Today we’d like to introduce you to Tiffany Taylor and Flann Harris.
Tiffany and Flann, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Tiffany: Scout was born out of a love for travel and finding unusual items for the home. I grew up going to flea markets with my parents and, though resistant as a child, their love of Scouting eventually wore off on me. I am always on the hunt for the next treasure; it’s in my DNA.
Flann: Tiffany & I are best friends since childhood and share a mutual love of finding beauty where it’s least expected. Over the past 5 years, we’ve grown from breathing new life into vintage pieces to now having our exclusive label designed by us and manufactured directly. We learned what our clients were “scouting” for and designed our line with them in mind and we are able to offer high-end pieces at an approachable price point by cutting out the middleman and going direct. It was a labor of love – we identified the need and tackled it head-on. We now ship worldwide and have found a loyal following both in our first customers and in the new followers who happen upon us via instagram or word of mouth. We are grateful to be able to fulfill a need for them, no matter where they are located!
Has it been a smooth road?
Flann: Keeping up! Our private label designs are produced in limited runs so our inventory moves quickly and is constantly changing. This keeps our store fresh and gives customers a reason to keep checking us out! With only a handful of each piece manufactured, you won’t find our pieces saturating the market on every google search or in your friends’ homes. They are unique, but this also comes with challenges. It’s always a surprise when something doesn’t sell for months, and then once we finally do sell out, it becomes the only item anyone asks us for!
Tiffany: The goal was always to create our own designs and, as the business grew, we needed ways to supplement our inventory. We’ve been headed in the direction of our exclusive label for some time now, but only just recently finished fully that transition away from vintage pieces and into our own label. We have a loyal following from our early days and want to ensure we continue to meet their needs within our label by offering limited runs of only 10-20 pieces – they are important customers to us!
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Scout Design Studio – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Our travels for vintage inventory introduced us to a network of artisans who could help bring our own designs to life. We started with a few chairs and then moved into lighting, case goods and decor. We love vintage and finding those truly unique pieces so it will always be in the mix to some extent.
Our exclusive label is designed by us – our small team initiates the design concept, fine tunes it with customer feedback, manufactures our pieces in limited production runs and offers them for sale in our retail store in Dallas & on our website globally. We’ve had a lot of success with acrylic pieces in our line and we feature some beautiful and unique artwork from artisans around the world. We feature a few pieces in each home decor category without saturating anything – dining chairs, bar stools, occasional chairs, rugs, lamps, tables, soft goods & casegoods.
We are a retail store which surprises many of our customers – the price point is nearly at a wholesale rate for some pieces and they feel special having “scouted” their own finds. We aren’t in a flashy neighborhood with foot traffic – if you’re coming to Scout Design Studio, it’s because you found us. That in itself is part of the fun – and as soon as you walk in the door or watch our instagram stories you’ll see it’s just the beginning–we have fun every day and love what we do, and it shows. We burn incense daily and believe in putting good energy out in the world every day. Our company motto: We’re not for everyone, Neither are you. We don’t pretend to have everything for everybody, and we don’t want to – that’s wouldn’t be special! But when you do find something here, you know you’re getting something unique made with some serious TLC.
One of our favorite things each day is listening to someone’s first words as they walk in – sometimes it’s just a gasp – it’s an entirely different shopping experience and it’s what we feel shopping for your home SHOULD feel like. We embrace the different – some items are chic and feminine, others masculine, we let you know its ok to mix materials – woods, metal finishes, unexpected upholstery, bizarre art and giant gold rhino sculptures – and we offer it all at price points that continue to surprise you. That’s our goal – you don’t need to refinance your home just to refresh it. You can come here and fall in love with several pieces and afford and not have to jockey a budget in order to have all of them.
There are proud moments every day in a small business. From wrapping up an incredible photoshoot to designing the next collection, no two days are alike. We are very proud of our overall growth and the client base we have established all over the world and love the team we’ve put together to represent ourselves every day.
What sets Scout apart?
We design, manufacture and retail our product. There is no middle man (wholesaler) so we are able to offer refined designs and great quality at aggressive prices.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
Tiffany: Dallas is a creative gem! We have found the products we offer speak both to the local Dallas market and beyond and love that we are different from the other stores in this city. Dallas has really embraced us and allows us to introduce our clients to different styles and influences from our travels. In designing our line, it was important to us to embrace styles from the broader market and showcase them here.
Flann: We love that we’ve made Dallas our home – it allows us to keep our prices down but still be able to reach a broader market through our website when they can’t come into the store personally. We get requests to open more stores in so many other cities – NYC, SF, Nashville, NOLA, LA, Austin, Memphis, London, Sydney, Toronto, Chicago, Savannah – but for us, Dallas is our home. As we grow, it will be in the online world. Customers often ask as they are leaving if there are any other stores in the area like us… we don’t have a good answer for them!
Contact Info:
- Address: 155 Howell St
- Website: www.ScoutDesignStudio.com
- Phone: 214-741-2414
- Email: Hello@scoutdesignstudio.com
Image Credit:
Michael Wiltbank, Stephen Karlisch
Getting in touch: VoyageDallas is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
