The Designer Workshop in Virginia Beach is a resource center for interior design professionals as well as a sunny retail showroom open to the public
Many of us wouldn’t want to do our teenage jobs as adults, but sometimes the grass cutter grows up to be a landscaper and the waiter grows up to own a restaurant. In the case of Reese Lusk, the drape, blind and shade installer grew up to own The Designer Workshop (TDW).
A somewhat hidden resource tucked into Virginia Beach’s Cleveland Street commercial district, TDW is a 10,000 square foot dedicated resource center for design professionals and for others by appointment, including the only professional workroom in the region. TDW’s storefront—a sunny retail showroom open to the public—features unique and upscale tabletop items, furnishings and décor you aren’t liable to find elsewhere.
Lusk has spent his adult life honing his chops in the world of interior design. With a degree in fine arts and a designer mom—for whom he installed those window treatments as a teenager—he learned the nitty gritty of measuring for carpet installation, delivered furniture, and helped her out at her shop, discussing all the ins and outs of her renovation projects. And he continued to work for her on-and-off as a contractor for years.
But in 2007, Lusk and Becky Bump (pictured at top of page), his partner in business and in life—and, until COVID, the owner of her PR firm, Special Assignment—hung out the r. Lusk Studios shingle. Out on his own, his early career was built on the installation of high-end architectural finishes followed by the creation of highly sought-after hand-gilded textile art panels for residential and commercial interiors—still the heart of the studio—and, more recently, all aspects of renovation and interior design.
In July of 2024, when the owner of TDW, with whom Lusk had worked for some 15 years, was ready to enter a new phase of life, she offered to sell the business to him and Bump. The previous owner had also offered, but the time wasn’t right then. Fast forward eight years and TDW seemed the ideal fit at an opportune moment.
TDW is located only a stone’s throw from r. Lusk’s original location. The Studio has now moved into one end of the 10,000 square feet of TDW leaving the former location available for Bump’s office—she handles the administrative and financial side of the business—and other supporting opportunities. Lusk notes that it works well to have on site both r. Lusk art production and the resources for the renovation and design side of the Studio.
About the couple’s yin and yang approach to running a much larger business—r. Lusk employs one full-time production manager while TDW employs 10 additional people—Lusk says, “Becky grounds me when needed and I open her to creative ways of looking at things,” which he feels allows him to “process change easily.” And change is the name of the game, especially cultivating both buyer and seller relationships.
“The business is a well-oiled machine,” Lusk says of stepping in to run a long-established business. “Everyone, and I mean everyone, is dedicated, motivated and accountable for the success of the business. Beck and I have been very impressed.”
He also credits Bump with being “100% crucial.” Though Lusk and Bump may be the mayors of their “village,” Bump, too, is quick to credit their staff, saying, “The success of The Designer Workshop lies in our incredible staff…(they) give us the opportunity to focus on strategic expansion opportunities, expanding vendor lines and charting a course for continued and future growth. We know it takes a village, and we are confident we have the best!”
The physical layout of the Workshop is a series of large, brightly lit, interlocking rooms with each function falling under the jurisdiction of “experienced and wonderful managers,” according to Bump.
Kim Montgomery heads up the workroom staff and upholstery department; Monica Douglas, with what seems like a photographic memory of the thousands of samples, handles the resource library and in-house design team; Stephanie Ailstock serves as resident floral designer and retail area manager; and Jessica Van Nest manages the office, overseeing billing, payables, receivables and human resources while serving as part of the marketing team.
Throughout the space, clients will find—in addition to artisans hard at work—literally hundreds of lines of wallpaper, flooring, carpets, rugs, furniture, case goods, upholstery, trim, lighting, window treatments, hardware, and dried and faux floral. Tabletop is a relatively new addition and intended to help designers finish off a room. With a “huge range of resources from contemporary to traditional,” says Lusk, “there is nothing someone could want that we couldn’t source.”
Learn more at thedesignerworkshop.com or @thedesignerworkshop.
Photos by David Uhrin
Betsy DiJulio
Betsy DiJulio is a full-time art teacher, artist and curator with side hustles as a freelance writer, including for Coastal Virginia Magazine, and a vegan recipe developer, food stylist and photographer. Learn more on her website thebloomingplatter.com.
