Artificial Intelligence and Metaverse Activations: A Summary
Artificial intelligence and metaverse activations, [ have you seen what Walmart is doing in the metaverse of Roblox in 2026? Follow Justin Breton on LinkedIn ] are currently changing the landscape of digital marketing in fashion, beauty, automobiles, travel and home. These two technologies are empowering today’s consumers and the consumers of the future in new and exciting ways - and encouraging their purchases.
Since digital marketing has been my business for the past 18 years, since 2008, I have been very active in educating interior designers and the wider home related industries - furniture, kitchen and bath, lighting and home decor, on all things AI and the metaverse.
This post is a summary of my own activity with respect to speaking, writing and being interviewed about AI and metaverse activations for the interior design and home related industries.
I’m writing this for the historical record, and I hope [when I’m gone] that one of you reading this post will have saved it and will share it so this information will not be lost.
Now, back to the beginning…
My very first interest in metaverse activations was when metaverse activations were simply called “virtual worlds.” I got interested in the virtual world of Second Life in 2008 and approached Rob Sligh, then the CEO of Sligh Furniture, to do a product development experiment with me in that virtual world. He agreed.
At the time, in 2008, I was writing the online Retail Ideas column for Furniture Today magazine, and this is the article that explains what we did. As you will see, the byline says anonymous now, but scroll to the bottom and you will see my name [ and my old company name ] as the author of this article.
https://www.furnituretoday.com/business-news/sligh-second-life/
Fast forward 12 years… to 2020 and the beginning of the pandemic.
At that time, one of my company’s clients was Gary Pettitt, the CEO of indoor/outdoor furniture manufacturer, Seasonal Living. Savour Partnership was advising Seasonal Living on digital strategy and we were also running almost all of Seasonal Living’s outbound marketing as well as writing and producing Seasonal Living’s now well known lifestyle magazine, Seasonal Living Magazine, which was an idea I had pitched to Gary back in the Spring of 2018.
In early 2020, at the onset of the pandemic, when noone could go to tradeshows, Gary had the brilliant idea to do a virtual designer showhouse, the first one to ever be designed ONLY in the virtual world, but situated on a real piece of property in Malibu, CA.
Keep in mind, this Showhouse is NOT a metaverse activation. Why? Because we cannot go inside of it, all together, as our avatars, and interact with each other. However, it is viewable in 3D and it’s still the only one - even to this day - to include augmented reality.
I was co-principal in this with Gary and it was a fabulous collaboration between the 15 sponsoring brands and 11 interior designers that Gary and I onboarded to participate.
We hired Luann Nigara to host the virtual VIP kickoff party for us on Dec.3rd, 2020 and our international media sponsor was ISSUU magazine.
Luann hosted a special podcast with Gary and I which you can listen to here:
https://luannnigara.com/611-seasonal-living-an-interior-design-virtual-showhouse-like-no-other/
and if you’d like to watch the 30 minutes of the kickoff party, where Luann takes the audience through the virtual showhouse, you can watch that on this post written by Annilee Waterman, who designed the architecture of the virtual showhouse for us:
http://designerannilee.com/seasonal-living-magazine-luxury-virtual-designer-showhouse/
The showhouse, while not a metaverse activation, as I mentioned above, COULD become a metaverse activation. I’d love to see that happen. However, doing the showhouse gave rise to this roundtable discussion I moderated which was filmed in the Jaipur Living showroom at #HPMKT in Spring of 2022.
Jaipur Living, one of the 15 brands who sponsored the Showhouse ] had Gary, myself, and 3 of the virtual showhouse’s designers [ Arianne Bellizaire, principal of Arianne Bellizaire Interiors, Robin Baron [ who was also a sponsor ] , principal of Robin Baron Design, and Laura Muller, principal of Four Point Design Build,] discuss going from virtual showhouses into metaverse activations.
You can watch our conversation below on Jaipur Living’s YouTube channel.
