J. Brough Schamp (schamp.com)
The 18,000 square foot retail store offers antiques, new furnishings, and accessories in almost every imaginable style, but, notes Jamie, “our clients tend to be more traditional and like French County, English, and casual coastal styles.” With interior design, “We do a wider variety of work,” says Jamie, “restaurants, commercial, hospitality, and residential in any style our clients want, including contemporary as well as traditional.”
What got you started in interior design?
Requests from customers in my retail store, Bountiful. When we originally opened the store in 1997 we just sold high-end antiques and then evolved into also selling home furnishings and accessories and eventually at the request of clients into doing interior design.
What do you love most about the field of interior design?
I think there are two kinds of designers. One you hire because you want a yellow room and they do yellow rooms. The other kind of designer, you tell them what you want your house to be and that’s what they do. That’s what I love most—working with clients to incorporate their tastes and personalities as well as some of the things they already have and love to create a home that really looks great and where everything works together.
If you could change one thing about your industry what would it be?
I wish more people understood how accessible and easy it is to work with an interior designer—and that you don’t have to be a millionaire to do it.
What accomplishment of yours makes you the most proud?
I guess creating this business here in Easton. Going from a 2,000 square foot home interiors and accessories store into the 18,000 square foot facility we have today—creating a collection of exciting and unique products that clients can’t find anywhere else.
Who do you model your career after?
I model my shop after ABC Carpet and Home in New York; it is six floors of everything for the home—from antiques and furniture to hand soap. For interior design, I hate to say something cliché or hokey like “Dorothy Draper,” but I really do love her work. Professionally, I guess, I really respect my father who, before he retired, was an entrepreneur and art dealer.
Who in your life was most instrumental in helping you get started with your career?
My parents—they helped me with how to run a business and how to be successful. And without some of my early clients who insisted I help them with their décor, who felt I had a talent for it, I never would have started doing design.
When you were five, what did you want to be when you grew up?
My undergrad degree was in music from the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. I always wanted to be a concert pianist.
What advice can you offer someone wanting to get started in your field?
If I could offer someone advice on getting started in interior design, I’d say the best thing besides education would be to work for someone as an assistant—to learn from someone who has been doing it for a long time; learn by experience.
Contact:
Bountiful: bountifuldecor.com or 410-819-8666 (Easton, Maryland) and 239-643-1919 (Naples, Florida)
