For struggling families who have finally managed to obtain permanent housing, making their residence a home is another stressful task. Dwell With Dignity relieves this burden by donating furniture, bedding, kitchen supplies, and more. “It really does go back to helping people who are the most vulnerable,” says executive director Ashley Sharp, “especially now when the home is more sacred than ever before.”
Thrift Studio is the luxury pop-up shop that serves as the organization’s largest annual fundraiser. Usually held in April, it had to be postponed this year and will now happen August 28 to September 26 at the International on Turtle Creek. To ensure safety, a maximum of 35 masked shoppers will be allowed at a time in the 12,000-square-foot space. On the Thrift Studio website, people can sign up for a two-hour time slot so they are assured entrance upon arrival.
Vignettes featuring luxury furnishings have been assembled by interior designers from Dallas-area firms, including Cathy Kincaid Interiors, Jenkins Interiors, Madre Dallas, Monica Wilcox Design, Morgan Farrow Interiors, Pickering House Interiors, Twelve Twenty, and Lindley Arthur Interiors. Their contributions, offered for sale at significant discounts, go a long way toward helping Dwell With Dignity meet the needs of its clients.
“They’ve been in there with masks putting these beautiful vignettes together,” Sharp says of the participants, “and really it’s to benefit people that they don’t even know.”
A number of artists have donated works to the sale. Here are a few to look for.
Mione Plant Once the Thrift Studio art chair, Plant was hesitant to showcase her own work. But after presenting a public piece for the first time at a previous Thrift Studio, she quit her job as an engineer and became a full-time artist. Her graphic, whimsical works include a squirrel contemplating a doughnut and a mallard shopping the bread aisle.
ALG Collective This artist showroom and studio based in the Design District is populated entirely by female entrepreneurs. Members produce glass art, sculptural oil paintings, pop art, and abstract expressionist pieces. The collective celebrates “collaboration over competition,” a rare attitude in the art world, because it believes a success for one female artist is a success for all.
Charlie French The Dwell With Dignity team reached out to this abstract artist who has made a name for himself online and in the art world. His website is named Just Charlie French because he sees himself as an artist first. That he just happens to have Down syndrome doesn’t define him. His pieces are colorful and creative, contemplating everything from “in the fathoms below” to “gum.”
