A NEW HOME FOR EQUESTRIAN DESIGN.
Bringing Bucks County’s equestrian community together.
Photography by Juan Vidal
With the opening of Lori Bruno Interiors’ new showroom, the Luxury Equestrian Network launches its Bucks County chapter—and a new model for building stronger professional communities in equestrian regions across the country.
For interior designer Lori Bruno, the opening of her new showroom in New Hope, Pennsylvania, was more than the unveiling of a new space for her design business. It also marked the beginning of something larger: a gathering place for the professionals shaping equestrian properties throughout Bucks County and the surrounding region.
This summer, the showroom became the official home of the Luxury Equestrian Network’s Bucks County Chapter, with Bruno stepping into the role of Chapter Director. Its launch represents an important evolution for the Network—taking a community that has grown through national events, editorial, and professional connections and giving those relationships a place to develop locally.
Bucks County is a natural setting for it. With its historic properties, rolling countryside, horse farms and strong design and building community, the region brings together many of the disciplines involved in creating and maintaining exceptional equestrian properties. Yet those professionals do not always have an obvious reason—or place—to meet one another.
That is what the chapter intends to change.
A SHOWROOM BUILT AROUND CONNECTION
Bruno’s new showroom provides a fitting headquarters. Created as an extension of Lori Bruno Interiors, the space gives clients an opportunity to experience materials, furnishings, finishes and craftsmanship in person
while offering Bruno a physical home for the design practice she has built around highly personal, layered interiors.
It also demonstrates how a design showroom can become something more than a place to select finishes.
Throughout the space, equestrian references are integrated in ways that feel architectural rather than thematic. A custom stall-front installation by American Stalls introduces an unmistakable equestrian element, complemented by architectural hardware created in collaboration with Virginia Field Studio and offered exclusively through American Stalls. Hardware from Bascule brings another layer of material detail and craftsmanship, while equine sculpture by artist Emma Tate adds a fine-art perspective to the room.
Together, the pieces create a setting that speaks not only to equestrian style, but to the many specialties that come together around an equestrian property.
That intersection is also at the heart of Bruno’s design practice. Designing a home—or an entire property—requires far more than a single creative vision. It requires relationships with craftspeople, builders, architects, manufacturers, artists and specialists who can each contribute something distinct to the finished environment.
The showroom gives those relationships a physical place to converge.
BRINGING THE NETWORK CLOSER TO HOME
This summer, professionals from across the region gathered at Lori Bruno Interiors to officially launch the Luxury Equestrian Network’s Bucks County Chapter. Sponsored by American Stalls, the evening filled the new showroom with professionals from across the region, creating an opportunity for people working in different corners of the equestrian property world to meet, exchange ideas and begin relationships that can extend well beyond a single event.
That local connection is becoming increasingly important as the Luxury Equestrian Network grows.
From the beginning, the Network was created around a simple idea: better equestrian properties happen when the right people find one another. Architects need builders who understand horses. Designers need manufacturers who understand the demands of a working barn. Realtors benefit from knowing the specialists who can evaluate or transform a property. Homeowners need teams capable of considering aesthetics, functionality, long-term maintenance and equine welfare together.
A national network can make those introductions. Local chapters can deepen them.
Rather than relying solely on a handful of national gatherings each year, chapters allow relationships to develop within the regions where members are actually working. They create opportunities for smaller events, project tours, educational conversations, referrals and collaborations—and for members to become genuine resources to one another over time.
Bucks County is helping lead that next phase.
BUILDING WHAT’S NEXT
The chapter also represents a shift in how the Luxury Equestrian Network can expand.
Building meaningful communities in equestrian regions across the country cannot happen from one central location. It requires people within those regions who already understand their local market, know its professionals and want to bring them together.
As Chapter Director, Bruno becomes that local connector for Bucks County.
Her showroom provides the chapter with something particularly valuable: a home base. It is a place where the Network can host conversations and gatherings, welcome prospective members and create connections throughout the year rather than waiting for one large annual event.
And while the Bucks County chapter is distinctly local, the relationships it creates are not confined by geography. Members become part of the larger Luxury Equestrian Network, opening the door to connections with professionals working in other major equestrian markets and specialties across the country.
The result is something intentionally different from a traditional networking group. The goal is not simply to exchange business cards. It is to build a trusted circle of professionals who understand the complexities of equestrian properties—and who know whom to call when a project requires expertise beyond their own.
For Bruno, the opening of her showroom provided the opportunity to create a beautiful new home for her design business.
For the Luxury Equestrian Network, it provided a home for something else: a growing local community.
And for Bucks County, it is only the beginning. ∎
The Luxury Equestrian Network’s Bucks County Chapter is now welcoming professionals who work within the equestrian property, luxury home and related industries and want to become part of a more connected regional community.