And here’s a blog post Laura Muller wrote after she participated in this discussion, which contains an excellent wrap up and her thoughts:
https://fourpointdesignbuild.com/the-future-of-design-from-virtual-showhouses-to-the-metaverse/
Forbes wrote this article about it and as you can see, even back then in 2020, the Showhouse included a virtual space focused on wellness and sanctuary, designed by Erika Hollingshead Ward, one of the participating interior designers.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiegold/2020/12/17/covid-inspires-wellness-designed-virtual-showcase-home/
Here’s the video from the conversation I had afterwards at Jaipur Living with 3 of the Showhouse participants and Gary.
An exterior view of Seasonal Living Magazine’s Virtual Showhouse, as rendered by Annilee Waterman.
To find out more about the history of the Showhouse, see this post on my blog:
The Backstory: https://www.savourpartnership.com/blog/2020/9/27/seasonal-living-magazines-virtual-designer-showhouse-the-backstory-
One of the many gorgeous stills taken from inside the Showhouse is shown below. This room was designed by Michelle Jennings-Wiebe, in partnership with one of our sponsors, Universal Furniture. A few of the pieces in this room, and throughout the Showhouse, can be seen in your own homes via the augmented reality QR codes inside the showhouse link.
Watch this video that Michelle and her team created after they were asked to participate.
The 3D renderings of the over 700 pieces of furniture in the Showhouse were done by Sarah Durnez in collaboration with Annilee Waterman and Lauren Jenkins Brantley.
And here you can listen to Universal Furniture’s former Senior Vice President of Marketing, Neil McKenzie, interview Michelle about her business and her experience working on her virtual showhouse room.
https://www.universalfurniture.com/podcast?postalcode=33607&fbclid=IwAR04vSf-oNmpfjqenZzLWHfKIF21rMXQgwYtC5u1_TykwFj9tWoDRT--GCI
Fast forward to 2022 when interest in all things metaverse really picked up steam…
In February of 2022, I was invited to participate in this talk in the Design Hounds lounge at the National Kitchen and Bath Show with my long time friend, Jaime Derringer - with Katye McGregor Bennett moderating.
Jaime also has a huge interest in all things virtual and metaverse.
Here’s a snapshot of me talking with Katye, taken by one of the attendees, who shared it in their IG Story.
The image below shows me holding a copy of the October 2022 issue of Home Accents Today, where Jaime and I were both interviewed about the metaverse and what it means for our industry.
Also in 2022, Furniture Today decided to host an inaugural summit on INNOVATION, and I was asked to keynote their first one on the subject of the metaverse. This was very well attended by major manufacturers like Ethan Allen and major retailers like FurnitureLandSouth.
I wrote a post summarizing that keynote speaking experience + 5 misconceptions about metaverse activations. Here’s that post and the image below is from that post.
https://www.savourpartnership.com/blog/2022/9/13/5-misconceptions-about-the-metaverse-and-the-innovation-event
Here’s Furniture Today’s wrap up post for their audience
https://www.designerstoday.com/news/industry-news/5-stats-that-show-how-the-netaverse-is-translating-to-real-life-dollars/
And here’s an interview FT did with Annilee about why retailers should be thinking about metaverse activations to increase sales.
https://www.furnituretoday.com/technology/heres-why-every-furniture-retailer-should-be-thinking-about-using-the-metaverse-to-increase-sales/
I ended 2022 being interviewed about the metaverse for this article in Furniture, Lighting and Decor Magazine:
https://www.mydigitalpublication.com/publication/?m=44489&i=769896&p=18&ver=html5
Fast forward to January 2023….where I keynoted The Women’s Leadership Conference for The International Surfaces Event in Las Vegas - on the metaverse.
I loved educating a brand new segment of the industry on the possibilities for revenue generation with metaverse activations.
In May of 2023, I was interviewed, along with KB Homes’ Chief Marketing Officer, Amit Desai, Digby co-founder Andrew Lane, and Annilee Waterman by Forbes contributor, Jamie Gold, about the metaverse and its possibilities in this excellent article she wrote for Kitchen and Bath Design News Magazine.
https://www.kitchenbathdesign.com/the-metaverse-and-new-possibilities/
Concurrently with my national speaking on these topics, I decided - in September of 2022 - to start hosting online workshops for interior designers with Annilee on metaverse activations.
