meet the makers
f u r n i s h i n g
o n t i m e
american craftsmanship and quality service in a variety of styles
focus primarily on the design aspect of the company and
leave the finances to others. Lawrence is very different
than your average designer; he thinks the ‘green’ design
craze is overrated and misunderstood, he believes ‘time’
is the product that draws designers to his company and he
is an entrepreneur at heart. With the immense success of
William & Wesley and Lawrence’s giddy admission that
he holds “the best job in the world,” things seem to have
worked out perfectly.
In 1999, Lawrence was getting ready to open a William
& Wesley showroom in Dallas and heavily market the Wil-
liam & Wesley brand. In order to make his vision fiscally
feasible, he combined forces with Jarrett Oullette, founder
By Zachary Scott of International Planning Systems and a logistics expert.
William Lawrence created his company on the merits Lawrence credits Oullette’s business sense with pushing
of American craftsmanship and expeditious lead times, the company over the top. “He had to change my basic
pairing innovative custom design with a prodigious busi- way of thinking to convince me that if we wanted success
ness sense to provide interior designers with fine custom beyond our wildest dreams we were going to market and
furniture and unique fabrics and textiles. Lawrence takes sell time,” he said. With the industry standard for fine cus-
a hands-on approach to running the design aspect of the tom furniture hovering somewhere around 16 to 20 weeks,
company. “I am involved in absolutely every aspect of the time has a more prominent role in the industry than one
creative process of my company, I am on my showroom would expect. Lawrence and Oullette made the decision to
floor and on my production floor every day, it is my office. manufacture all of their furniture here in the United States,
I have very little to do with the fiscal aspect of the com- reducing the production time for fine custom furniture
pany, nor the day-to-day management of our workforce,” pieces to six to eight weeks, a drastic reduction compared
he says. Lawrence is also the namesake of the company. to industry standards. The success of their custom furniture
“There has never been a Wesley, and yes, I guess you could pieces has allowed William & Wesley to branch out into
rade
say I am the William. It was merely a brand name that I felt new avenues of design.
T
had a very distinguished sound to it,” he revealed. When the opportunity for expansion presented itself,
esign
Having graduated from the University of Texas with a Lawrence was quick to forge ahead. In 2005, William &
D
degree in international business and having no formal edu- Wesley purchased a 100,000-square-foot headquarters at
cation in design, it seems unexpected that Lawrence would the corner of Oak Lawn Avenue and Irving Blvd. in Dallas.
32
WilliamWesley revise.indd 2-3Form 1.indd 32 7/6/09 3:22 PM 7/6/09 3:15 PM
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