High Point Unplugged: Why HPXD Matters for Firm Owners

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Most designers know High Point only during Market: packed showrooms, impossible schedules, and camera rolls full of images you’ll spend weeks sorting through. Jane Dagmi, managing director of High Point by Design (HPXD), calls that version of the city its Mardi Gras. Explore the area outside those two weeks, though, and you’ll find that High Point is something else entirely.

“High Point outside of Market… is quiet,” Dagmi told hosts Melissa Grove and Laura Umansky on the DesignDash podcast. “You can spend time with people, you can get good product knowledge, and you’re not racing.”

Her shorthand is that Market is MTV, HPXD is MTV Unplugged. The music is the same, but it’s stripped back, slower, easier to hear. That difference has consequences for how firms build knowledge, train teams, and engage clients.

Lessons from the Unique Perspective Dagmi Brings to High Point

Long before HPXD, Dagmi built her career shaping design narratives as editor in chief of Designers Today. Asked what makes a story compelling, she didn’t talk about big wins, glossy spreads, or “hero moments.”

“I have always championed the underdog,” she said. “I like the in-between notes… just showing your real self.”

That focus on process and vulnerability is easy to overlook inside a visual industry. Designers often present only finished spaces and highlight reels. What Dagmi pointed out is that people—whether they are editors, clients, or partners—connect more strongly with the messy middle: the pivot from corporate work into design, the challenge project that nearly broke the business, the choice to walk away from a client who wasn’t the right fit.

The Stories Editors and Clients Remember

For those of us who are firm principals, connecting is far less about marketing copy and much more about credibility. A client who understands the obstacles you navigate is more likely to trust your pricing. A peer who sees the way you problem-solve is more likely to invite you to collaborate or recommend you for a panel. Market puts a spotlight on perfect moments, but HPXD makes space for the unfinished parts of the story that are, in the end, more persuasive, more interesting, and more meaningful.

Embracing Dagmi’s Belief that Mid-Career is the Best!

Many in the DesignDash Community are not at the very beginning of their careers, nor are they ready to wind down. They are ten or twenty years into practice, often running studios of their own. Dagmi calls that position “the best part.”

“The middle’s the best,” she said. “You may have mentors ahead of you, and you may be mentoring the emerging. You’re both looking ahead and looking back.”

That perspective is strategic. Embracing it lets a firm measure progress without needing to chase every trend or compare itself constantly to celebrity designers. It also positions a principal to serve two audiences at once: younger talent who need training and established clients who expect stability. In Dagmi’s framing, the middle is a vantage point instead of a plateau.

The problem, of course, is that mid-career firms often feel squeezed and pigeon-holed. New designers get to launch onto the scene fresh and brimming with possibility, while large, established studios dominate the licensing and media landscape. In between can feel isolating, with the way forward a bit unclear. Dagmi’s argument is that the middle is the oxygen; it’s the spark. It’s the part of the industry where most of the work gets done, and where credibility comes from accumulated practice rather than spectacle or “newness”.

What Makes the Middle a Strong Position

Dagmi doesn’t romanticize the middle; she names what it gives you. “The middle’s the best,” she said, adding that her “40s were like the best.” You have perspective in both directions: “You may have mentors ahead of you, and you may be mentoring the emerging.” That dual role—learning up, teaching down—keeps a studio rooted in practice rather than performance.

She also ties the middle to permission to pivot. Some designers “have had enough of the client” grind and move into PR, marketing, or communications because that’s where they’re strongest. Others leverage long relationships “with companies like a Benjamin Moore” into in-house roles, consulting, or hybrids. Plenty simply double down: “I’m a designer… I love what I do… we have impeccable testimonials,” with exits that look like selling the firm, handing it to a partner, or building succession.

She’s frank about the pressure: clients can be tougher in a social-media era that hides the hard parts. Her counter is alignment: “Make sure you are good with yourself… be true to yourself and who you are.” The middle isn’t a holding pattern for most of us. It’s actually where accumulated judgment (what to take on, what to decline, when to shift lanes) starts to pay off.

Enjoy High Point Beyond April and October Market Dates

HPXD is a membership-based foundation that organizes year-round access to showrooms and brands willing to open outside Market. That structure lets designers use High Point differently.

Instead of quick handshakes, there’s focused time with brand reps. Instead of rushing through styled vignettes, there’s the chance to see a factory floor. “How do you sell a luxury sofa if you’ve never seen it being made?” Dagmi asked. The point isn’t just education for its own sake; it’s the ability to explain to a client why one piece costs twice as much as another, with evidence rooted in craft.

For clients, HPXD visits can feel like a VIP experience: lunch in a flagship showroom, a walk-through with a chief marketing officer, a behind-the-scenes look at sourcing closets. Those details translate into faster approvals and stronger buy-in, not because the price tag is smaller but because the value is visible.

The slower pace also creates space for firm principals themselves. Market is invaluable for networking and trend-spotting, but for making decisions on behalf of a business, it is often too compressed. HPXD’s promise is that you can source without the chaos, build relationships without the noise, and return home with clarity instead of overwhelm.

To recap, HPXD rules because…

• There are noo crowds!
• You can source at your own pace.
• You can strengthen existing vendor relationships and build new ones without pressure.
• Deepen product knowledge without anyone looking over your shoulder.
• Take the extra time to discover “hidden gems.”
• Source for projects with exact specs and measurements.

And Don’t Forget…High Point Is Here for You Year-Round

Market will always be the marquee event of our industry. HPXD doesn’t try to replace it, not at all! What it does is extend High Point’s relevance into the other fifty weeks of the year. Dagmi described it this way: “At the end of the day, you just have to know you’re on the right path. High Point is here for you, year-round.”

For firm owners, that means you can choose the pace: the spectacle of Market when you want it, or the slower, quieter version when you need depth. Both are valuable, but only one allows you to walk into a showroom, sit down without an appointment, and ask the kinds of questions that actually move your practice forward. What else lets you explore the industry and ask peers questions whenever needed? The DesignDash Community!

Remember, “Design never goes dark!“