In 2023, we also added AI to our workshop mix, since I’d been very active in learning Midjourney and discussing the pros and cons of artificial intelligence with members of my private Facebook community for interior designers, Design Wealth - a very active private group of 1700+ of North America’s top interior designers that I’ve had daily conversations with for 9 years now.
Our workshops were held every month and we had the pleasure of having the digital marketing team from ANDMORE join us for one.
Below is an image of our July 23, 2023 workshop participants.
Here is a lovely testimonial we received from Heather Jennings, principal of Blackwell and Jennings, about our July 2023 workshop. Follow Heather on Instagram here to see some of her beautiful AI images.
Our June 2023 workshop attendees, Autumn Pochiro, principal of Autumn Dawn Design, had a room she created with Midjourney featured as the lead image in this Business of Home article about how designers are using AI.
She gave us a nice shoutout about our workshop, which we appreciated. If you see this > thank you, Autumn!
https://businessofhome.com/articles/designers-put-ai-to-work
For the May 2023 issue of Furniture, Lighting and Decor magazine, I was interviewed about artificial intelligence and its implications for the interior design and home furnishings industries.
https://www.furniturelightingdecor.com/digital-bulletin-it-real-or-it-ai
I also wrote two posts on Midjourney AI, one of which was widely reshared as it was a tutorial for interior designers [ and interested others ] on exactly how to get started using Midjourney AI, with step by step instructions - which is now [ in 2026 ] outdated.
Here’s that post:
https://www.savourpartnership.com/blog/2023/3/23/how-to-use-midjourney-ai-a-tutorial-for-interior-designers
and here’s my 2nd post on How To Use Midjourney AI For Product Development
https://www.savourpartnership.com/blog/2023/4/6/midjourney-for-furniture-ideation
NOTE:
I want to thank Chelsie Butler, Editor In Chief of Kitchen and Bath Business Magazine, the official magazine of the National Kitchen and Bath Association, for asking me if she could repurpose my AI tutorial post for her own readers, most of which are in the kitchen and bath industry, which she did here:
https://www.kbbonline.com/news/blog/a-midjourney-ai-tutorial-for-designers/
In June of 2023, I was invited by the luxury kitchen, bath and lifestyle brand, Thompson, [ on IG as @thompsontraders] to collaborate with them on designing the world’s first kitchen and bath product to be produced via my text prompt to Midjourney AI.
The AILA sink was the result of that invitation. Thompson’s coppersmithing artisans took my concept and created a sink for real world use, out of solid copper and made by hand, using the same tools and techniques that they had been using since the 16th century.
The sink was introduced by Thompson in their exhibition space at the National Kitchen and Bath Show in February of 2024, to wide acclaim and publicity. It was selected for Ferguson’s Trend Report 2024, featured in Architect Magazine, Realtors Magazine, Forbes, and many more publications.
See the video Thompson produced about the manufacturing of AILA on their website, here:
https://thompsontraders.com/product/aila/
The first AILA sink was installed in a New York City pied a terre powder bathroom in 2025, for a client of interior designer, Robin Baron.
I wrote two posts about the AILA sink. One sharing the backstory of how this collaboration came to be, and one sharing a recap of the KBIS introduction of AILA.
THE BACKSTORY POST: https://www.savourpartnership.com/blog/2023/6/29/leslie-carothers-partners-with-thompson-for-ai-designed-sink
THE RECAP POST: https://www.savourpartnership.com/blog/aila-worlds-first-ai-designed-sink-kbis2024-recap
I will forever be grateful to all of my friends who took their time at KBIS to come to the unveiling of AILA in the Thompson space at KBIS that year. It was such a special moment in my career and life. If you’re reading this and you’re one of them > thank you so much!
See the above post to see pictures of all of them.
Note: anyone of you reading this can submit an AI design to Thompson, using the Tailor Made portal on their website, and if Thompson’s artisans can make it, you will receive a quote for your own bespoke product.
