Today we’d like to introduce you to Bernard Underwood.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Bernard. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started with a very long and strong retail background. I was always interested in Interior Design and changing and moving things around, even at a very young age. I started working and managing at a men’s clothing store, CHESS KING for about 7 years and I then moved on to manage a TJ Maxx store in North Little Rock, Arkansas for about 8 years. After wanting more of a challenge in my work life, I then decided I would move to Dallas, TX to kinda re-invent me. I moved to Dallas with no job but knew that I could continue to reach my goals and aspirations.
I was there a very short time and I started working for a furniture store, THE BOMBAY COMPANY. I managed the Bombay furniture stores within the Dallas area for about 6 years and I soon started working at the clothing fashion store, KENNETH COLE. I was a manager/Visual merchandising manager for about 8 years and with the untimely death of my mother, I soon gave my resignation to start my own design company. I had talked and talked about starting my own design firm and I had many clients from all my years of retail that wanted me to open my own shop and said that they would support my next venture.
But, it wasn’t until after my mother passed away that I really realized how important it is to follow your dream and to take that HUGE leap of faith and step out and start another huge journey. The loss of my loving mother was the hardest thing that I ever had to deal with. She was my deciding factor to step out and start my own company. She had raised 6 children ( 5 boys and 1 girl ) all by herself and I was definitely a mommas boy.
The unbearable grief that consumed me and dealing with the loss of her really catapulted me forward to strive to make her proud, because I knew all of the sacrifices that she had had for all of us to have a better life… I could not let her living nor her death is in vain. So, I quit my job on May 6 (the date of my mothers birthday) and started my company. I was fueled by grief and the need to make my mother proud so I really didn’t even have a chance to be frightened or scared of the decision that I had made.
I started my company AN INTIMATE PLACE/BU Designs. My company does all things fashion and design. I started as a freelancer Visual Merchandising design for various high-end retailers: Salvatore Ferragamo, Boss Hugo Boss, Ermenegildo Zegna, Club Monaco, Q Custom clothier/Rye 51, and other various boutiques/stores.
All these stores were under contract with my company for me to design there visual windows and store interiors. I then had to bring on more people on my team because my workload expanded very quickly and I couldn’t keep up with all the work that I was getting hired to do. I then started doing the INTERIOR DESIGN for my clients, which was really my first true love. I expanded even more and started doing events/parties and styling clients for events and wardrobe dressing.
I soon designed and created a candle in honor of my mother, I drove down to Benwheeler, Texas to a candle factory and I created the scent that smells exactly like she uses to smell and now I have created another candle called BU Sexy, it’s a manly candle that smells like a man’s cologne. I was soon contacted by various radio stations for interviews and I was voted THE BEST OF DESIGN by HOUZZ for a couple of years by over 30 million viewers.
House is a website and online community about architecture, interior design and decorating, landscape design and home improvement. Then HOUZZ contacted me to do a house home tour to be featured on their site. and that’s when HGTV contacted me and wanted to film with me and feature my two story downtown loft on one of their shows.
After filming with HGTV which was a dream come true… because my mother and I use to sit and watch HGTV when I was a kid, so it was so bittersweet when my episode aired on tv cause my mother wasn’t there to watch it with me, but I knew she was watching from heaven.
Soon after filming with HGTV I wanted to expand even further, so I decided to build a client base in Los Angeles, California, which the production company wanted to work with me on to shoot pilots for my own Interior Design TV show. I do go back and forth between Dallas and LA to do design work and to continue to build my empire. Soon to open an INTERIOR DESIGN BOUTIQUE in North Hollywood, California and then to open up another one in Dallas…
Has it been a smooth road?
Lots of bumps in the road … Losing my mother and dealing with such a great loss.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
What I like best is the diversity and the drive that this city has for designs and fashion. What I like least is its inability to drive larger fashion houses to bring their corporations here.
Contact Info:
- Website: anintimateplace.com
- Phone: 469-838-4653
- Email: aip@anintimateplace.com
- Instagram: BernardUnderwooddesigns
- Facebook: An Intimate Place
- Twitter: BU Designs
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