Episode 372: Jana Platina Phipps

Million Dollar Decorating

Jana Platina Phipps is a trimmings expert known for her refined vision in the use of embellishment in home furnishings and fashion. She began her career as an apprentice to Italian-American artisans in a trimmings factory of the garment district of NYC, translating handbag specifications from Italian to English for Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren and others. This lead to designing an exclusive line of accessories that sold at Bergdorf Goodman, and high-end retailers across the country, and a successful fashion-forward trimmings collection for home furnishings. In 2003, after the birth of her first child, Jana became an independent consultant in branding, merchandising and sales representation for manufacturers, which ultimately lead to collaborating with trimmings producers worldwide. She is a designer and an agent for Classical Elements in Raleigh, NC, which supplies trimmings and drapery hardware to the home furnishings industry, customizes private label programs for interior design distributors, and sells to retail stores nationally. Affectionately called “Trim Queen” by her clients, she began to blog and use her social media channels to chronicle how the design community uses trimmings creatively. She has become the “ambassador of trimmings” sharing the history of passementerie and modern embellishment trends presenting at The New York School of Interior Design, the Country Living Fairs, Robert Allen Continuing Education Seminars and at the IWCE International Window Coverings Expo. She is a regular contributor to IWCE Vision Magazine and Universal's smartstuff Social Station. Jana is a recipient of the 2016 ITA Outstanding Trimmings Representative of the Year Award; she serves on the International Textile Alliance Board of Directors, is a past WithIt NE Regional VP and WithIt Future Leader Award Winner. She is the longstanding co-chair of the WithIt New York Design Tour which has sold out for 2016, and is planning a Trim Queen Maker Tour of Venice Italy for Spring 2018. In addition to trimmings collections, she designs a one-of-a-kind collection of upcycled accessories using trimmings and vintage jewelry and continues to teach Trim Alchemy, the concept of turning something ordinary into extraordinary using trimmings. Jana resides in the Hudson River Valley, north of Manhattan, with her husband, writer Lang Phipps, and two children, Wilton and Giovanna, in an old Bavarian-style home that is in need of TLC and more trimmings.