great programming we’ve put together with leading industry figures.

The celebration kicks off on Wednesday, Jan. 11, with a party to commemorate the launch of Lighting & Decor as well as the 60^th anniversary of AmericasMart Atlanta from 4-6 p.m. Cocktails and snacks will be flowing!

Then, Thursday through Sunday, lunch will be served at noon, and at 1 p.m. we’ll be hosting 30-minute “Lighting & Decor Daily Dialogues.” In these sessions, I’ll be interviewing industry experts, covering topics from retail to design and speaking to the state of today’s home decor business environment. Here’s the schedule:

Thursday: “Four Easy Steps to Professional Trend Spotting,” presented by Michelle Lamb, Editorial Director, The Trend Curve

Friday: “Take Your Retail Business to the Next Level in 2017,” presented by Shelia Butler, founder/CEO, SheliaButler.com

Saturday: “Sherwin-Williams ColorMix2017 Color Forecast,” presented by Ruthie Minick, Southeastern Designer Marketing Manager (this will earn you 1 CEU!)

Sunday: “Elevating and Expanding Your Interior Design Career,” presented by Dwayne Clark, Lead Designer/Partner, Dwayne Clark IDMG Interior Management Group, Clark Gaynor Interiors

Also Thursday-Sunday, an open bar will start at 4 p.m., then at 5 p.m. is the “Fab Five at Five” presentation, where Lauren & Linley of LP2 will talk trends they saw that day at market.

We are excited to officially introduce Lighting & Decor and to celebrate our partner AmericasMart Atlanta's 60th anniversary. Hope to see you there.