Michigan Avenue - Niche Media - Michigan Avenue magazine is a luxury lifestyle magazine centered around Chicago’s finest people, events, fashion, health & beauty, fine dining & more!
Issue link: http://digital.greengale.com/i/508485
The Designer HOLLY HUNT "If I spend my time doing it," Holly Hunt says of her eponymous home furnishings firm, "I want to do it the best." The soaring standards that have driven Hunt for the past three decades have paid off, literally: Last year, the design firm Knoll doled out $95 million to buy Holly Hunt Enterprises Inc., where Hunt remains as CEO. While she likens that transition to the end of a marriage, it was an actual marital breakup that first led to the company's formation. "I was getting a divorce, and I wanted a job. I needed something to do," says Hunt, who hails from a small town in West Texas. In 1983, she bought a showroom in the Merchandise Mart and, a decade later, started creating her own high-end modern line. This year's opening in Houston marks her brand's 11th showroom. THE BIG SALE: "When I started this business, I thought this tall, dark, handsome man would come around and rescue me. Suddenly this tall, handsome business came along and wanted to buy it." CHANGES IN THE INDUSTRY: "The days of being dragged around by an interior designer, listening to what they tell you, are over. Everybody wants to make decisions about what's theirs." THE DOWNTURN'S IMPACT: "The best thing that happened to my company was the big recession. It made us clean up, get rid of the fat, look at it like a business." A STRONG LEADER IS: "One who cares about the success of others. You can't be a strong leader if you don't have followers, and you can't have followers if you don't care about them." ADVICE TO SOMEONE STARTING OUT: "Worry about the product. The money will come." GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT: "Making it through all these years on my own with three healthy sons—and taking a business [in debt for] a half-million dollars to selling it for a hundred million." 116 MICHIGANAVEMAG.COM