The one that got away

Issue #00033: June 25th, 2026

Hello readers…

By the time you read this I’ll be on a boat off Greenport, at the far tip of Long Island, with a rod in one hand and a beer in the other. I'm going out with my son and an old friend I haven’t seen in years—a guy we call the Greek, a generational fisherman from Alexandria. We’ll be reeling in striped bass and bluefish, hopefully. These little guys put up a good fight: the line screaming off the reel, the rod bent double, that half-second where you wonder if it’s going to snap back and take your eye out. I admit it, I’m a city guy, and any real fisherman reading this would call me something unprintable and he’d be right. But I don’t care. I’m going to spend some quality time with my son and the Greek. And the only reason I can vanish into the middle of nowhere during a workday is that after 30 years in this business, I’ve mastered the art of results over schedule. Nobody pays me to sit at a desk; they pay me to deliver. Between AI, my cellphone, and the tech I’ve wired into the way I work, I don’t miss a beat out there—I might not catch any striped bass, but I’ll still see an important email if it lands.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the ones that got away this week. The industry’s biggest fish, Charles Cohen, just wriggled off the hook with a $187 million payment the day before his deadline. And everywhere else I look, the people at the very top of the market are spending like whales—$50,000 outdoor sofas, $200,000 vacations aboard a luxury sailing yacht, Bay Area mansions for AI millionaires. Luxury home prices up there have jumped 13.4% since ChatGPT launched. This is the K-shaped economy we keep talking about, and for our industry the top half of that K is where the opportunity is. 

Summer is my favorite time of year. Sure, business slows down and I finally get to touch some grass. But the real reason I love it is that the slowdown is when I get to advance the opportunities I’ve been sitting on, dream up new ones, and do the creative work of growing my businesses—the stuff that’s almost impossible to reach when you’re running at full tilt. It’s why I’m finally moving one of my brands over to long-form video, the slow, patient work I never make time for otherwise. So here’s hoping Mr. Thread sparks the summer opportunity that becomes your next big catch.

See you next week.

Mr. Thread

P.S. Don’t just read—play. We’ve woven a new mystery into this issue in our PLAYTIME segment. 8 Correct Guesses Last Week. Let’s see who has the “eye” to claim the win this time and secure a spot for our grand prize draw. Scroll to the bottom to join the fun.

That indoor-outdoor living
AD PRO’s new Outdoor Design Forecast says clients increasingly want backyards that read like five-star resorts. They’re demanding bed swings, outdoor kitchens built under the close guidance of a chef, gardens wired for morning meditation and midday Zoom calls. 

Furniture Today is seeing the same trends, with the segment outperforming a soft market because people are now treating the patio like another room. The numbers at the top are wild: a friend of mine who runs sales for one outdoor maker tells me a single outdoor lounge chair runs at least $30,000 and his average order is half a million. Here’s why those orders get so mammoth—you don’t buy one lounge, you buy them in sets of six, eight, or twelve, and that’s before the umbrellas, side tables, and chairs. Fewer orders, but each one is enormous. That’s the dream.

However, the real opening is in the middle where the same jumbo order dynamics still exist. It’s nearly impossible to find outdoor furniture and fabrics that are actually beautiful, durable, and affordable—the kind that survives 15 years without fading, deteriorating, rusting, or going moldy. Build that, and you own the part of this outdoor furniture boom very few are serving.

Sail away on a Gatsby dream boat
Art Deco is having a major comeback, and it’s the trend du jour. As I mentioned earlier, the French hospitality giant Accor just launched the world’s biggest sailing yacht, the Corinthian. It’s a 721.8-foot triumph that set sail in May as the first of two Orient Express vessels. The interior is a love letter to 1920s seafaring heritage (just don’t mention the Titanic): rosewood, marble, vintage lights pulled from the original train, and a hidden speakeasy tucked between a barbershop and a treatment room. Architect Maxime d’Angeac designed it with 54 cabins and five Michelin-level restaurants. A seven-night sailing runs about 36,400 euros (around $41,000) per suite; the two-bedroom, 2,422-square-foot Agatha Christie suite goes for roughly 196,000 euros (about $220,000) for the week, all-inclusive. Wow. The same Art Deco wave is washing up on the shores of interior design: at one of my brands we’ve got a couple of patterns landing in January. 