Also in 2023, I was interviewed for this article on using Midjourney in interior design for Livabl, North America’s most comprehensive and accurate platform for new home construction listings.
You can read the entire article here.
In June of 2023, I was invited to join Joann Kandrac and Kelly Kole on their podcast, Inside Design to talk about AI for interior designers.
Read about it and listen to the podcast on their blog post about it here:
https://www.kandrac-kole.com/podcasts/episode-159-intro-to-ai-with-guest-leslie-carothers
In the Fall of 2023, at Hight Point Market, I was invited by WITHIT [ Women In The Home Industries Today ]’s executive director, Amy Van Dorp, to be a part of this panel, discussing AI.
I was honored to sit on this panel with Alex Shuford, III, the owner and CEO of Century, Highland House, Jessica Charles, Maitland Smith and Hancock and Moore as well as these other distinguished guest panelists.
It’s amazing how far AI has come from that moment, 3 years ago, when we were just beginning to talk about AI seriously in the furniture industry, to the present day now in 2026.
I can’t wait to see where we are in 3 more years.
Later, in November of 2023, Luann Nigara, founder of the #1 podcast for interior designers, A Well Designed Business, invited me to be her guest to talk with her listeners about AI and all things metaverse.
Here’s her post about it with the link to listen:
https://luannnigara.com/933-power-talk-friday-leslie-carothers-is-the-metaverse-and-ai-the-future-of-interior-design/
Debuting in January of 2024, I partnered with Dallas Market’s Lightovation tradeshow to be the project manager for a year long activation for them known as the Metaverse Lighting Trendhouse. I invited Annilee Waterman and Shay Geyer to collaborate on this project with me and could not have done it without their help.
This activation was greenlighted by Cindy Morris, CEO of Dallas Market Center, and the Lightovation Board Of Directors who wanted to present to their attendees and exhibitors a cutting edge thought leadership experience. They succeeded.
Read about it here in Home Accents Today:
https://www.homeaccentstoday.com/industry-news/want-to-see-lighting-trends-in-a-new-way-check-out-the-metaverse-lighting-trendhouse-in-dallas/
I wrote about the backstory on how this project came to be here:
https://www.savourpartnership.com/blog/first-sneak-peek-into-metaverse-lighting-trendhouse
Annilee Waterman was responsible for the design of the Trendhouse, the rendering, the virtual version and the metaverse version and wrote a wonderful blog post about all of her work on it, linked below. If anyone deserves credit for the success of this activation, it’s Annilee. The renderings shown in the image below are by Annilee.
https://www.designerannilee.com/metaverse-lighting-trendhouse/
Shay Geyer was responsible for choosing the highlighted lighting fixtures within the Trendhouse and was instrumental in helping Annilee with the material palettes to be used in the Showhouse.
Shay wrote a blog post about her involvement here:
https://ibbdesign.com/2024/04/11/lightovation-metaverse-trendhouse/
I also moderated a panel discussion about the Metaverse Lighting Trendhouse on Design + Build Day that year, and was so happy to have Lauren of Monarch Kitchen Design joining us - the first time Lauren had ever had a professional speaking engagement at a tradeshow.
Because of all of this activity re: AI and because I had been writing about it all here on my blog, I was discovered via search by a writer for Better Homes & Garden Magazine, who interviewed me for this article in 2024, which later got picked up and appeared on Yahoo Life’s site here:
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/ai-interior-design-digital-tools-192244284.html
I was happy to refer her to one of our previous workshop participants, kitchen and bath designer Emily Cathcart of Bend, OR based, Emily Cathcart Designs, who created the image below, using AI, for this article.
Notice how Emily labeled the image as AI generated, something I care deeply about as I think it protects the integrity of the interior design profession when images that have been AI generated are labeled as such, if they are not rooms that exist in the real world yet - or won’t ever.
In May of 2024, I was invited to speak at the Midwest Design and Furniture Fair in Kansas City about my AILA sink for Thompson, with the then VP of Sales and Marketing for Thompson, Andrew Holben, and to also appear on a panel taking place there about the use of technology in design.
