How Design on a Dime’s James Huniford Keeps the Multimillion-Dollar Fundraiser Running

James Huniford’s side hustle is not your average side hustle. In addition to running an interior design and furniture studio, Huniford Design Studio, the AD100 designer has helped raise nearly $16 million for Housing Works through Design on a Dime. It’s safe to say the event he founded 15 years ago has been a goal-shattering success, and with its official New York opening tomorrow evening, at the Metropolitan Pavilion, those fundraising tallies will only rise. The event comes together thanks to the participation of a diverse group of interior designers, who create vignettes made up of furniture, fabric, lighting, art, and accessories that have been donated by manufacturers. Every piece then gets sold sometime between when the floodgates open tomorrow night for shopping and when the event ends, on Saturday at 5 p.m. AD PRO spoke to Huniford about how he gets designers involved and how he manages to find time for fundraising between his own project installs.

AD PRO: How do you select the interior designers who will participate?

James Huniford: Every year it changes. We send out a lot of asks, and some designers have other commitments or installation conflicts, and then luckily there are designers who are totally on board. We try to keep in mind designers who are very well known and established, and also designers who are up-and-coming who are going to do something different, in a creative way. It’s always a great balance of designers who have different styles.

[Maybe] a project manager leaves their firm and starts their own, or somebody from Houston wants some New York attention. We’ve had designers from Miami do it. [There’s] a slew of amazing, talented designers who constantly keep coming back and supporting it, which makes it exciting and interesting.

When someone says no to me, I say, “I take that as a maybe, and let me talk a little bit more about the mission [of Housing Works] and maybe you’ll think about it again.” And I would say about 90 percent of the time, people rethink their decision and get on board.

AD PRO: How do you feel the event activates the local design community?

JH: It’s incredible how the interior design community has gotten behind Housing Works. Primarily because of what it stands for—like the interior design community, they are passionate about interiors, about making a home for people. All the designers donate their time, their staff donates their time, and all the vendors donate wallpaper and carpet and fabric and furniture.

There are designers from Brian Sawyer to Robert Stilin to Mark Cunningham to Alessandra Branca and Charlotte Moss and Billy Cotton—and the list goes on of people who have all come together to raise awareness and money for this cause. The great thing about it is that everyone has a good time. They go into it knowing that it’s going to be fun; it’s not like a show house, where it’s gotta be the finest and greatest. It can have an edge—it can have a point of view that’s more funky or a sensibility that’s a little more bohemian than maybe a notable designer is known for.

There’s always incredible music, there’s a great mix of people that attend, and it’s a sought-after ticket. People line up around the block just to get in. It’s almost like a 16-year-old looking at a sneaker drop at Supreme. That’s what this is to the interior design community when this thing launches on Thursday.

AD PRO: What are some of your favorite vignettes from over the years?

JH: I remember Alessandra Branca one year did this incredible booth, with paisley fabric on the walls. Robert Stilin has been a continual supporter—he had a sideboard that cost a fortune that one of his clients donated. Mark Cunningham’s been another—last year he did this whole black-and-white story that was very graphic and theatrical.

AD PRO: What’s the setup looking like this week?

JH: The designers have basically 24 hours. [Tuesday] things are delivered; they usually work through the night on Tuesday and fine-tune it on Wednesday morning, and [then] it needs to be ready to go. Photo-ready!

AD PRO: Where do you see Design on a Dime going from here?

JH: I have an idea that next year I’m going to have four co-chairs and ask them to get involved early on. I want to create a subcommittee of designers that I can work with to reach out to a different group of designers, so that we can get things on board earlier in the year.

We’re hoping to do it somewhere on the West Coast, perhaps in L.A. next year for the Legends week. I am trying to come up with an idea to tie things in with Instagram—influencers and publications that would have a separate event, but it would be tied in to Design on a Dime.

AD PRO: How do you juggle running Design on a Dime with the demands of your own design practice?

JH: I really balance three [jobs], because I’m a single dad with two kids. I think that I’m very organized; I’m good at delegating. We have an incredible support team of people in my office who pitch in, and the administrative staff of Housing Works is incredible; I meet with them once a week for about an hour, either on the phone or in person, and go through things that need to be addressed and tasks that need to be assigned.

I try to keep up with it. I have a huge installation that starts Friday, [right] after Design on a Dime opens, which is going to be a challenge. And I have another huge job that I’m trying to get off the ground, and just my day-to-day business. But I enjoy it—I think it’s a good thing to do, and it’s part of being grateful and knowing the impact that it has on people who are not as fortunate.

After its Groundbreaker Awards Dinner, tonight, Design on a Dime opens for general admission on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m., with tickets available for purchase online. The sale is open to the public on Friday and Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Metropolitan Pavilion.