I have just one warning: If it’s done wrong, Art Deco can quickly turn a living room into a casino. It’s much harder to pull off tastefully than Midcentury.

Charles Cohen wriggles off the Fortress hook
Charles Cohen pulled a $187 million rabbit out of a hat. One day before his June 19 deadline, the billionaire landlord paid off the personal guarantee he owed Fortress Investment Group, hauling his property empire—the Pacific Design Center and our own Decoration & Design Building among them—back from receivership. 

His general counsel called the payment “consistent with Mr. Cohen’s integrity.” Anytime a man needs his lawyer to vouch for his honor, it feels like when someone has to say “trust me, trust me.” The rub for those of us still in Cohen’s buildings: bankruptcy at least forced some disclosure, like the D&D limping along at 63% occupancy, down from 83% in 2020. Now that Cohen’s settled, the shutters come back down, and we are left with a deteriorating building with no clear direction.

I was in the building this week, and things just keep getting worse. A good friend owns a showroom on the fourth floor. The floor is over 90% empty, everything boarded up except for a new concept called the D&D Collective. Apparently it is a liquidation/flea market concept for small vendors and/or showrooms that want to liquidate excess inventory. Poorly conceived, horribly lit, terribly designed, uninspiring. It just looks like desperation and makes the once proud “D&D Brand” even more of a joke than it once was. 

The worst part is, now that it’s settled, you’d think we’d finally have more certainty. But alas, things feel more uncertain than ever. The iconic David Sutherland already gave up and bolted for 200 Lexington. The rest of us stay put, in the dark, because our clients still want us here. And we’ll always choose to be where our clients want us. That’s just good business sense.

I’m probably risking my lease saying any of this, but that’s what you subscribe for: the unvarnished truth.

Inside the AI property gold rush
Every tech cycle mints a new class of millionaires in the Bay Area, and the AI boom is no exception: luxury home prices there are up 13.4% since ChatGPT launched, per Redfin. Some of that is already washing into design. 

A great designer I know, Jay Jeffers—a Mr. Thread reader and one of the nicest guys in the business—tells Business of Home his phone hasn’t stopped ringing: “back to multiple offers and going for way over asking,” three or four fresh inquiries a month. But the smart money up there is spending with one eye on the exit. These are people who watch booms turn to busts for a living. One designer’s client, an AI CEO, remodeled his Menlo Park house but won’t finish every room until he sees where the technology lands. That should tell you everything you need to know about confidence levels in Silicon Valley.

Washington builds something
Congress did the unthinkable and actually agreed on something. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act cleared the House 358-32 this week, after an 85-5 Senate vote, and now heads to Big Don’s desk—it’s the biggest housing package Congress has passed in decades. More than 50 provisions aim to juice supply: streamlined environmental reviews, factory-built “manufactured housing,” zoning “pattern books” to beat local governments and their NIMBY instincts, and money to rebuild aging homes. There’s even a cap on how many single-family homes institutional investors can hoard. This is great news, because corporate landlords don’t hire designers; owner-occupiers do. I’ll allow myself some cautious optimism here because anything that cuts red tape on new construction while breathing life back into old houses is good for an industry that exists to fill homes with beautiful things. The experts warn the payoff is years out, but it’s finally pointed in the right direction.

Congratulations to Chad S., Jake W., Richard B., Hillary E., Avner L., Lori L., Rico V., and Tullia P., who uncovered last week’s mystery word: ALGORITHM! Nice game, threaders!

Now let’s see who can crack this week’s mystery word. It’s playtime!

The Clue: This popular tile style is inspired by the sea.

The Stakes: Every correct guess earns you points that accumulate for our upcoming raffle. The more you play, the higher your chances of winning. We’ll be holding the grand draw on July 29th! Our lucky winner gets:

Stay sharp,
Mr. Needle

Well, this was an easy week. And it’s an art subject I really love. Paintings of scenes of life on the sea (with a little fun sprinkled in for our friend Chuck Cohen). These paintings mesmerize me and literally transport me to another time. I hope you enjoy some of my favorites shown here.

Enjoying Mr. Thread?
How can we make this better? Reply to this email and tell us. We read every message and genuinely want to know what you think.