I’ve always loved this picture of Alejandra Thompson [ known as Alex ], the VP of Marketing for Thompson, holding my Midjourney AI image in front of the AILA sink when it was first introduced.
Design KC Magazine also wrote a very nice article about AILA, in conjunction with my speaking engagement, which you can read here: https://mydesignkc.com/creative-type/heritage-future/?
Later that year, in September of 2024, I was asked to join Jessica Nelson, co-founder of Etch Design Group and AI For Interiors as a guest on their podcast. Jessica and her co-founder had just started AI For Interiors at that time.
You can listen to that episode here: https://open.spotify.com/episode/16qtsYZrGz1p0wzYNpdIRh
I was able to return that favor to Jessica when I was invited to moderate the panel, * AI In Design* for the Houston Design District’s 2024 Fall Design Week in October of that year and invited Jessica to be one of my panelists.
Also in 2024, I was interviewed for ANDMORE’s Las Vegas Market Winter Preview Guide about generative AI.
You can read that article here, starting on page 66 through 71
https://www.angstromcreative.com/digital/flipbooks/andmore/lv/2024/winterpreview/?
In September of 2024, I was invited to keynote Buy BKBG’s annual shareholder meeting. Buy BKBG is the nation’s largest group of major kitchen and bath showroom owners.
My presentation was well received and if you’d like to see a testimonial from that event by one of the attendees, please view it here on my YouTube channel:
https://youtube.com/shorts/8rRZlUp3Pp0?si=4hlDOAmu1m2f4o9m
2024 ended with being interviewed by Forbes for a series of 4 articles, written by senior contributor, Jamie Gold, 2 of which had to do with AI.
My 2025 Top Predictions For AI Powered Home Innovations:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiegold/2024/12/31/design-and-tech-pros-predict-top-ai-powered-home-innovations-for-2025/
My Top 2025 Predictions For AI Trends
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiegold/2024/12/24/design-and-technology-industry-pros-predict-top-ai-trends-for-2025/
In May of 2025, I received a text from my friend, San Diego based interior designer Rachel Moriarty, stating that she had found a great client through his search on Chat GPT.
I wrote this blog post about it: https://www.savourpartnership.com/blog/ai-for-seo-how-one-interior-designer-got-hired-through-chat-gpt
Business Of Home’s managing editor, Fred Nicolaus, saw that post because he’s a member of my private Facebook Group community for interior designers, Design Wealth.
He then contacted me because he was writing his weekly feature on the topic of how interior designers are getting found through homeowners using Chat GPT AI for search.
Early in 2025, I was extremely honored to again contacted by the programming team at Buy BKBG [ the nation’s largest business group of major kitchen and bath showroom owners ] , who hired me this time to deliver a two hour interactive presentation on AGENTIC AI.
I delivered that presentation in September of last year. The image on the left is of one of the attendees, who, after listening, was able to create this AI image of himself during the interactive portion of my presentation. He was so excited to be able to do it and gave me permission to share this online.
If you’d like to listen to the testimonial video from Pete Ciarlante, owner of Weiler’s Kitchen And Bath showroom in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, shown on the upper right of this image, who attended, please click this link to my Instagram feed: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQrKomxjjO4/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA== .
Later in 2025, I was honored to be asked by Jaye Anna Mize, Vice President of Future Snoops, to join her panel on The AI -Fueled Future of Interiors at Fall 2025 High Point Market, sponsored by Markor, which took place in Celebration Hall at the American Home Furnishings Hall Of Fame.
Rug News Magazine covered it here: https://www.rugnews.com/news-archives/american-home-furnishings-hall-of-fame-hosts-hpmkt-9641
2026 started out with an invitation to be the keynote speaker for the San Antonio chapter of ASID’s Business Side Of Design Conference in March, where I spoke on AI And Ethical Technology In Design.
I met so many great people at this conference, and some of my friends were there, too.
I received an outstanding testimonial from one of the young attendees, Sebastian, shown below. Any day you can teach a 20 year old something they don’t already know about AI, is a good day!
