How The Cool Girl’s Guide Became a High Point Market Essential—and a VRD Brand Partner
What began as a simple spreadsheet for friends has become one of the most trusted resources for navigating High Point Market. Meet The Cool Girl’s Guide, a VRD brand partner helping designers find the right events, showrooms, vendors, and connections—without having to figure it all out alone.
The design industry runs on information—but the information you need isn’t always easy to find.
Which High Point Market events are actually worth your time? Which vendors don’t require purchase minimums? Which showrooms serve the best breakfast and lunch—or host the cocktail parties you won’t want to miss?
Where can you meet brand leaders? How do you make the most of five packed days without spending half of them lost between showrooms?
And, perhaps most importantly, where are the best bathrooms? Seriously. It matters.
Designers usually learn the answers from other designers. That’s how The Cool Girl’s Guide to High Pint Market began.
Six years ago, Marisa Wilson, founder of Marisa Wilson Interior Design in Charlotte, created a simple spreadsheet to help her friends plan their trips to High Point Market. What started as a favor quickly became something much bigger: a trusted resource for navigating more than 12 million square feet of showrooms, events, restaurants, and everything in between.
This fall, VRD is proud to sponsor the guide—and help more designers make the most of their time at Market.
What’s Inside the Fall 2026 Guide
The guide brings together a full calendar of panels, educational sessions, social events, and book signings taking place October 16–20. It also includes showroom maps, themed Insider’s Tours, and “The Lucky Seven,” a list of vendors with no purchase minimums.
Working designers Cheryl Clendenon, Tina Ramchandani, and Corey Damen Jenkins contribute their own advice on everything from planning and packing to finding good food.
Marisa’s biggest recommendation is to plan about 75% of your schedule and leave 25% open. Photograph each showroom entrance so you can identify products later, screenshot event details before leaving your hotel, and don’t be afraid to introduce yourself.
“If you go to a panel or an educational event or social event, and there’s someone there that you have been wanting to meet, take advantage of that—make the connections,” Marisa said on a recent episode of the Designer’s Oasis podcast.
Shared Knowledge Makes the Industry Stronger
Some of the most useful knowledge in design won’t be found in a textbook or showroom directory. It lives in conversations between people who have already done the research, made the mistakes, and figured out what works.
Resources like The Cool Girl’s Guide make those conversations accessible to more designers. They give newer professionals a clearer way into the industry while helping experienced designers spend their limited time more wisely.
That matters. No designer should need years of trial and error—or access to the right private circle—to find the basic information that can help their business grow.
The community behind a guide like this matters just as much as the information inside it.
Contributors choose to share what they know instead of keeping it to themselves. Every tip, recommendation, and introduction makes High Point Market easier to navigate and the design industry more connected.
That belief is at the heart of VRD. Our members work across every corner of interior design, from vacation rentals to residential and commercial projects. They share knowledge, support one another, and build direct relationships with brands.
We don’t believe designers have to keep their best information secret to succeed. There’s room for everyone at the table—and the industry gets stronger when more people are invited in.
Build Your Business With the Right People Around You
The Fall 2026 edition of The Cool Girl’s Guide is here—and it’s ready to help you make the most of High Point Market.
Inside, you’ll find must-attend panels, educational sessions, social events, book signings, showroom maps, Insider’s Tours, and “The Lucky Seven,” a list of vendors with no purchase minimums. You’ll also find practical advice from designers who know how to navigate Market, make meaningful connections, and fit a lot into five busy days.
As a VRD brand partner, The Cool Girl’s Guide reflects something we believe deeply: designers shouldn’t have to figure everything out alone. Shared knowledge makes it easier to find the right opportunities, connect with the right people, and build a stronger business.
Get the Fall 2026 guide and follow @cool.girls.guide on Instagram for updates from Market.
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