Frictionless
Serial entrepreneur Christiane Lemieux, with Duff McDonald, describes the new rules of entrepreneurship and business, arguing that visionary startups leverage the concept of “frictionless” to beat their competitors. Based on interviews with dozens of startup founders, experts, and scholars on entrepreneurship, Frictionless provides a wide-ranging education on how to launch companies that will thrive in the world of frictionless commerce—made possible by new technologies, a new mind-set, and new demands from millennial consumers. Working with bestselling author and journalist Duff McDonald, Lemieux shares her own story of lessons learned and failures absorbed while she was at the helm of DwellStudio (which was acquired by Wayfair) and of her latest venture, The Inside. Some of the founders profiled—from well-known companies such as Instant Pot, Bonobos, Hims, and Halo Top to upstarts Billie, Dame Products, and Convene—offer lessons on reducing friction through business models, improved customer experience, or revolutionizing operations to create frictionless organizations.
Frictionless outlines the groundwork necessary for getting a business up and running and explains how companies make and market products and services while meeting the expectations of customers and employees today. It is the essential handbook for creating tomorrow’s mind-set and competitive advantage.
THE FINER THINGS
With a foreword by Miles Redd, this luxurious decorating resource trains the eye to recognize enduring, quality home goods and to use them to dazzling design effect.
Quality matters. Just as a home’s foundation should be built to stand the test of time, so, too, should the furniture, objects, and elements of our rooms speak to an enduring sense of beauty and comfort. They should outlast trends and our loving day-to-day use. But how does one recognize quality and judge whether something is well made?
Christiane Lemieux set out to answer this question by interviewing the world’s greatest experts. Weaving together the insights and guidance of dozens of wallpaper and paint specialists, textile fabricators, accessories artisans, and interior designers, Lemieux has curated an unparalleled education in recognizing the hallmarks of timeless, heirloom-quality pieces. Hundreds of elegant home interiors—both iconic examples from the past and stunning residences today--represent the range of luxurious and customized environments that can be created with fine décor.
Undecorate
Jettison the old rulebooks about home décor and “undecorate” your space. As the founder and creative director of DwellStudio—which is famous for its brightly colored, graphic textile designs for home furnishings—designer Christiane Lemieux challenges tradition in a quintessentially American way, championing a fresh, unconventional approach to creating a beautiful and comfortable home. Lemieux emboldens readers to push aside stuffy, professionally-designed décor, showing them instead how to infuse their own personality into their home.
Undecorate profiles twenty homes from all over the country, revealing their owners’ love of imperfection and penchant for surprise and unusual juxtapositions while inspiring readers to follow their own whimsy and practicalities in their personal spaces. An anglophile creates an English manor in Hollywood, mixing British flea-market finds with midcentury furniture. A car fanatic turns a vintage Airstream trailer into a master bedroom and situates it in the middle of a vast industrial loft in downtown Chicago. A couple transforms a log house in Nashville, Tennessee, by blending their modern and eclectic styles with the home’s rustic charm. Though the designs differ widely, the spaces all express an open-minded attitude. Some homes embrace their contexts, while others transcend them. All are shaped by instinct and imagination and share innovative ideas that readers can use to organically and elegantly create their home to match their lifestyle and tastes.
Lemieux gets to the essence of the homeowners’ distinctive styles, pinpointing the transformative ideas, thoughtful details, and useful solutions that make each home memorable. With more than 200 full-color photographs, Undecorate will both inspire and guide homeowners to a new outlook on home design.