Click here to my IG feed to listen to Sebastian’s testimonial:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DWJJhN3jW9h/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
2026’s BIG news was revealed at Spring 2026 High Point Market, where a preview presentation of the world's first AGENTIC AI app being built exclusively for interior and kitchen and bath designers—automating and managing the entire operational side of a design business so designers can focus on creativity, client development and relationships, and growth, both professionally and personally, was held.
I’m thrilled to be collaborating on this with SHURU, a company employing 190+ full time AI native engineers with offices currently in Dubai, Singapore and India and soon the US and Canada.
Akashdeep Singh Khalon, a co-founder and the Chief Technology Officer of SHURU, joined me in High Point to present this preview to a group of 25 designers who joined us for the 2.5 hour presentation. His brother, Mehakdeep, who works with Akash as the leader of their AI engineering team, was also there.
Below are the designers who were present for the 2.5 hour preview presentation. We were so grateful for the time they devoted to learning about what we’re developing. If you were there and you see this post —> thank you!
Of the designers you see sitting at the conference table in the Leaders Boardroom at the American Home Furnishings Hall Of Fame [ where this preview presentation took place ], 19 of them signed the legal Letter Of Intent to proceed with subscribing when the app is ready to launch this Fall.
See these 19 interior and kitchen and bath designers/people in the image below? These are the ones who will be working with the AI engineering team at SHURU to ensure that this app is not only as useful as possible for their back end workflows when it launches, but also that is as useful as possible for the back end workflows for all designers around the world.
These designers have not yet formally subscribed to the app, but for those that do when it launches, those will be your go to designers to ask about how it’s working for their businesses, if you’re a designer reading this and want to know.
I will update this post when I know who has formally subscribed - we expect to launch in August or early September. It’s going to be a busy summer!
The launch party event /presentation will take place at Fall 2026 #HPMKT in the Celebration Hall [downstairs] in the American Home Furnishings Hall Of Fame building.
If you’d like to attend, please mark your calendars now for:
Monday, October 19th, 2026
8-9:30 am
311 S. Hamilton
American Home Furnishings Hall Of Fame, Celebration Hall
In June of 2026, [the month I’ve updated this post], I will be delivering 5 Pain Points AI Can Solve For Kitchen And Bath Designers to the members of the Texas Gulf Coast Chapter of the National Kitchen And Bath Association and other Houston area designers who would like to attend.
I’m a new INDUSTRY PARTNER member of the NKBA, and am really looking forward to developing my relationships with other INDUSTRY PARTNER members and NKBA designer members, over the coming years.
If you’re an interior designer or kitchen and bath designer in the Houston area reading this, you’re invited to attend.
It’s open to all interior & kitchen and bath designers, even if you’re not a member of the NKBA’s Texas Gulf Coast Chapter.
However, since it’s free and lunch will be served, the sponsor, Hilltop Stones and Interiors, asks that you kindly RSVP here:
https://texasgulfcoast-nkba.starchapter.com/meetinginfo.php?id=193&ts=1776876901
If you’ve read this far, I thank you.
I know this is a very, very, very long post, but I hope it has given you deeper insight into my work in digital innovation and education re: AI and virtual worlds within the design and home related ecosystem over the past two decades.
As for my own business?
1/ If you’d like to hire me to speak to your audience about AI, or to work with you professionally on developing a customized AI application for your business, or to help you plan an AI implementation strategy for your business, please contact me here.
2/ I invite you to connect with me on Linked In, here:
https://linkedin.com/in/lesliecarothers
3/If you’re interested in working with me professionally on an innovative digital marketing activation for your business or tradeshow, please also use the above links to contact me.
4/ Lastly, please share this post with anyone you may know in your own circles who would find the information I’ve shared in all of these talks, articles and interviews useful.
Thank you,
Leslie Carothers
Principal, Savour Partnership
Named One of Home Furnishing Business Magazine’s Top 40 Most Inspiring Women In Home
https://instagram.com/lesliemcarothers
