Well-known designer Billy Moon introduces Uttermost accessories

After a stint outside the radar of most home accent buyers, internationally known designer Billy Moon was welcomed back warmly in The Uttermost Company showroom during the October furniture market.

One buyer stopped Moon and asked him to use orange in an accessory design. He politely asked whether she was interested in a darker burnt orange shade or wanted the pop of a bright orange.

His attention to what retailers can sell underlies the success Moon discovered nearly two decades ago. He left his chosen career path as a banker with a fresh business degree in hand and started as a West Texas sub sales rep for Thayer Coggin Furniture and George Kovacs Lighting. In 1986, still learning about the home accents industry, he was selling Dolbi Cashier and Basic Concepts Lighting when a Spanish-speaking woman with textured clay pots approached him as he was closing the Dallas showroom. Her English was limited, but she left Moon with a couple of rough pieces of pottery. Moon remembers that as a life-changing moment because it would result in turning his focus toward designing products first in Mexico, in India and now in China.

Mac Cooper, president and CEO of The Uttermost Company, recalls running into Moon in India last January. Cooper was familiar with Moon's past designs. "I knew the taste and flavor that Billy has as far as designing product," Cooper said.

When they met again in High Point last April, they talked of adding an accessory line to Uttermost's offerings. Moon shared some design drawings. Cooper found it appealing that Moon's designs differed dramatically from those of its licensed designers, Carolyn Kinder and Grace Feyock. "We work hard so it will be complementary," Cooper said. "We don't want anything to affect those relationships."

Cooper described retail buyers' response as phenomenal to the approximately 75 SKUs of Moon's accessories. "We have had countless people coming into our showroom because of the accessories," Cooper said. "We have had some accessories for years, but we have not emphasized them until this market. I think it's a combination of good timing and a good fit. We want to be a major accessory player. We're not trying to be a one-stop shop, but we want to be a world-class accessory resource — competitive in styling, pricing and factory performance."

Mary Taylor, president of Montaage, is familiar with those aspects of Moon's designs and their success in the marketplace. She and her husband, Ken, held the national rights to sell his products in the late 1980s when the Moon Collection was hot.

That collection was a result of Moon's search for the source of the mysterious Spanish-speaking woman's pottery. Moon borrowed his father's pickup truck and set off in search of the pottery source. He traveled south of the border, past Monterrey and Guadalajara before discovering the Ajijic (Ah-hee-heek) community, where he began designing and producing product.

Moon became an integral part of the small village in the Western Sierra Madre mountains. His pieces became a top-selling item in the Montaage booth during the Dallas market.

"He needed to be in Mexico making the product, and we were here selling the product," Taylor said. The success was due to a combination of factors, she said. "Billy worked with mixed media in a different way than it had ever been done in the marketplace. He's very talented. And he also understood the concept of designing to price instead of designing and asking what the price is."

Trying to do too much "backfired because I wasn't taking care of my No. 1 customer, which was Montaage," Moon said. He closed his business in 1998, lost his confidence and faced his father's death. He looks back on the years 1999–2001 as his dark period.

An opportunity Taylor at Montaage recognized for him to design lamps for China Accent pulled him back into the light. Moon became director of the design department and has lived in China for more than three years. His three-year-old company, MoonStyle, employs six people.

Uttermost plans a much bigger presentation of Moon's accessories for the January markets in Atlanta, Dallas and Las Vegas.

"Everything's based on 'Will it sell?' And 'Who is the target market?'" Moon said. "We're very cognizant about price points and color. I'm always asking, 'What's your best seller?'"

Billy Moon

This hand-forged iron canister from the Billy Moon line at The Uttermost Company holds nature-inspired spheres in autumn shades.