ST Media Acquires 'boutique Design' Magazine

ST Media Group International, parent company of The Big Picture, has acquired New York-based Boutique Media Group along with boutique Design magazine and its stable of ancillary events. The purchase comes on the heels of the March 2010 relaunch of ST Media’s Hospitality Style, a quarterly “idea book” for designers across the hospitality spectrum.

Launched in 2005 initially by Sipco Publications, boutique Design is the only hospitality magazine focusing exclusively on the boutique niche of hotel, spa, restaurant, and nightclub design. In 2008, Boutique Media Group was formed to better represent its growing hospitality business, which included boutique Design magazine and its related events.

In addition to the bimonthly print magazine, website, and e-newsletter, the brand has grown to include boutiquedesign.tv, a first-of-its-kind, video-based extension, and four annual industry events:
• boutique Design New York, a new trade show for 2010, co-located with the International Hotel, Motel, & Restaurant Show (IHMRS), a 95-year-old NYC fair in November
• Hospitality Match, an invitation-only, three-day event matching hospitality designers/buyers with fabric, furnishing and equipment (FFE) suppliers
• The boutique 18 Bash, a celebration of 18 rising stars in the hospitality design industry
• The boutique Design Awards, recognizing the best high-end, boutique-style designs of the year in the categories of hotel, restaurant, spa and nightclub.

Boutique Media Group president Michael Schneider assumes the role of publisher of Hospitality Brands at ST Media. Schneider was a principal in the transaction along with his father, Eric, the founder of Sipco. Sipco Publications will continue to own and publish Fabrics & Furnishings International (F&FI), its principal asset since 1990. In addition to publishing F&FI, Eric Schneider will continue to represent boutique Design in southern Florida and will serve as a consultant to ST Media.

Located in Cincinnati, ST Media Group International serves the visual communications industries with its trade publications, branded websites, custom book division, and industry events. Publications include The Big Picture, Screen Printing, Signs of the Times, Industrial + Specialty Printing, Signs of the Times & Screen Printing en espanol, Hospitality Style, boutique Design, VMSD (Visual Merchandising and Store Design), and Package Design Magazine.

ST MEDIA GROUP INTERNATIONAL
www.stmediagroup.com

BOUTIQUE DESIGN
www.boutiquedesign.com